Punitha’s

Had many a good night in this restaurant good food and friendly staff. If we lived closer we’d go every Friday!

Punitha’s specialises in South Indian cuisine, using traditional recipes incorporating the region’s aromatic spices and plants. What I love about this place is the fact they actually serve authentic Indian desserts, instead of those hideous pre-​prepared ice cream sundaes you get in most Indian restaurants. Most Indian desserts tend to be very, very sweet — and the syrupy Gulab Jamun fits this description perfectly.
I’m getting ahead of myself here, though, talking about desserts. Back to the savoury stuff. Each chef is from a different region of South India, and their collective knowledge of the cuisine makes for an interesting menu of distinctive regional dishes from Tamilnadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. There are plenty of vegetarian options on offer — try the Sambar Idly for starter (mini rice and lentil cakes with dhal) or the pancake-​like Dosai served with chutneys, and for main there’s a HUGE choice of veggie food as well as chicken and mutton (the latter never appeals!). They even have a couple of Indo-​Chinese noodle dishes on the menu. A good way to try plenty of variety is to go for the taster menu
They’re not a bog standard Cardiff curry house, and their prices are higher than many Indians in this area, but this is definitely justified and I’d say it’s well worth the little extra.

Punitha’s invites you to ‘wine and dine in South Indian style’, which is the way I like to do it if I opt to eat Indian food, 9although, I have to admit to being rather partial to a few of the North Indian dishes as well, some of which are available here… perfect!). I love Southern Indian food! It’s not that I’m biased either… I used to live in South India… it’s just that they do amazing things like Dosa, Puri and Idly as well as the world famous Thali meals, that allow you to try all sorts of different dishes and flavours as one meal without having to spend a fortune. The other thing about South Indian food is that they use a lot of coconut. The South of India is sub-​tropical unlike the North, and so it’s ideal for growing these beautiful nuts, which inevitably have influenced their style of cooking. The South Indians use the whole of the fruit including the flesh, the milk and the oil from the flesh in their cooking (they also use the oil to give their hair a healthy sheen, and they use the other bits of the nut as well, making serving spoons, jewellery and other practical and ornate items from the hard shell, as well as coir string and matting, amongst other things, from the coarse hair of the nut… The Indian people are genius when it comes to making good use of everything!)
I love coconut chutney. It’s delicious! Although Sambar, (which I don’t like), is more readily available in the UK based South Indian restaurants, it is just as common to find coconut chutney alongside Sambar in the Southern India restaurants. Both can be eaten with pretty much everything if you like, but the coconut chuney is best served with things like Puri, Dosa or Idly in my opinion.
Punitha’s do a fine chutney… in fact they do everything pretty well! They are a little pricey, (but then again, I’m used to paying 15 Rupees for a a Masala Dosa (about 20 pence), and less for Idly and Puri!) The service is certainly a lot slower in the UK than you would expect from an Indian located restaurant, but somewhat perversely, the busier the place is, the better the levels of service… I think they just get into a rhythm!

Excellent South Indian restaurant. Delicious curries, very flavourful and not swimming in oil.

Visited recently and really enjoyed the south indian style cooking which offers a varied array of dishes not found in your regular balti house. The waiter serving us was great, giving us suggestions on his personal favourites, all which turned out to be delicious and different! Definately worth a try!

I’ve never had a meal in the restaurant but regularly order takeaways. The quality of the food has always been very good and the staff are willing to help explain the various dishes. I think the food is South Indian (?) and it is noticably different to most takeaways — in a good way.

After wanting to go here for ages, i was really disappointed with the experience. It’s a huge Indian restaurant with a good reputation, but the night I went with the boyfriend, they were in the middle of serving a huge private party and ‘shoed’ us in. Maybe because of this, the service and quality of food was awful. Though we ordered 3 separate dishes, each one was identical (brown gloup) and we had to wait ages for the starter and then the main. It was quite expensive as well. Overall, the experience was so bad I won’t be going back. Shame.