12 hours Ago By [email protected] (Branwen Jones)
Over recent years Cardiff Market has become the place to go for lunch. Whether you fancy a pizza, a dumpling, bao buns or a freshly prepared sandwich - there's something for everybody at the market. Nestled between Yans & Sons Heelbar and Gold Reserves, you'll find Thai & Asian Delish - a stall that has been here for nearly a decade.
Its owner - Mukda Punagmanee, who goes by the nickname Jeeb, has seen the business progress through thriving and challenging times. "It has been very good before this, but after Covid things went downhill," she said. "But now it has picked up a little bit, things are better.
We've had quite a lot of competition over recent years, a lot of food businesses have opened here in the market. But it's good to see so many." Before she opened the market in 2016, Jeeb had her own stall, serving breakfasts and Thai food, over in Pontypridd Market.
She sold her stall to her friend in 2014, as she was pregnant with her fourth child. Two and a half years later, Jeeb returned to the culinary world, by opening a new stall - the Thai & Asian Delish at Cardiff Market. "It was very hard at first," she said.
"I don’t think Thai food is really well known. But after I opened it and another restaurant opened - Thai House on Guilford Crescent before it was knocked down, it felt like people started to get to know and understand our food." Jeeb aims to showcase the very best of Thai food at her stall, using "fresh" and "accurate" ingredients in her dishes.
Originally from Ang Thong, which is over an hour's drive from Bangkok, Jeeb moved to Wales in 2005 for work but found that her cooking became her driving passion. "I had gone to cooking college, but I mostly did factory work," she said. "Having four kids, I found it really hard - no one would employ me.
I would turn to small businesses to try and find a part-time job, so I started off just washing dishes for my friend. Eventually, I bought the business from her and then she bought the business from me in Pontypridd." Having been in the market for nearly a decade, rather embarrassingly, I had never ordered or tried anything from Jeeb's stall, despite hearing good reviews and seeing lots of people queuing near its window whenever I passed.
On a cold February afternoon, I decided to try it with the aid of my co-workers. We decided to go there during our lunch break and try our best to order different things from the menu. We got to the stall just before a queue started to form and decided to get our orders in pretty promptly.
What I loved about Thai & Asian Delish was the variety of dishes you could get and how decently priced everything seemed - a dish which included rice, chips or half and half, was £8.80, which at face value, seemed reasonable but was even more reasonable when we noticed the mountain of food we would get for that price. We ordered the garlic stir fry, Thai green curry, Thai red curry and the chicken pad thai stir fry.
As for sides, we decided to go for one portion of fishcakes and another portion of chicken spring rolls. The staff were really friendly and warned there would be a bit of a wait, which was understandable considering our order was long. Our order came at around 20-minutes later and then we all scurried off to our office with boxes full of food and hungry stomachs.
The office is about a 10-minute walk from the market, and as we started opening our boxes, we realised that our food was still warm. Each dish came in a decent size tupperware, which included the main part of the dish, rice and chips all in one box. Our sides, which came in white bags, were also still warm.
Firstly, we first tried the spring rolls and fishcakes and the rolls were a particular fan-favourite amongst the group. The rolls came with a crispy shell and were filled with a good balance of chicken and vegetables. Meanwhile, the fish cakes were like traditional Thai fish cakes, they were packed with flavour and were even tastier when dipped into tangy sweet chilli sauce that came in a pot.
Onto our mains, and we couldn't believe how much food we had ordered. There was only four of us, but there was easily enough for four more people. Those who had ordered the stir fry and curries had ordered them with chips and rice and there was a generous portion of everything.
For the latest restaurant news and reviews, sign up to our food and drink newsletter here . I ordered the Thai green curry, which came in a rich creamy sauce that had a spicy kick, but this was balanced out nicely by the sweetness of the coconut. The curry came with a good portion of rice and chunky chips, similar to those you'd get from a fish and chip shop.
The Thai red curry came in a golden rich sauce and was noticeably spicier than the green one, although my co-worker who had ordered the curry, said they would have liked it a bit spicier. Both dishes came with tender and succulent chicken. Meanwhile, the garlic stir fry came with a very good amount of garlic, crispy crunchy vegetables, with the mushrooms being the highlight of the dish.
While the pad thai, which also came with chicken, came with a good balance of flavours that were sweet, sour, salty and savoury, with a hint of nuttiness to add to the umami-rich taste of the dish. As Jeeb said, the food that she offered was well and truly "accurate" and "fresh", a perfect blend of Thai and Welsh traditions, especially with its rice and chips 'half and half'. It's so obvious to see why Thai & Asian Delish is such a popular food stall at Cardiff Market - it's not just tasty, but you get copious amounts of food all for a decent price.
"I'm proud of my stall - it's small, but it's okay," Jeeb said. "I'm making a living. But prices have gone up recently.
I feel like I can't put prices up too high, I've been here for nearly 10 years and I feel like I can't put my prices up, because then I would feel sorry for my customers somehow." If you find yourself in Cardiff city centre and want a feast for your lunch, head over to Thai & Asian Delish. This stall may be small but big in character, bursting with flavours and tasty dishes.
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