Tokyo Nights is one of the latest additions to Cardiff Market, bringing a taste of Japan to the capital of Wales.
Oliver Bryant, from Barry, was inspired by a trip to Japan in 2019 for the Rugby World Cup and started Tokyo Nights in August 2020, opening his first outlet in Barry's Goodsheds, which has since closed, and then in Swansea's Founders & Co in July 2021.
The Cardiff Market site is Oliver's latest venture and customers can look forward to a menu of meat and vegetarian gyozas. The venue is set to be expanded with more dishes to be added later on.
Read all our Cardiff stories here.
"We're just starting off really small [on the menu] and then we plan to do as many things as we can really," Oliver told WalesOnline.
"We'll be opening an industrial unit there as well. Once we've got that up and running we plan to be able to make Bento boxes there."
The grand opening of the Japanese street food vendor in Cardiff is eight months overdue with unforeseen issues with staffing delaying it until this year.
So was it worth the eight month-wait? We went along to find out – and there was a further delay in store as we weren't the only ones.
If you're planning to visit the stall on your lunch break I'd recommend getting there as early as possible. When I arrived at around 12.15pm on Wednesday there was already a crowd forming around the stall on the ground floor of the market with people leaving the queue and returning to re-join in the hopes that it had died down.
At the moment Tokyo Nights is just serving gyoza with plans to sell bao buns soon. The current menu offers a range of steamed and pan-fried dumplings served with Kewpie mayonnaise (which is also available to buy there), chilli oil, micro herbs, and ponzu (a citrus-based sauce).
You can choose between chicken and pork, prawn, or mushroom – the vegan option that comes with vegan mayonnaise – and choose to have either five dumplings for £7.50 or eight dumplings for £10. Rice is also available for £1.50.
I was lucky enough to try all three flavours on offer. All the dishes were well-presented, served with a drizzle of mayonnaise and pretty, colourful micro herbs.
I started with the prawn-flavoured dumpling which was definitely my favourite. Filled with prawns, the dumplings had a lovely crispy texture from being freshly pan-fried.
The mushroom dumplings were softer in texture and still packed full of flavour. The vegan mayonnaise had a stronger flavour than the Kewpie mayo served with the non-vegan options but it was still pleasant and didn't overpower the taste of the dumplings themselves.
The chicken an pork dumplings were also flavourful and came with crispy pork pieces that added a pleasant, salty element.
I'd definitely recommend getting the prawn dumplings if you're not vegan or vegetarian as these were by far my favourite of the three.
All the dumplings stayed intact when you were eating them meaning they were easy to pick up whether you were using a fork or chopsticks and didn't fall apart when you took a bite or dipped them in the sauce.
The ponzu provided a great contrasting sauce to the dumplings, with its tart citrus flavours bringing out the different notes of the dumplings.
I was joined by two friends who also tried the dumplings and said they were "stunning" so they got good reviews all round. The waiting time can be a little long but this appears to be mainly due to the fact that the dumplings are fried right in front of you.
There's also a range of drinks and snacks on offer including Pocky and Hello Panda biscuits as well as cans and bottles of Ramune.
To be on the safe side I'd recommend leaving enough time for a bit of a wait as the stall is already very popular. If you're near Cardiff Market anytime soon I'd definitely recommend heading to Tokyo Nights to grab your lunch and trying all the food they have on offer.
You can sign up to the Cardiff Online newsletter here.
