Matsudai Ramen in Cardiff

Starters were lovely but the main wasn't pleasant. It wasn't made clear to us when ordering that the broth was creamy, as we don't like creamy food. I thought it would be more of a clear broth. The bowls and drinking stein mugs were chipped. I explained at the end that we were dissatisfied with our food and they did offer another meal which we didn't want as we were put off with the previous dish, no discount was offered until I asked in which they took £20 off the bill.

What a real lovely Ramen restaurant in Grangetown. Excellent food, so very tasty and freshly cooked. Staff were very efficient and attentive. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend.

Lovely food! Very quick professional service

This is the most authentic ramen I have since coming back from Japan, late last year. The first slurp of broth gave me flashbacks to the back streets of Osaka, trying to find that perfect ramen. It filled my heart with joy and my belly with spicy tingling feeling. Would 100% recommend

I have visited a number of times both on my own and with friend and family and have always had brilliant food and brilliant service. This night in particular they sat me at the bar where the bartender Fin served me and gave me some great drink recommendations. There’s a good reason this is one of my cardiff favourites!

The most authentic ramen I’ve had since spending time in Japan

So vibey! A real must for any ramen fan. Tonkotsu ramen - spectacular, 10/10. Mushroom Karaage also 10/10, class snack. Pickles were also great, especially the mushrooms. Will be back for sure. Photos aren’t the greatest due to it being evening but you get the picture, literally.

Amazing food and vibe. Food they serving is created with passion and you can literally feel it in the air 😍

We had been advised to you walk in through the phone and when we arrived they said we needed a reservation. Terrible organisation and rude service

Best Ramen place in Wales, real thick broth with flavour and not like others that taste like instant noodles. Also the staff is really friendly and nice !

Love love love the food and staff at Matsudai! Always a smile on their face and ready to accommodate any requests! Absolutely delicious grub! Digging in to a nice delicious bowl of ramen is like getting a big hug! Love it! Also, the chicken karaage with curry mayo - very addictive! Portion sizes are ginormous and definitely a lot of bang for the buck!

Very homely restaurant, very polite staff and incredible food, highly recommend

Food was good, nice atmosphere slow drinks service let it down this time. Otherwise another enjoyable Ramen

One of the best ramen I have tried in the UK!

Best noodles I’ve ever eaten. Great place.

This ramen shop is run by locals and uses noodles that are different from traditional ones. Pork Belly, ideal for cooking, is alluring.

I don't know what an original ramen dish should taste like but I really liked the food at Matsudai. Also, I haven't played any of the games that were blaring from the speakers. Wonderful.

Always a good experience at Matsudai, the ramen is delicious, and I highly recommend the karaage mushroom side too. Service is always good, and the food always delicious.

I’ve lived in Cardiff for 10+ years, and can honestly say that this is one of the best restaurants I’ve had the pleasure of visiting. Always so, so good. Impeccable service from our host, Kamala, and her colleagues this evening. Thank you all so much. Will be back soon!

Amazing food, amazing staff (thanks fin 😉). One of the best places to eat in Cardiff hands down.

Ramen is acceptable and worth 1 star. The boiled egg and the pork is good worth 3 star. On average is 2 star. Service is fair. Atmosphere is fair.

Food was delicious, good service, very much enjoyed.

Matsudai Ramen first sprung to fame during lockdown when the owner, moving from delivering pop-ups across the UK began to deliver Raman Kits to people's homes. The restaurant went from strength to strength, especially when it was catapulted into national fame with Jay Rayner's review in the Observer in February 2023. I tell you what, Rayner was not wrong, the food here really does provide what he calls: "Bowls of deep care and thoughtfulness". We ordered four starters to share Tsukemono or pickle plate, Mini Chashu Don, Lemon Karaage Mushroom and Lemon Taffy Wontons. They were all exceptional, but we especially loved the Japanese wontons wrapping Welsh ingredients, lamb, leek and Caerphilly cheese. Excellent. For mains I had a Tokusei Shoyu and my partner had Triple-Yuzu Shio, both where rich in flavour and delicious. Be sure, we'll be back for such wonderful culinary delights.

Bought 2 x home kits (Classic and Sunset Red) very very easy and quick to prepare at home, absolutely delicious. Highly recommend adding the extra egg to your home delivery order as they’re super tasty! We were really impressed with these “make-at-home” kits and would 100% try the restaurant itself if we’re ever in Cardiff. [I also highly commend their use of biodegradable and recyclable packaging throughout the home kits 👏]

Absolutely excellent Japanese food. Bouncy noodles, a rich and savoury broth, so much flavour. And really friendly service!

HONEST REVIEW: waiter rejected us at door saying it is fully booked. Later a customer advised us to look online for a booking. Booked it and was served by the same waiter and made sit in a shared bench. After more than half the restaurant was empty. Then he decided to fill our bench with 8 more people. Food we delicious

I mean…. Wow. Been to Tokyo and ate at almost all Micheline star restaurants. I simply cannot believe how good this is. I’m sure a Micheline star is on the way for Matsudai. From the quality of the ingredients to the careful meticulous preparation of each item on the menu. To give you an idea, imagine a slow cooked thick chicken/pork broth, warming your soul with each and every warm slurp. Then you have the bamboo shoots and garnishes that elevate it cutting through the umami of the soup giving it a fresh kick. I could not help but hoover my bowel and lick the remainder leaving nothing behind. I love this place, it thoroughly deserves the hype! 5/5.

Amazing food, music a little too loud for me where struggled with conversation (the little there was as we were focused on our ramen bowls)

best ramen place i’ve been to. great service, delicious food and lovely atmosphere.

Bit disappointed with whats happened. When this place first opened, the ramen was beyond good. Now they have swapped out the hand made noodles for dried versions. They only really offer 1 type of ramen nowadays and no longer offer the spicy type.

Came here after hearing good reviews, it was local so we thought we’d try it out Atmosphere was horrendous, we had a really strange duo next to us talking about explicit nsfw topics. Acoustics are terrible, everything is very loud and over-stimulating, meaning you have to shout to hear the other person. Making it “dog-friendly” made the experience even worse, particularly on a rainy day… Service was amateur at best, we were served by kids who were obviously inexperienced. One brought the karaage chicken over, dropped a piece on the edge of the table and served it to us saying “Enjoy”. We didn’t know whether to laugh or say something, in the end didn’t have the heart to tell them off as they were very young Food was ok, but the portions weren’t big enough to justify the price. the ramen was described as “lightly spiced” but turned out to be very spicy, poor use of language

First time and wow, amazing food! Definitely recommend.

Food at Matsudai was so great, really reasonably priced, good portions and super delicious. Had a bottle of Sake which you don’t often come by so was a treat. The place is NOISY, be prepared to shout across the table or get your head down to enjoy the food and save conversation for later. Service was very friendly and attentive to start with but trailed off towards the end of the night.

You wont find a better Ramen in all of Wales. I guarantee it.

It's a nice place to have lunch.

Always an extremely tasty and filling visit when we stop by Matsudai. The staff are friendly, the food is outstanding, and the atmosphere is great. A wonderful small menu spot for a date, a meal with friends, or a celebration. Be ready to share a table and make some new friends as you tuck in for some wonderful flavours.

Excellent food. Broth was light but still have a lot of flavour and taste. Egg was perfect along with both the chicken and pork belly. If your in Cardiff this is definitely a place worth visiting

They have become seriously good - even orders that have been sent out incorrectly are immediately corrected with humour and grace. I am officially a fanboy!!

Had a lovely meal here with dumplings to start then I had my ramen. It's quite tasty and a nice place to eat.I will be coming here again, I highly recommend you take you and you're friends here!

Veggie ramen was nice, however I found the soy protein to be a bit lazy and not really flavourful. I feel like fried mushrooms or tofu shavings would work much better. We were offered tofu as an addition to our meal, the way question was constructed however did not indicate it is an extra, but more like a choice of protein instead of meat, which at £16 a bowl already felt excessive to be adding anything else. Mushroom starter was amazing, not sure I would pay £8.50 for it again though. At the end we opted in for a dessert, yuzu creme brulee, which was unfortunately a bit underwhelming and not very yuzu. Still delicious though, I feel like my expectation was just different. Overall it was worth it and there is no service charge added to the bill, which makes the prices less offensive if you factor this in.

Great ramen and good service. This was our second visit, would definitely come back again when visiting Cardiff.

My favourite restaurant in Cardiff. Delicious food, no exceptions! Would highly recommend

This was my second visit as we were so impressed the first time and the food didn’t disappoint. Super dishes with great flavours. We had the karaage chicken, taffy wontons and mini chashu don to start, all stunning. We then had tantanmen for main which was very nice if you like a bit of spice. If I’m honest, we most probably should’ve done two starters not three but it was still stunning. Definitely worth another visit. Ps the starters were so good I forgot to take a picture until halfway through so apologies

Thank you for the meal! Very tasty ramen, best in Wales! It's insanely delicious. I think it's the best in Wales. The tableware was simple and nice. If I could have you change one thing, it would be to add gyozas! Thank you🤲. P.S. Sueyo is written backwards on your tshirts and menus . It’s not Sueyo, it’s Sueyo 🙂

We enjoyed our meal out here, the two noodle dishes we got were very tasty. The fried mushrooms were excellent! The service was very good, and we liked the open style kitchen. The space looked great, but the seating wasn't very comfortable. Would recommend, and look forward to trying more of the menu 😊

Food is really really good but the service ruins it. The waiters ignored us for ages throughout the night and when we tried to order dessert they just came over and asked if we wanted the bill. I gave up and just said yes. When presented with the bill they assumed that we would tip. I'm just disappointed as I liked the food but not the experience.

The chicken Karaage is 10/10. It is really delicious. Ordered classic ramen, the meat is good but the soup and the egg are too salty. The services were alright, most staffs are friendly.

Absolutely perfect ramen, the vegan tantanmen was amazing. So much flavour!

Delicious, quick, and lovely staff

Great food and a well decorated restaurant

One of my favourite Cardiff locations, highly recommend if you're a fan of Asian cuisine!

Wonderful bowl of Tantanmen, I opted to add pork belly which very tasty as well. Great broth and spice balance, noodles cooked perfectly, finished every last drop.

Tasty, satisfying big bowls of ramen in busy, friendly family atmosphere.

Me and some friends visited this place for the first time and were very impressed. The service was really good and it's a lovely restaurant. The food was delicious with decent portions. I'll definitely be recommending others to come here and try their great selection of freshly cooked food

I’ve never been big on ramen, but this place completely turned my opinion around. All of the food is so so good. The service is nice and everyone is polite and accommodating. The menu changes so you can go and have a different favourite item every handful of months. The only downside (although it’s not much of one) is that sometimes it can feel like you’re a bit packed in. The tables are either shared or very close to one another.

Fantastic find in Grangetown. Fantastic food and service. Would highly recommend and will be returning.

Food was delicious, service was great. I would suggest to not have sharing tables as it was quite awkward sitting so close to strangers. Otherwise great.

Delicious vegan ramen and lovely staff

The ramen was good, but this was not an enjoyable experience overall. A large dog does not belong in a busy restaurant at 8pm on a Saturday night. It made for an uncomfortable experience. The acoustics are dreadful, making it a very noisy space. Service was attentive to start, then staff seemed uninterested. The food is served when it’s ready, so dishes come out at random to the party

I visited this restaurant last night and had a very disappointing experience. According to Google, the restaurant is open until 11 p.m. I called at 7.30ish but no luck, drove all the way from Bridgend and arrived at 9ish and saw opening signs, lights on, staff present, and even people eating. However, no one greeted or served me when I entered. When I approached a table, a staff member told me that the kitchen was closed and I had to leave. This was very frustrating and unprofessional. The restaurant should update their hours or put a close sign, and staff training is recommended.

Absolutely stunning food, best noodle dish I have ever eaten! And the Japanese belly pork starter was divine 😋😋😋

Called around 8pm, no one answer on phone, google said close 11pm. Arrived around 9pm but staff said kitchen is already closed. Light still on, no shop close sign at door front Ramen is definitely good, but service wasn’t consistent. Quite disappointed.

They have a delicious pork ramen. We tried it twice and it is highly recommended. Dont forget to book an appointment.

As good as the professional reviews gave it.

Authentic and delicious ramen with super friendly service from Darren. We didn’t choose the specials but they sounded great too.

I messed up the number of people on our reservation and the hostess went extra lengths to fit the extra 2 people we needed in. Excellent food as always. Karpaage chicken annd curry mayo unreal.

Probably the best ramen in the UK. Just go for the tonkotsu

Had high expectations. Full of students. Vegi broth was good little disappointed with the noodles. Lots of pork belly on menu which we did not try.

Ive visited the restaurant a number of times since it opened and it just keeps getting better! The food is absolutely delicious and the most recent ramen tribute to Chippy Lane was my favourite yet! The service is top class and the team go out of their way to talk you through the menu and specials and make great recommendations. If the peachy cocktail were to make a summer comeback that would be a real win 💛

I cannot recommend this restaurant highly enough. The beautiful food and friendly, helpful staff make it a pleasure from start to finish 🙂

Having eaten at Matsuai Ramen a few times, I can say that the service is fabulous, staff are friendly, attentive & professional. The food is just wonderful, with dishes suitable for me as a vegetarian, great place to eat & meet friends.

Fabulous food and attentive service.

Doesn’t feeling welcoming or inclusive. doesn’t represent the diverse community and area of Grangetown.

I got food poisoning from one of their cook at home ramens sets. I sent them a very respectful email letting them know and never heard back from them.

The food for the most part was lovely which don’t get me wrong, is why we went however, the service we had from our host was horrific. While I was still eating one of the dishes the server asked if she could take plates - making me feel like an inconvenience (which isn’t great considering we payed good money for the food). On top of this when my partner wanted another drink the response wasn’t great - it was like the server had to go out of their way to put it through. Ordered a matcha crème brûlée (i love both matcha and crème brûlée) but the sugar on top was burned rather than caramelised - i understand it’s probably more difficult to get right due to the darker colour of the crème but was a bit disappointing. We had to wait ages to get the bill (I had to end up getting up to ask another server for it because our host had her eyes to the floor when doing everything so was really difficult to try and get her attention). The rest of the food we had was great (besides the server assuming it was okay to take dishes before i was done). Just a real shame the server seemed a bit cold and stand off-ish towards us :( really wanted to enjoy the experience as we travelled just to eat here and had it planned for a while!

The food was absolutely delicious, and could rival the best Ramen restaurants in London. The service was extremely fast and we could not have been more satisfied! The Buta No Kukai (glazed pork belly) is probably the best pork we’ve ever had - must try!

“Absolutely splendid. Food was delicious. Best ramen ever! Definitely coming here again!” Caspian, 9yrs.

Ramen with an incredible flavor, fast and friendly service, mention of the off-menu dessert matcha creme boule

dank ramen thick tasteful noodles

Put simply, this is where we take our non-Cardiff friends to when we want to impress them! Never fails.

Great ramen place with inventive and tasty dishes. Generous portions - esp the tankard of G&T!! Service was excellent - staff really care that you enjoy the food. Cardiff is lucky to have this!

Not my first visit to Matsudai but just had to write a review because tonight was top tier. Genuinely don’t think I’ve had a funnier waiter than Darren, who had us in absolute tears all night & was attentive without being intrusive. Just a shame about the lack of blue lipstick

It was delicious on our last visit but I really would not recommend their new ramen bowls. The Tonkotsu is extremely salty and their Chippy Lane mazesoba is too heavy. The ramen for both dishes were too firm and had a strong alkaline taste which was not pleasant. For £15+ a bowl you would expect much better quality.

Absolutely loved the tonkotsu ramen, it was delicious, creamy and the noodles had an amazing texture "al dente" that I find amazing. Unfortunately, towards the end, the ramen started to be a little bit too salty for the palate and I personally feel like that they might be using MSG in their preparations as me and my partner felt quite drowsy and tingling soon after our meal.

Good experience overall, but portion size for the pork belly was lacking. Friendly staff and I felt welcomed as a customer.

We booked a table for dinner and they sat us at the bar next to the toilets. We had to ask to be moved because the smell was really bad in that area. The food was good but a but very salty to my taste

Reviews indicate this would be the "best Ramen in the UK", including Uncle Roger of social media fame. I disagree but it's pretty close! The food was tasty and portioning was good for the price, friendly staff ensured service was great. Personally, for the best Tonkotsu broth ramen I can only recommend Hakata-Ya in Edinburgh, but for an incredibly close second place this is definitely worth the trip. The local area for the restaurant seems a bit run down but once you're inside you completely forget about that and enjoy the atmosphere.

Phenomenal time at Matsudai Ramen. Made a booking for 7PM Thursday and it was quite spectacular; Had the mazesoba ramen and the karaage chicken, and it was a massive, delicious meal. Service was extremely prompt and attentive, can't fault it; Darren served us predominantly, and he was fantastic. There was also a curly haired fella who delivered our food, and he was dedicated as well. I forgot to take pictures of the food because I was digging in too quick, but highly recommended.

Good was great, the ramen was a little spicy but overall good. Service was really good from door to table and the waitress was really nice. Atmosphere was really welcoming and calm.

BEST FOOD EVER. Also service is impeccable. The mushroom starters are both incredible, but it's all about that phenomenal ramen.

Chip shop curry noodles were delicious. Nice atmosphere and nice staff. Fried chicken and curry mayo is also delicious , well worth a visit.

had ramen yesterday and it was extremely salty, the service was good one lady was very welcoming but the waitresses that gave us the food, they didn’t know which one which (allergy). Had to pay full amount regardless the ramen was taste extremely salty although the waitress apologized and she said it’s their new recipe and a lots of people had the same experience… i wasn’t happy……

Been a number of times and, while initially great, it seems to be steadily getting worse (but more expensive). We struggled to finish our meals due to how salty and oily they were. The toilet was also in an awful state - floor was wet and dirty, both of us almost slipped on the way out. Given the price, you'd expect a higher level of quality and consistency.

After hearing such great reviews we had the delivery kit for the vegan sunset red ramen and added eggs. It was absolutely incredible. Easy to assemble at home and tasted amazing, will definitely be trying the restaurant asap!

I was expecting more flavours seeing the reviews- very average, sorry! Miso ramen was quite salty.

Hate to be that person but it’s overhyped. Everything was extremely salty, the ramen and the side of fried oyster mushrooms, too. Sake was good, and the service is top notch, just thought the ramen would be more balanced, the salt was very overpowering. Was also quite noisy inside.

Nice food and friendly staff but they only take card payment which is not acceptable!

Incredible food, authentic atmosphere, super relaxed, service is first class. Can't recommend enough.

I think the food is too salty overall The texture of Japanese ramen is acceptable (of course not like Japanese quality) Don't expect too much British and foreigners like stronger and saltier food But for Hong Kong people, it’s really ordinary

I personally met the Owner and he was very kind to me (the legend James Chant) I met him on a train bound to Manchester Piccadilly he was incredibly kind and I Got a picture I hope to see him again