Cardamom

Marsalforn is one of the best-known seaside villages on Gozo, and Cardamom brings a full Indian kitchen to it, open for lunch and dinner every day of the week. The cooking sets out to fuse traditional Indian food with ideas from the Far East, but the menu itself reads like a comprehensive tour of the subcontinent's favourites, from tandoori starters and biryani to a dozen chicken curries and slow-cooked lamb.

The restaurant sits on Triq il-Wied in Marsalforn, a village that falls within the locality of Żebbuġ. It makes a useful change of pace after several days of Gozitan rabbit and fish, and anyone planning a longer stay will find the bigger picture in our Gozo guide. For other tables in the same village, see our list of restaurants in Żebbuġ and Marsalforn.

Starters from the tandoor and the fryer

The opening section of the menu is long enough to make a meal on its own. Three soups cost €6.50 to €7: a tomato and garlic soup scented with coriander, a dal soup made with lentils, and a creamy chicken soup. Papadums with mango chutney, mint sauce and pickle cost €2.50 for two, one fried and one roasted.

Vegetarians do well here. Onion bhaji, three to a portion, costs €5, two homemade vegetable samosas €5.95, and paneer pakora €8. Hariyali kebab, patties of spinach, peas, potato and paneer, and aloo tikki potato cakes both cost €8.90, while sesame paneer tikka from the tandoor costs €10.50. A vegetable platter for two at €18.90 gathers pakora, bhaji, kebabs and samosas on one plate.

Chicken tikka in three versions, the classic yoghurt marinade, malai with cashew paste and pudina with mint and green chilli, all cost €8, as does chicken pakora in gram flour batter. Sizzling tandoori chicken on the bone costs €11. Tandoori prawns cost €9, a sizzling mazzola fish tikka €12, and among the lamb starters seekh kebab costs €12.90 and chapli kebab €13.90. The Cardamom Platter, a chef's special built for two, brings tandoori chicken, chapli kebab, samosas, bhaji and tandoori prawns together for €25.

Curries, biryani and breads

The main courses are organised by ingredient, and the sauces repeat across them, so you can have a madras, vindaloo, korma or jalfrezi with almost anything. Chicken dishes all cost €12, and the list covers bhuna, korma, mango, butter, madras, a house curry, tikka masala, vindaloo, jalfrezi, saagwala and rara, a ginger and garlic dish. Beef curries cost €13.50, slow-cooked lamb €14.50, fish curries made with local mazzola €14.50, and prawns €16.50. Lamb rogan josh and the beef, fish, prawn and lamb jalfrezi carry the chef's special star.

The vegetable mains are a strong reason to come. Bombay aloo, aloo gobi, saag aloo, dal tadka and chana masala cost €9.50 each, dal makhani and vegetable korma €10, paneer korma, paneer makhani and palak paneer €11.50, and malai kofta, dumplings of dried fruit, potato and paneer, €12. Dishes are marked as vegetarian, lactose free or gluten free, and a large share of the menu is gluten free. Every curry can be made mild, medium, hot or very hot, so tell your server how much heat you like.

Biryani costs €10 with vegetables, €13 with chicken and €14 with lamb. Plain basmati costs €4, cumin-scented jeera rice €4.50, pea pulao with saffron and cashews €5 and peshwari rice with dried fruit and coconut €5.50. The breads run from plain naan at €3.50 through garlic, butter and cheese versions to aloo paratha and cheese and garlic naan at €5 and a sweet peshwari naan at €6. One point to note for anyone with an allergy: cashew nuts may be present in any dish the kitchen prepares, so speak to the staff before ordering.

Set menus for two

Two set menus take the decisions out of ordering, and both are designed for two people. Set Menu B costs €56 and begins with papadums and chutney, then a mixed starter of onion bhaji, lamb samosa, chicken tikka, pudina tikka and chat pata jhinga prawns. Mains are chicken butter, beef madras and dal, with basmati rice and butter naan, and dessert is gulab jamun or rice pudding.

Set Menu A costs €70 and adds a dal soup to the start and a fourth main course. The same mixed starter is followed by chicken jalfrezi, beef rogan josh, king prawns madras and chana masala, with pulao rice and garlic naan, and the meal ends with gulab jamun or mango rice pudding. For a couple who want to taste widely without working through the full menu, either is the simplest way to eat here.

A wine list with Gozo in the glass

Cardamom takes wine more seriously than most curry houses, with a list that spans Malta, France, Italy, Spain, Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Australia and California. Local bottles are the place to start. Two Gozitan whites stand out: Tanit Vermentino from the Tal-Massar winery at €16.50, and Delicata's Victoria Heights Chardonnay, made from grapes grown in Gozo's valleys, at €10 for a half bottle or €15 for a full one. Victoria Heights Merlot from the same Gozo vineyards costs €15, and Delicata's Medina Sauvignon Blanc and Gabrielli Pinot Grigio both cost €15. At the top of the Maltese list, Gran Cavalier Merlot, aged for a year in French oak, costs €29.95.

From further afield there are Rhône reds from E. Guigal, including a Crozes Hermitage at €38 and a Gigondas at €45, a Margaux from Cordier at €45 and a Chablis from Louis Jadot at €40, with a long run of Italian bottles from Gavi to Valpolicella. Aromatic whites such as Gewürztraminer and Riesling suit spiced food well, and both appear on the list. Wine by the glass costs €4 to €6, from Tanit Vermentino and Medina Sangiovese to a glass of Prosecco, and an alcohol-free sparkling Chardonnay from Barton and Guestier is available by the bottle for drivers.

Takeaway and the curry guide

Cardamom runs a pick-up takeaway service, ordered directly through its website or a web app that installs on a phone, and ordering direct comes with a saving. Orders are for collection only, and rice is not included with curries ordered for takeaway, so add a portion of basmati or pulao if you want it.

For newcomers to Indian food, the website includes a short guide to its sauces. Garam masala, the warm spice blend behind many dishes, combines cinnamon, cumin, black and green cardamom, coriander, nutmeg, cloves, fennel, black pepper and Indian bay leaves. The korma sauce here is creamy and enriched with cashew nuts and cardamom, the mango sauce uses onion, cashews and Indian herbs, madras is a hot curry built on coconut milk, and vindaloo is fierce, sharp and tangy with vinegar. Rogan josh is slow cooked with onions, tomatoes, mace, star anise and saffron, and kadai is a red pepper and onion sauce.

Planning a visit

Lunch is served from 11:30 am to 2:00 pm and dinner from 6:00 pm to 10:30 pm, every day, and tables can be reserved through the website. Marsalforn is a short drive or bus ride from Victoria, and our list of hotels in Gozo includes places to stay within easy reach of the village. If you are weighing up where to swim before dinner, our guide to the best beaches in Malta covers the Gozo bays alongside those on the main island.

For a contrast in style, Maldonado Bistro cooks modern Gozitan food in Victoria, and Il Kunvent brings the island's produce to the table in Għarb. Our page on restaurants across Gozo shows the full spread, and fans of the subcontinent's cooking can compare other kitchens on our page of Indian restaurants in Malta. To ask about a table or a group booking, use the VisitMalta.co.uk enquiry form on this page and we will pass your message to the restaurant.