The Coconut Tree to put down roots in Cardiff
The new opening will bring the group up to five locations and follows the launch of two new restaurants in Bristol at the end of last year. The group was founded in Cheltenham in 2016 and opened a restaurant in Oxford a year or so later.
A former cocktail bar, the 120 cover restaurant will be situated on Mill Lane next to Cote and opposite Carluccio’s.
Arranged over two floors with a glass-frontage, the site will feature a prominent bar area and a restaurant area with exposed brickwork, graffiti street art, whitewashed walls and Sophie Conran wallpaper.
Like its older siblings, The Coconut Tree Cardiff will offer affordable Sir Lankan street food dishes. The menu includes hot battered spicy cuttlefish; black pork curry; crispy vegetable rolls; devilled chicken wings; and Jaffna goat curry with potato.
The Coconut Tree was founded by five Sri Lankan friends living in Cheltenham. Praveen Thanginah, Dan Fernando and Shamil Fernando are the head chefs and oversee the food side of things; while the board of directors is made up of Mithra Fernando (financial director), Rodrigo Rashinthe (operations director) and Anna Garrod (brand director).
The latter joined the group five months after they opened their first site from The Lucky Onion Group. Prior to that, Garrod helped to expand Moroccan-themed bar brand Po Na Na to 65 sites leaving as managing director.
