I am a curry fanatic... there, I admit it! You can often find me indulging my curry cravings at the Cinnamon Tree in Pontcanna.

As a self confessed foodie, I have eaten in many Indian restaurants, from the very famous Chutney Mary to Veraswamy in Regent Street London, and I can honestly say, that the Cinnamon Tree has the most delicious, inventive and exciting menus I have tasted.

In between visits, I caught up with one of the owners Amran Uzzaman, to find out more about one of my favourite restaurants.

Amran, what is your philosophy behind The Cinnamon Tree?
Our philosophy is genuinely to look after the customer. As soon as you walk into one of our restaurants, the welcome you receive is very warm and sincere, which makes the customer feel immediately at ease and quite special. We only use the very freshest ingredients and spices, which truly comes across in our dishes. We are a family owned business and each of our businesses is managed by one of four brothers. I manage the Pontcanna branch, eldest brother Ruman manages the Treforest restaurant, Robbie manages The Peterston Golf Club and Enam has just opened his own Tiffin Deli at Salisbury Road, Cardiff, serving light lunches, coffee, and Indian Style snacks and curries.

What is the history behind The Cinnamon Tree?
My grandfather opened his first restaurant in Woodville Road Cardiff, in the 1960's. It was called The Kismet. The menu obviously wasn't anywhere near as vast and exciting as we have at The Cinnamon Tree today, but was based on popular dishes such as birianies and vindaloos which were the dishes requested at that time. In 1970 our grandfather then opened a three story restaurant bar, and club in St Mary's Street called the Seventh Vail, our father was involved in running the restaurants, for his father, when in 1980 he opened his very own restaurant in Albany Road Cardiff called the Mogul. Amran Uzzaman, middle brother remembers working for the first time at weekends. Unfortunately they had to sell the business and go to Bangladesh, because of their grandfather’s ill health.

The Uzzaman family then returned to the restaurant business. Having always worked for himself, Mr Uzzaman senior felt that he couldn't work for anybody else, especially when he saw his four sons growing up. In 1984 he took a chance on a dilapidated run down premises, which was already an existing restaurant, called the Roath Tandoori.

Its reputation wasn’t the best and it took time to establish it as a restaurant of quality. All the family worked there, even our mother, who was especially good at cooking homemade curry. She created flavours that the customers really loved. The family also lived above the restaurant and we persevered with this for several years until our father left the every day running of the restaurant to us. With the experience our father had passed on to us and with adding new ideas into the mix, we made the restaurant successful.

And then?
In 1997 we looked at a diner in Tonteg which that had only been trading for a year. It was a huge risk for us and it took a great deal of investment to transform it into what we wanted but we took the huge step of buying it and renamed it The Cinnamon Tree. From the day our doors opened, it was a huge success.

What was the next challenge?
We wanted to expand and looked into where we could open next. We knew that Pontcanna was a very sought after area as it was close to Cardiff’s city centre. Our instincts proved us right and the Pontcanna restaurant was born and has proved very popular ever since.

I understand that you’ve won awards for your cuisine.
Since opening, The Cinnamon Tree, Pontcanna has consistently been shortlisted as one of the best restaurants in Wales for the British Curry awards.

We’ve won Welsh Curry House of the Year and the South Wales Echo Curry House of the Year. Recently, we were voted one of the best five Indian restaurants in Wales.

Who are your customers?
Everyone is welcome here and we have a cross section of customers from families, couples and groups.

Being in Pontcanna we do seem to attract a high number of people from the media including Welsh opera singers and actors. Most of our customers return week after week, some even night after night and we’ve built up quite a rapport with many of them now.

I understand that you hold speciality fish evenings.
Yes, Enam is the creative one and has worked alongside renowned chefs in Wales on a consultancy basis. He creates and designs the fish menu and desserts. His speciality fish evenings now have a big fan base.

You now have a Cinnamon Tree at Peterstone Golf Club.
Yes it is quite unique. We took the plunge after talking with the owner and brought The Cinnamon Tree to the club. It turned out to be another good move. We feature in most golf magazines in the UK and have built up a following with golfers.

It has a banqueting hall and can cater for wedding parties of up to 200 people. It is a unique setting for a wedding and is becoming popular not only for Indian weddings but for people who enjoy Indian food and who want something a bit different.