‘It’s always been a dream of mine, a passion of mine, to open one of these restaurants’
Sutra in Treforest which has just opened on the site of the old Cinnamon Tree(Image: Sutra)
A new Indian restaurant has just opened at a Valleys premises that was home to a popular curry house for more than two decades. In 2024 the Cinnamon Tree moved to Ralph Street in Pontypridd from Tonteg Road in Treforest, where it had been located since 1999.
On March 25, 2026, first-time restaurateur Abu Nasser opened his new restaurant, Sutra, at the Tonteg Road site following a “dream” he has always held to run his own venue. The 45-year-old hopes to build on the location’s long-standing reputation for Indian food and praised the community response so far as “phenomenal”.
The new venture already has seven five-star ratings in Google with one diner raving: “Definitely the most tastiest Indian food I have ever had.” Get the latest Ponty news first by signing up to our newsletter here.
Speaking just days after the restaurant opened Abu said: “The support I’ve had from the local community here in Pontypridd has been phenomenal. I was going to use the word ‘fantastic’ but I don’t think that would justify the response I’ve had. I hope it continues that way.”
The Cinnamon Tree, Pontypridd, which has moved from Treforest and has been replaced with a new restaurant(Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne)
Abu, born in northern England, previously worked as a taxi driver before being employed by Transport for London. He said he came across the empty restaurant in 2025 and saw it as the perfect opportunity to pursue his passion.
He said: “We came across the building about eight, nine months ago. We revamped the whole place – we literally took it back to its bare bricks and modernised it and opened it up.
“It’s always been a dream of mine, a passion of mine, to open one of these restaurants and then this place came up in Pontypridd. After looking into Pontypridd I noticed it was all about the community – they are all very family-orientated. With it being my first restaurant this made it very exciting.”
Abu said he came across the empty restaurant in 2025 and saw it as the perfect opportunity to pursue his passion(Image: Sutra)
This passion is reflected in the restaurant’s name. “In India [Sutra] relates to a form of passion [such as] my passion to do a venue. I had been wanted to do this for many years and so that is where the name originally originated from.”
Abu, whose family originate from Bangladesh, said he has always had a passion for food, enjoying his mother’s Bangladeshi home cooking as well as south Indian food from his brother’s takeaway. He said his vision for Sutra is to marry the two flavours up in a “relaxed setting”.
“I have always had the passion for cooking,” he said. “I love my mum’s food and brother had a restaurant when I was young and I have always had that in my memory. He then closed up and retired from it but from there onwards opening a restaurant had always been a personal calling of mine.
“Nothing ever beat mum’s cooking and that’s why [I’ve gone for] the marriage of Indian and Bangladeshi. My background is the home-cooked Bangladeshi food and my brother binging us Indian food from the restaurant quite regularly. I equally enjoy both.”
Inside the new Sutra restaurant in Treforest(Image: Sutra)
Abu added: “One of my standout dishes is the shatkora and you can take that in a chicken or a lamb. This is made with a Bangladeshi citrus fruit and that gives it a really unique slightly tangy flavour. It has been proven popular in the restaurant.
“We have also added twists to certain traditional dishes i.e. the korma. I have a dish on my menu that is the mango korma – again [that’s] proven popular as well.
“There are a couple of spicy dishes for anyone who loves their spice. There’s a really nice spicy dish called a jamdhani – that’s a lovely dish as well, but that’s one for the spicier people, with south Indian flavours in it.” Children’s options are also available in keeping with the family atmosphere.
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