Indian Spices
72 High Street, Sai Ying Pun
Tel: 2525 0740
Open: noon-3pm, 6pm-11pm
Cuisine: Indian
Price: about HK$200 without drinks or the service charge.
Pros: the service. Our waitress was smiling and so nice and sweet that we really wanted to like the food.
Cons: the menu is far too large, and tries to please everyone with its generic Indian-ness. One wonders whether the sauces are all made at once, and different types of meat are added according to what the customer wants, so you can order vindaloo with beef, lamb, chicken or prawns. The baigan (eggplant) masala (HK$79) didn’t have much flavour other than tomato. The meat in the lamb kadhai (HK$99) was tender, but the sauce, rather than being rich and complex, didn’t taste of much.
Recommended dishes: the samosas could be ordered with chicken or lamb (HK$65 for four) or vegetables (HK$45 for four). We asked for two vegetable and one each of the lamb and chicken and were charged HK$55, which was correct. They were hot, crisp and obviously home-made, and the fillings were distinctly flavoured, although we liked the vegetable (with potatoes and peas) the best. Aloo chat (HK$55) was a cool (but not straight out of the fridge) salady type of mixture with potatoes, tomatoes, chickpeas, onions and a tangy, refreshing dressing. From the tandoori selection, we picked the nawabi tikka (HK$99), which came on a sizzling platter topped with onions and a wedge of lemon, which the waitress said we should squeeze over the lightly seasoned breast meat chicken. It was my guest’s favourite dish, and he ate most of it.
