Spice Junction

When a Taiwanese friend told me that she wanted to visit Little India and have Indian food for lunch, I learnt that the reason she wanted to have her fill on Indian food here is due to the fact that Indian food is very expensive in Taiwan.

So after looking up HungryGoWhere.com, I decided to make my way down to Spice Junction and have a hearty meal.

The setting is a simple eatery but has a cozy feel. I started with the Tandoori Chicken which marinated with yogurt and was surprisingly tender. Then came the Mutton Vindahloo. The waiter warned all of us Chinese pilgrims that this was a spicy dish but it turned out alright. The gravy I felt lacked the "oomph" factor.

Next was the fish curry, which was a disappointment as it was a tad too soggy. Finally we had the Butter Chicken which was too overpowering in yogurt.

In general, I felt that this place had an over-use of yogurt to put flavour to the dishes but I felt that it otherwise did not have the same thick and tasty curries that I am quite accustomed to when I visit Indian restaurants. While quality is not fantastic,prices are very reasonable. Service was attentive yet not intrusive.

Looking at the glowing reviews, was anticipating a great meal.

Our party of four went on a Wednesday evening and were the only group in the restaurant. Gayatri's next door was bustling.

We had the mutton vindaloo, pepper paneer, aloo gobi and butter chicken. I like my paneer and was really disappointed with the pepper paneer as it was done Chinese-style, the paneer portions were tiny and it was like eating kung pao paneer. My companions pronounced the vindaloo and butter chicken to be ordinary. Everyone however really liked the aloo gobi.

The butter naan which I ordered came burnt :(

Service was good - attentive.

I love Spice Junction because it is the one place in Little India where I dont have to eat oily food with way too much masala and food colouring, and the food actually smells nice.

I am from Kerala, so I can vouch for the authencity and taste at this place. I love bringing people here and letting them experience Malayali cuisine, which is so different from the crap that passes for Indian cuisine at most places. Everything tastes home-made and honest. The lunch set meals are totally worth it, because they serve all the different vegetables and one serving of meat and a generous helping of rice. It is a great place to bring your family and friends.

Well, I succeeded.

I 'encouraged' my colleagues to do our annual Deepavali lunch at Spice Junction (mini yay). They were planning on Go India but I did the smart thing of pointing them to some of the Go India reviews here, especially about the buffet and my job was done. (Oh no, what if they read my 'I'll get my colleagues to Spice Junction' review! Argh!)

Anyhoo, we are a group of 18 so we made reservations early and even got out of the office early to make our 12.30 slot. The restaurant was fairly full but we pretty much took up one whole section. The standard long table, except it looked reeaallly long.

Everyone HAD to wear something Indian and the girls, actually, babes really turned it on. The Indian colleagues looked...well, like they had just arrived from India while the Chinese gals really looked the business. Very pwetty in their shawls, Indian tops, bindis, cleavage...Ha.

Nice.

We settled down, got some drinks going...everything from strawberry lassi to India's beer, Kingfisher. All good.

Then the mega orders started. We pretty much ordered the house. Everything from Chicken 65, Butter Chicken, Mutton Vindaloo, Vegetable stew, Fish curry, some Prawn sambal thingy, to Pepper Paneer (hey, where did that come from? Heh) with briyani rice, normal white rice and prata.

The food arrived soon and EVERYONE couldn't get enough of almost everything. The girls who do the usual bird like eating were like going from 'Who wants to share a prata?' to 'I want a prata for myself!'. It was quite a sight. And by the end of lunch, we had pretty much licked dry some of the plates/dishes. I kid you not.

There was a smoke break of sorts (more babes than boys smoke in our office - sigh) before we started on desserts.

Again, we had everything and this time while most agreed that Indian desserts should come with an insulin jab or a heart monitor, everything disappeared magically yet again.

While the general consensus was that lunch was a mega success, the top 5 rated items were as follows:

1) Mutton Vindaloo - spicy shiok feeling with tender mutton pieces
2) The prawn sambal thingy (didnt check the name, it's the most expensive prawn item on the menu)
3) Butter Chicken - standard Indian fare done without the jelak feeling
4) Pepper Paneer - second time around and still like first love
5) Chicken 65 - would make for a great beer snack...we ordered like 7 plates of this!

We were still singing the praises (in-between spice burbs) as we made our way back to the office. And you won't believe this! The girls actually ordered a huge Old Changkee takeaway less than an hour later for tea! What the..!!!

I had a blast (er, might feel a blast when I go to the loo this morning). A thoroughly enjoyable lunch at what must be one of my favourite restaurants along Race Course Road now. Heightened by Indian-garbed colleagues who served up great eye candy along with some good 'ol fashioned Indian-like gossip *wink*

Yappy Deepavali indeed!

This restaurant (126 Race Course Road, S218585, tel:63417980) apparently serves cuisine from the coastal Indian states of Goa and Kerala. Which probably means that seafood is a specialty. Unfortunately, we had somehow overlooked all that seafood stuff and picked a bunch of other dishes like the coconut mutton fry, some mutton with tapioca dish which was a serious carbs overload, an interesting and pretty tasty stir fried cauliflower and spices dish called gobi manchurian. Of the three mentioned dishes, the coconut mutton fry and the gobi manchurian turned out pretty good with the former fried meat being surprisingly fragrant on the exterior and being quite spicy. The slivers of coconut turned out crunchy and quite tasteless though. These things gave me the prickly sensation up my scalp, so that says something about the level of spiciness. Topped onto the orders were a puttu, kashmiri naan (again!! this will be the last time) and of course, lassi. The attentive service that is rendered at the restaurant is excellent and very polite. Many others could learn a thing or four from them.

I think we ordered a little too much for two persons. The steaming hot puttu came in a size that looked like it could almost feed three persons and it was way too much fillers for a meal, considering that there was a large quantity of starchy tapioca and then, there was still naan. I think we might have gotten a little too greedy and overestimated here, but we'll learn from this (again!) the next time round. One of the specialties of the restaurant seem to be the Malabar briyani. That might be perhaps, for another time.


Original write up and pics

Kerala is a lush green beautiful coastal state in India, and is very famous for its cuisine - especially the non-vegetarian dishes and sea food specialties. Spice Junction does total justice to the Kerala cuisine with its authentic taste and uncompromising use of ingredients and cooking style.

The typical (read, touristy) Indian restaurants in Singapore offer a plethora of 'attractive' curry-based dishes, which normally leave an oily yellow stain on your fingers and a heavy undigested sensation in your tummy. Eat as much as you want at Spice Junction and you will still feel a perfect satisfaction without all these 'unhealthy side effects'.

Be it the traditional Malabar Biriyani made in jeeraka champa rice or flaky and non-oily Kerala Parotta made to perfection, be it the traditional chicken curry (kozhi varutharacha curry) or deep fired mutton coconut fry... everything tastes like how it's made back home. Head down to Spice on a weekend and enjoy the 101% authentic Kerala lunch buffet. A full non-veg (3 dishes) + veg (many) + payasam (dessert) spread served with brown or white rice and naan is just 13$.

Much to the delight of non-veg loving Keralites like me, Spice has recently introduced the traditional spicy beef delicacies as well. Every time I down it with a glass of cold Sambharam, I feel like being taken back in time... all the way to Trivandrum, my home town.

Are you a lover of good healthy authentic food? If you haven't been to Spice Junction yet, you're really missing something. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

There's only one other place where I've tasted Kerala food cooked any better than at Spice Junction. Needless to say, that's at my home... my Mom's culinary magics.

I have been to this restaurant a few times. Its great for real authentic good food. Appams and dosas are good which should be tried with the mutton stew (not spicy). The kerala Malayali cuisine is as authentic as it can get. Kappa (tapioca) & Meen (fish) curry is good & spicy. So is their mutton fry with coconut chips which you can have with good parota (roti canai). The biryanis are not worth the trouble.

They serve the standard range of drinks both alcoholic & non alcoholic. The menu has had an overhaul recently but then again most are still the same items. Hence it could be boring after a few repeated visits.

Service is friendly and fast. Can get crowded during weekends and during festivals such as Onam. Clientèle are mostly Malayali expatriates who long for some home type of food but that doesnt mean that the restaurant does not get local diners looking for good food.

Overall a good place but sandwiched between Muthu's curry and Gayatri Restaurants, it can be easily missed.