Bank on the Bengal Spice (Bengal Spice)

Member Name: ermintrude

Product:	Bengal Spice
Date:	31/05/01 (424 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Affordable, good food, different style to many other Indian restaurants

Disadvantages: Very slow service at busy times, not in the very centre of town, (this can be an advantage :)

For a not-very-cosmopolitan city, Norwich sure has a lot of Indian restaurants. (This is partially balanced out by there being a dearth of Chinese restaurants, I suppose.) The Bengal Spice just happens to be one of the better ones, and as such has become the regular haunt of me and my student friends.

There you go. Students like it. What more of a recommendation could you ask for?

You want more? Damn, thought I could get away with a 75-word review :)

Okay, I think I may have just painted an unfair picture - the Bengal Spice is not an exclusively studenty hangout. It's not involved in the age-old "curry wars" of Norwich (between the Nazma and the Passage to/Prince of India), so it's not dirt cheap, and also it's not on the Prince of Wales Road, where the clubs and pubs are concentrated. On the bright side, this means it's fairly quiet and devoid of late-night invasions by the worse-for-wear mob, so you can enjoy your rogan josh in peace.

Slightly more stylish than its flock-wallpaper-and-booth-seating cousins, the Bengal Spice features wood panelling which not only gives a warm, cosy atmosphere in the lamplight, but also points to the building's previous incarnation as a bank. The owners appear to have foregone the idea of installing those irritating cramped, fixed seats so often found in Indian restaurants, and instead plumped for normal tables and chairs - thus allowing you to plump for the full meal without fear of getting stuck. Sadly, this bucking of tradition didn't extend to the fake plants (they're everywhere), but there is a nice individual touch in that local art is included with the traditional paintings of Indian scenes on the walls.

Enough atmosphere. What about the food? Well, this is why my friends and I keep coming back - it's good and affordable. For example, from their wide-ranging menu you can get a good main course (everything from korma to chili masala), rice (
pilau, vegetable, mushroom and more), and one of their wide selection of naans (such as keema, peshwari, or just plain) for about £10-11, so you're looking at well under £20 including poppadoms and drinks.

Some unusual specialities can be had for higher prices, but are worth it if you have the cash (hash e hash, a very tasty hot duck dish, is £8 or so). Vegetarians have a good choice, as you'd expect from an Indian restaurant, with vegetable dishes ranging from brinjal bhaji to mater paneer. Finally, there's also a 10% student discount on all food - hurrah :) The usual selection of drinks is available, including both Cobra and Kingfisher, at the usual inflated prices of over £2.50 a pint.

One warning I have is that the food tends to be on the hot side (compared to the same dishes in other restaurants) - you will find plenty of whole and part chillies in the hotter dishes (anything described as "medium" or above on the menu), so watch out!

There is a single bad point, which I found on a return visit long after this review was first written. Popularity can have its downsides I guess, and on a visit in a group of 14 we were subject to delay after delay, from being seated, to drinks orders being taken, to food orders being taken, to the food actually arriving. The whole thing took 3 hours (we arrived at 8pm, and were just in time for last orders at the nearby Ten Bells pub). We didn't feel that was especially reasonable.

The only other thing of note is that the toilets are up a long, narrowish corridor with steps, and therefore not disabled-friendly, although the rest of the restaurant would be, as there is plenty of space.

It is still a good curry house, and probably one of the best in Norwich in terms of the food, but my friends and I are now wary of visiting in anything approaching a "large" group, especially on a busy night. Maybe if we went back, we'd have the perfect night out, b
ut with many other places to explore, it might be a while before we do.

Summary: