Don’t you just love it when a great restaurant opens within easy walking – or staggering – distance of home? In a perfect world it would be a Spanish restaurant, but a close second is Indian. Back in April, Spice City opened in the old Witchery building on the La Finca Commercial Centre in Algorfa, and we were one of the first people to try it out. Our favourite Indian restaurant in the area is Punjabi Palace in Los Montesinos, so the lovely staff at Spice City had a job on their hands if they were going to convince us to convert.
The first time we ate there, we opted for the €8.95 Lunchtime Special. That’s puppadoms and pickles, followed by any main course chicken or lamb dish with rice or naan, a dessert or coffee and a drink. The food was excellent, but we did have one minor issue – you couldn’t call it a complaint. At Punjabi Palace, all the main courses come out over a tea light burner, which keeps the food really hot if you want to linger over lunch or dinner. If you’re a real lingerer, it’s best to go for a Tandoori dish, which comes out on a sizzler plate.
That’s by the bye, because this review concerns what I honestly believe is the best meal deal in these parts, aside from Restaurante Alquibla. The Special Evening Meal for Two comes in at €30 per couple, and for that you get two starters, two main courses with rice, naan or one of each, a vegetable dish to share, and a bottle of wine. However, if you want to try one of Spice City’s fabulous prawn dishes, opt for a la carte, because they are not included in the meal deal. Pretty much everything else is, though, so there’s plenty of choice.
The first time we opted for this deal, we asked for puppadoms too – after all, you can’t have an Indian without puppadoms, can you? It would be like Bonnie without Clyde, or me without cava and vodka – utterly unthinkable! It turns out the puppadoms are in on the deal anyway, and when we took our great granddaughter Madison with us, they even gave us an extra puppadom for her. Most of it ended up on the floor, but hey, they needn’t have done that. At 7 months, she had a great introduction to Indian food, and the staff made a real fuss of her, even though our table and the surrounding area looked like the epicentre one of the famous Algorfa Earthquakes!
Our last visit to Spice City was just before I flew to England, and we took along our friends Paul and Venessa to 
introduce them to its delights. What I like about Spice City is that you get a warm welcome, whether it’s your first visit or, like us, you’re a regular diner. The staff make you feel at home the moment you walk through the door.
It took a while to decide what we were having, but in the end we plumped for lamb tikka and chicken tikka, plus onion bhajis and vegetable pakora for starters. As you can see, they don’t do small servings at Spice City, and by the time we’d fought our way through the puppadoms and the starters, we were seriously worried about where the main courses would fit in. In fact it looked very much like we’d be taking most of it home for the next day, and that’s pretty much what happened. One word of advice – never go to Spice City in a fitted dress or slightly tight trousers, because you will regret it!
We asked for a ceasefire in the food fest while we digested the starters and made inroads into the wine. When we finally got to the main event, Tony’s face told me he bitterly regretted ordering the Special Tandoori Mixed Grill, because there was no way he was going to work his way through all that. I felt the same about my Special Biryani, although Paul and Venessa did pretty well with their Chicken Balti and Chicken Dhansak. Still, it saved me having to cook the next night!
The Bombay Potatoes and Aloo Gobi, along with pilau rice and naan, were the perfect accompaniments. Everything was nice and hot, and perfectly cooked. I don’t know what magic they work on the lamb, but it was so tender you didn’t need a knife, you could cut it with the fork. Another thing that is a bit of a hobby horse of mine is the plates. Restaurants always get extra Brownie Points if they serve up my meal on a hot plate, and Spice City do just that.
For me, Spice City ticks all the boxes. It’s close to home, the food is great, the staff are friendly and the prices are right. If you haven’t checked out this great Indian restaurant already, why not try it soon? And tell them Sandra sent you – or better still, give us a shout and we’ll tag along with you!
If you enjoyed reading this, check out my blog Sandra In Spain