House of Spice ~ 61 St Aldate's, Tel. 242138

Reviewed
Jan 2003

With the wealth of Indian restaurants available in Oxford, it is difficult to offer something which can entice customers away from their local haunts. The House of Spice is probably in the mid-price range of Indian restaurants with main courses around the £5-7 range, with tasteful décor and sufficient space to cater for larger groups while providing couples with sufficient elbow room.

I feel it would be an injustice to begin without complimenting the standard of the food, which has been, without exception, fantastic every time I have eaten there. The menu contains the usual mixture of lamb, chicken and king prawn dishes, as well as a few house specialities, a large choice of starters and a selection of vegetable dishes, naans and rice. I last visited this restaurant on a Sunday evening and was delighted to discover the existence of a Sunday special, which consists of a starter, main dish, side dish, rice and naan all for the ridiculously cheap price of £11.50 per head. Needless to say, my party of fellow students and I welcomed the opportunity to explore the menu beyond the confines of the cheapest dish, and I was treated to a feast of prawn puri (with delightfully light pancakes), chicken rogan (neither too oily nor too thick), sag aloo, special fried rice (packed with flavour) and, possibly the highlight, a deliciously fluffy plain naan to top the meal off. With house wine and a few Tiger beers, the total came to around £20 a head, which is fairly reasonable, especially given the quantities consumed!

Unfortunately the service really lets this place down, and every time I have visited the meal has taken hours to arrive despite it not being particularly busy. This is not too much of a problem in itself, considering the amounts that were placed in front of us, but on my most recent visit, the service was not only slow, but entirely sporadic, with each member of my party receiving their dishes at unacceptable intervals, and some dishes not arriving until requested several times. It may be that the kitchen simply struggles with larger parties as I have always visited in a group of at least eight, and the food is probably worth sampling, but only if you have a full evening to spare.

Victoria Head