Spice Island

Every now and again you find a local restaurant which is genuinely reputable. The sort of establishment to which you look forward to returning. Don’t mistake me, I’ve not yet joined the ranks of the grand-a-night diners! However, I do enjoy good tasty food, professional service, consistency and value. I suppose I ought to have put consistency first on that list as to my mind knowing what you are going to get is very important. Perhaps my sense of adventure is deficient but I like knowing that my lamb dansak will taste very similar to the last one.

After a visit to our preferred Indian restaurant last night I thought it only right that I make a recommendation. After all, why should I keep this valuable information to myself?

A mistake often made by restaurants, especially given the emphasis the web receives today, is the failure to maintain an informative and interesting website. The Spice Island in Plumstead is no exception. It emerges very quickly that there is an appropriately named website listed. Unfotunately this is registered to a venue in another part of the country so I wouldn’t use their menu too much if you are going to be visiting their, completely unrelated, counterpart in south east London. On second thoughts I’m not sure I should mention it as using those place names will only cause confusion for googlers. (Edit).

So about the restaurant. You can find them here:

196-212 Plumstead Common Road
Woolwich
LONDON
SE18 2RS

There’s a small car park behind the building so if there’s no space available on the street to the front of the premsises you can try and park there.

The real appeal of the place is in the take away menu. If you place an order of more than ten pounds then you can choose a vegetable dish as a free extra. What this means practically is that you can have a delicious Indian for two hungry giants or three more normal appetites for a little over a tenner. Our usual arrangement is to place an order and put some rice on at the same time. Food is normally ready for collection after 20-25 minutes and the range and quality of the dishes is excellent. Like most small restaurants, if what you want isn’t listed then they will do all they can to accommodate your tastes.

I would go on to recommend some specific dishes at this point but before I do I want to point out that I am yet to be disappointed by anything I have order from this place. We often eat this food with friends and the inevitable mixing and matching that goes on with Indian food means that I have now tried a very large number of their dishes. They are all, even if I happen not to like ‘em, very good. The chicken tikka masala, a mainstay of British Indian orders, is excellent and very creamy and mild. Their Madras dishes are excellent and the Dansak dishes. A type of sauce which is hot and slightly sour and based on lentils is wonderful. Try it with the lamb!

I do enjoy my food photography and next time we order I’ll take some photos for you all to salivate over. In the mean time, why not give them a call yourself. Spice Island is open from 6pm. You can call them on 0208 316 5207. Do it now. Well, if you’re hungry and it’s after six!