Spice Grill -
Summary 
Back to the Spice Grill in Queensway, Bletchley, for the first time since September 2007 – how time flies! A good turnout of 12 members and a guest had us worrying about seating, but we were thinking about the very small Queensway Tandoori, before it was expanded to the Spice Grill, capable of more than 30 covers. These earlier visits to the Queensway Tandoori and the Spice Grill both had excellent marks for food.
Rendezvous at the Bletchley Arms was disappointing since it was shut, so the Enigma Tavern had an early evening bonus for an hour.
Back to the Spice Grill, who were ready for us. Poppadoms and six pickles, draught Kingfisher and Cobra. Good traditional (Bangladeshi) curry house menu.
The orders for starters were taken just quickly enough and for main courses shortly after. On the whole the comments on the starters were favourable, but one recurring theme was lack of character of the prawn (king or otherwise) puree. Onion barjees were marked as good as were meat samosas. Again a special order of reshmi kebab was provided.
As ever, the group order covered a wide range of main courses. Marks were favourable but again if there was one recurring theme, it was the lack of heat/spiciness. My own garlic chilli lamb matched this description, but I was told in no uncertain terms about 24 hrs later that there was no shortage of garlic. Sundries and veg dishes were marked well and there were outstanding comments from the usual plain naan boys.
Outside the food, Scott was invited into the kitchen in passing, which he described as faultless. Nick came over all funny, no doubt due to a hard week at work, and the staff drove him home – that’s service.
The staff were friendly and responsive throughout the evening which is always nice to see. Large parties often tend to get a little loud, and we did. Hats off to the ladies seated opposite who joined in with a little bit of banter.
The overall mark came in the top few, repeating their previous good scores. This was perhaps helped with excellent scores for service. Our comments on the lack of punch to some of the dishes are purely subjective. Once you get to know a menu from a restaurant, often a favourite dish is ordered a little hotter/milder than standard to suite a personal taste.
Though not my personal favourite, I’d have no problem in recommending the Spice Grill, which I think is probably the view of just about everyone who was there from the MK Curry Club.
Judge Balti
Common Curry -
A 3 star certificate has been awarded.
A banquet night is available.
Web site -
Other Comments
Positive:
- Terrific manager and staff, friendly, accomodating and fun
- Allowed us to visit and photograph the kitchen
- Rashmi kebab starter (not on menu), good taste and filling
- Tasty king prawn butterfly
- Onion bhajee, four small balls, quite good
- Kebab E Aloo palak, very tasty with a tingly sauce
- Good rice, nans fresh and light
- Flavoursome lamb methi
- Chicken Karahi, tender and tasty
Negative:
- Pura salmon starter only average
- King prawn puree was chewy and tasteless
- Prawn puree, very heavy going
- Chicken chat, tender but not enough spice
- Rogan Josh far too mild, a stew
- Lamb Pathia, a bit inconsistent in tenderness
- A lot of the food was served more mild than usual
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