Restaurant

Name: Spice Trader
Previously: Moved into Philpot Tandoori!
Area: Monument
Address: 9-10 Philpot Lane
London EC3M 8AA
Phone: 020 7929 2229
Website: www.spicetraderlondon.co.uk

Visits to this restaurant ...

1. 27 Dec 2001|2. 27 Apr 2006|3. 31 May 2007|4. 27 Nov 2014|5. 26 Nov 2015
6. 31 Oct 2019|7. 24 Feb 2022|8. 28 Sep 2023


Cerise? Has Mark 'broken cover' as a Strictly fan?

Visit Report

Visit Number: 234 (visit 6 of 8 for this restaurant)
Date of visit: 31 Oct 2019
Cost per head: £38.00 (2 beers)

Serv Amb Beer Start Nan Rice Main Veg VFM Score Comments
Overall 6.9 6.5 6.9 7.5 6.7 6.9 7.3 6.6 6.5 6.95
Jon 8 7 7 9 8 7 8 7 7.6 See Jon's comments
Mark 7 6 8 8 5 7 4 6 6.5 See Mark's comments
Graeme 8 7 6 9 7 9 7 8 7.8 See Graeme's comments
Neil 6 6 6 6 7 6 5 6.0 See Neil's comments
Dave 7 7 7 8 8 7 8 7 7 7.4 See Dave's comments
Robin 7 7 6 7 5 7 6 8 7 6.6 See Robin's comments
Alex 7 7 7 6 7 7 6 7 6.9 See Alex's comments
Tim 5 5 8 7 7 8 6 5 6.7 See Tim's comments

All Comments

Jon - Once again, the Spice Trader delivered for me – I don't think I've ever been disappointed.  Well located, not stupidly expensive especially when you consider the portion sizes, and maybe next time we don't need the usual number of veg dishes.  The Reshmee Kebab is now on-menu and was excellent, while my main course was only let down by the fact that the chicken in my Murgh Masala was on the bone, and not advertised as such.  There was plenty of it, however, and I didn't have to battle too much to get the meat loose.  All in all, an excellent meal and I hope we can revisit next year.

Mark - Ridiculous service delays in 'spoons as Dave tried to order via the app but overall quick in the Spice Trader after a slow start. Room much the same as when I last visited 5 years ago - a big shell of a room. Chicken tikka starter followed by Sag Gosh was all very acceptable but for some reason the rice was not the best from my view. Only had some mushrooms which seemed a bit plain. Could this be the end of an era with Robin heading to the coast? With more retiree's will we have a push for an afternoon curry one day? Watch this space.

Graeme - This was a very good meal. The only criticism I can make is that the portions were TOO BIG! Having over-eaten with my enormous Reshmi Kebab (with egg 'omelette') starter, I had to leave some of my Chicken Tikka Chilli Masala main (which was a shame because it was lovely). Everything else was good and, although it wasn't cheap, I thought it was well worth the money.

Neil - The 'farewell to Robin curry night', for ten years our membership has been constant but we now have a retiree. I'm sure he'll become a country member (I remember!). Drinks in the Crosse Keys not as painful as normal, we managed to get served at the bar without too much difficulty, don't use the order app. however, twenty min delay from what I could tell. Curry house was average, all food was fresh, quite zesty but not that spicy. Maybe the trick is to order a dish hotter than normal. Slightly overpriced but it is next to the Walkie Talkie visitor entrance so I expect they're charging for convenience.

Dave - Enjoyed our visit to the spice trader - Got lost walking from pub to restaurant so no spicy pops as plain already ordered. Had the griff set menu - prawn puri was very tasty and chicken curry also very good. no draught beer but mongoose made an interesting bottled alternative. I think this should retain top six status.

Robin - I had a quite nice reshmi kebab to start – tasty meat properly covered with egg, followed by what was supposed to be a lamb tikka balti. The lamb was nice enough – tasty and no gristle – but of tikka there wasn't even a hint. I think it was just a regular lamb balti, which although perfectly pleasant (quite nice sauce) wasn't what I was hoping for so I'm afraid I had to mark it down a bit. The special rice was fairly good and the veg dished were really good, but for what will probably turn out to be my final appearance for a curry night the meal was a little disappointing.

Alex - This meal was alright but I had expected better. Starter was short of flavour but heavy on salt, main was fine. Veg was, like the starter, leaning towards nondescript.

Tim - We were downstairs in an open-plan basement; the decor was a bit monochrome, rather soulless, but quite smart. The relatively unusual Mongoose beer was pleasant - a little more taste than the usual lagers. The lime chutney was nicely spicy. They were a little slow with the starters, given that the place was not that busy. The reshmi kebab was pretty large, though not all that interesting; the accompanying salad was very basic with no sauce, though they brought out a fresh pot of raita with the starters. There was an odd moment when they cleared the starters away, I handed over my plate with my dirty knife on it, and the waiter told me to take the knife off and put it on the tablecloth. He must have overheard me though as he brought out a clean knife a few minutes later. The main of chicken tikka chili masala was a decent size, quite spicy though more from the fresh green chillies than inherent spiciness in the sauce. The veg seemed OK, though I enjoyed the mushrooms less than usual (something about the texture). We finished with a free round of liqueurs, which was apparently "unusual", but welcome. Overall it was quite expensive, and I've felt better the next day.


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