Restaurant
Name: | Herb & Spice | |
Status: | Closed | |
Area: | Spitalfields | |
Address: | 11 White's Row | |
London E1 7NF | ||
Phone: | 020 7247 4050 | |
Website: |
Visits to this restaurant ...
1. 24 Feb 2000 | | | 2. 28 Nov 2002 | | | 3. 27 Mar 2003 | | | 4. 29 Jul 2004 | | | 5. 31 Mar 2005 |
6. 22 Feb 2007 | | | 7. 31 Jan 2008 | | | 8. 26 Nov 2009 | | | 9. 27 Oct 2011 | | | 10. 28 Aug 2014 |
Visit Report
Visit Number: | 52 (visit 4 of 10 for this restaurant) | |
Date of visit: | 29 Jul 2004 | |
Cost per head: | £22.50 (2 beers) |
Serv | Amb | Beer | Start | Nan | Rice | Main | Veg | VFM | Score | Comments | |
Overall | 6.6 | 5.1 | 6.3 | 6.8 | 7.1 | 7.1 | 7.8 | 7.3 | 7.0 | 6.87 | |
Dave | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 8.1 | See Dave's comments |
Robin | 7 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7.1 | See Robin's comments |
Graeme | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 6.5 | See Graeme's comments |
Mark | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6.2 | See Mark's comments | |
Neil | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7.2 | See Neil's comments |
Tim | 8 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6.4 | See Tim's comments | |
Alex | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8.0 | See Alex's comments | |
Brian | 6 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5.7 | See Brian's comments |
John | 6 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6.6 | See John's comments |
All Comments
Dave - What more can you say about the Herb & Spice - I have run out of superlatives. Another A1 performance from the king of the curry houses!
Robin - Another excellent performance from the Herb & Spice, which it makes all the harder to understand why once again we were the only customers in the place until shortly before we left. My king prawn puree was every bit as good as last time, and the chicken dupiaza, although not quite as hot as I would have preferred, was very tasty indeed. The plain nans were simply superb. Griff also did not disappoint (he always seems to go a bit bonkers when we visit this, his favourite curry house), and treated us to a few verses of a rather rude song involving allegations of equestrian molestation by some of those present. Fortunately I managed to make a recording of parts of this, which hopefully we can share on our web site once the appropriate legal advice has been obtained.
Graeme - I like the Herb & Spice although I'm not quite sure why as my marks don't necessarily reflect this. It doesn't perform particularly highly on many of the individual criteria, although the food quality and price are both reasonable. Maybe it's a bit quirky because it's so small. There was a bit of a rush on just before we left - 2 more punters came in! My main course (a sweet & sour curry, quite hot - I can't remember the name of the dish) was the nuts - tender chicken, spicy, tasty. There was no draft Indian beer - something I always find a little disappointing. It was a strange evening - I found myself taking Griff's side in his argument with Rats - I'll probably get a visit from some of Rat's new Essex mates soon.
Mark - Usual H&S outing with slow service, no ambience but good food. Also, text message from Richard in Sweden, no door injuries and winning a fiver from Robin. Lamb tikka starter was a delicate dish (unlike Griff's ex who now lives with pigs!) but a touch heavy on the onions. Chicken Tandoori (1/2) was 2 large pieces on the bone served with a very good mushroom rice. We were the only people in the place until the very end but it still took ages to serve the food. Always worth a visit but go with a crowd. Well done to Diggers for getting out the day before his wife's birthday and to Brian for getting out at all. Nice shave Graeme!
Neil - Another fine night at the Herb and Spice. Shame about the lack of other customers, I can't believe we scared them off though. That said, service was a tiny bit slow. Plenty of time for a light weight like myself to drink two Cobras, however, so not a bad thing on a hot night. The garlic nan was extremely strong, I didn't notice this at the time but it was made quite clear to me the next day. What an excellent turn out for a July event and good to see Alex on his annual outing. Conversation highlight: Griff's ex is now a pig farmer.
Tim - A quiet night at the H&S; we were the only people there. Prawn puree starter was good. Chicken rezalla main course was quite tasty, though somehat hotter than expected. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a lot of onion and shortage of chicken in it. Service was attentive, beer was standard.
Alex - Good place + fun cabaret provided by the famous duo Griff & Tighe.
Brian - A decent enough meal, but I'm afraid the H&S is just too small, hence the low ambience score. Only Carlsberg on draught, which was also a bit disappointing.
John - Another good performance by the H&S. Although the Chicken Chat starter was nothing special, the Chicken Balti main is highly recommended. The veg was very tasty too. I marked down ambiance as we were the only punters. Probably a good thing considering the fiesty mood that Griff was in. It was nice to see Brian for his annual CC appearance and it was good to see that he's given up drinking milkshakes.