The Spice Lounge is a restaurant ‘on the tops’ between Sunnybower and Langho on Wilpshire Road near Parsonage Reservoir. It is a converted pub that many of you may remember as The Shepherd’s Rest. It has large lounges and seating for 150, but also offers a takeaway with delivery service.

After the effects of lots of ‘traditional’ food over the festive season we decided that an Indian takeaway would be a good way to kick start the new year. With five of us eating and having fallen into the trap of ordering too much food previously we decided on a set meal for 3 people and added an extra starter and poppadum and one more portion of rice.

We ordered online which included free delivery and with a promised delivery time of 45 minutes.

The food arrived exactly on time with a courteous delivery man. The food was well packed and was still piping hot.

We tucked into our starters, which included poppadums, 2 meat samosas, a large portion of onion bhaji and a portion of chicken hoppers (something we had not come across before!) The poppadums were large and crispy and came with 5 different pickles and chutneys. The onion bhaji, although a little soggy, were very tasty but not over spiced. The meat samosas were packed with meat and the hoppers were much like small spring rolls stuffed with spiced chicken. All were very good and everything was cleared. We even got two large trays of mixed salad including pickled chillies. All very well presented for a takeaway.

The main courses we had chosen were all chicken dishes and the sauces were korma, rogan josh and tikka massala. We also had 2 portions of pilau rice and one portion of mushroom pilau as well as two large naan bread (one plain and one garlic).

The curries were large servings, with the korma and tikka massala with perhaps too much sauce. The meat in all three was tender and had excellent cuts of chicken breast. The korma was very creamy and had a strong coconut flavour. The tikka massala was again very creamy and rich with a strong tomato background and lovely pieces of chicken from the tandoori oven. The rogan josh was a thicker and darker sauce stuffed with small juicy pieces of tomato. At first this dish tasted quite mild, but it was one of those that caught up with you a few moments later and the strength of the spices were much more apparent as they grew.

The rice dishes were light and fluffy and the mushroom pilau particularly good. Both naan breads were large and tasty and helped mop up the sauces.

The bill came to just over £33 for 5 of us, which considering the quality of the food and the free delivery was exceptionally good value for money.

We would heartily recommend The Spice Lounge for a takeaway and we hope to visit the restaurant soon.

You can visit their website here http://www.spiceloungerishton.co.uk/

Our rating 9 out of 10