Cafe Spice

Cafe Spice
35 S. 2nd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-627-6273

I made it back to Café Spice this past Sunday night, after staying away for several years (see "Appetizer-Gate” below). Aussie and I enjoyed it, including the décor, the service, and definitely the food.

The restaurant is just too new and nice and clean to remind me much about my journey to India this summer. I knew we weren’t in India when I used the bathroom at Café Spice – it didn’t actually smell like the hell-holes I pissed in throughout Bangalore, the "City of Gardens." I don’t think that even Sai Baba (aka "Fred 'Re-Run' Berry") could perform a miracle big enough to clean that place up.

Ah, India. What a trip. The poverty, the blight, the beggars – and that was just the ride through North Philly on the way to the airport!!

Anyway, Café Spice. One thing’s for sure – the food is the real deal, it’s tasty, spicy Indian food, as good as anything I’ve gotten in India or Nepal – and I love the food over there, maybe my favorite cuisine.

My chicken biryana rocked, and Aussie’s Nalli Ka Gosht was delicious – and they even made hers less spicy, as requested. Her dish was lamb - the menu says "marinated lamb shanks braised on a slow fire with whole spices." She picked it clean, took us about an hour to get through what we could.

As is normal at Indian places, the entrees came with a cup of “yogurt,” which is used to cool down your mouth from the hot spices. It’s not the Dannon-type yogurt that westerners are familiar with, it’s more of a curd-like, creamy salad dressing thingy. I like it a lot.

Oh – Appetizer-Gate!! Back in 1999, a dozen of us from the office took a colleague out for a going-away lunch at Café Spice. We asked if they had some appetizers to start us out with. They brought out two plates of sampler food, tasted real good – until we got the bill: $40 a plate, a total of $80 for both plates. The sampler plates weren’t actually on the menu, so they charged us whatever they could.

Dicks.

A couple people in the group argued when the bill came. I’m not even sure if we ended up paying the full $80, I just went outside with everyone else, vowing not to come back there. The whole thing was major cheesy. It kept me away all of these years.

The bill this time was $40, for the two of us, not too bad for Olde City, but obviously a bit much compared to the Indian buffets around town - many of which, by the way, have food that's just as good as Cafe Spice's.

Comments

[Estelle]

I tried Cafe Spice a couple of years ago, I loved the food but the place was a little too loud for me. We were a group of four people who barely knew each other, and having to yell while we were getting to know each other was a litle awkward! On the same street, I had a memorable meal at Serran's, the food was great and the atmosphere was very pleasant.