Restoran Spice Palace is an Indian restaurant at Wangsa Melawati. Unlike neighboring restaurants, the restaurant’s environment pales in comparison. Spice Palace does not have air-conditioning, therefore the dining area is quite warm and stuffy during our early evening dinner.
The menu offers a number of Indian and Pakistani dishes, mostly featuring lamb and chicken in various curry styles. There are also familiar dishes like nasi goreng (fried rice), paratha (unleavened flatbread similar to roti canai) and chappati (another type of unleavened flatbread). Considering the store’s atmosphere, the price is quite expensive.
Each of us ordered the Banana Leaf Rice (RM6.00). In reality, a banana leaf-like plate is used to serve the rice and dishes. All items on the plate are refillable upon request.
One vegetable dish is made of stewed potatoes, carrots and green peas. It is very spicy due to liberal use of cili padi (bird’s eye chili). It is advisable to remove the cili padi if you are not used to spicy food. Overall, this vegetable dish is reasonably nice.
Another vegetable dish is made of okra (ladies’ fingers), but not as spicy as the previous one.
There is a small patch intense chili pepper sauce at a corner of the plate. Please be advised that it is extremely spicy. Avoid it totally if you have low tolerance to spiciness.
The papadum is not as crispy as expected. I believe it has been left out for a while and exposed to air.
We ordered a Lamb Curry (RM7.50) as a side dish. The amount of lamb served is reasonable and consists mostly of meat, not rib bones. The curry also uses lots of onions for added pungency. This moderately spicy curry is quite good in taste.
As for the Chicken Curry (RM5.50), the stew only contains a pathetically-small piece of chicken drumstick with a little curry. Certainly not worth the price paid.
The complimentary bowl of Daal Curry is served warm. Made from yellow peas and carrots, this curry is quite thick and rich in starchy pea flavor. This curry can also be replenished but we did not request for refills.
For drinks, we ordered the Horlicks Tarik (RM2.00). Surprisingly, this reasonably-large glass of Horlicks is made quite thick. Normally a glass of Horlicks of this size and thickness commands a price tag around RM2.50 to RM3.00.
Spice Palace has one or two reasonably nice curry, but the overall feeling is that the food is overpriced in most cases.
