Spice Lounge - Hale (Cheshire) Review

T 0161 929 4444
A 112 - 114 Ashley Road, Hale, Cheshire, WA14 2UN
W www.spiceloungehale.co.uk

June’s curry saw the CurryCouncil visit the Spice Lounge, located right in the heart of Hale. This was following a recommendation from their sister restaurant – the Barinda in Cheadle. It was a good turnout from the Council members (with even Loaf coming out of Stockport for the night) with only Dayo missing (surprise!) due to apparently suffering with a week long virus.

The restaurant (with a combined in-house takeaway) is located on the main road, surrounded by fancy bars and cafes, in the exclusive location of Hale village in South Trafford. Consequently, parking was rather limited directly outside with some of us having to park on the side streets nearby. However, due to the high-class neighbourhood, you don’t have any fears of anything untoward happening to your vehicle whilst you dine.

First impressions of the premises were excellent and the Spice Lounge certainly lives up to its website description of being a fantastically stylish, modern Indian restaurant. The furniture and décor could not be faulted with the place having quite a cool and trendy atmosphere with numerous pictures and photographs of famous musicians on the walls, leaving you feeling that you were in the curry equivalent of the Hard Rock Café.

There were not a lot of other customers when we first arrived but by the time we left a couple of hours later, there was a fair crowd in.

We were shown to a large table in the centre of the place and lovely cold pints of Kingfisher were soon being supped, while we mulled over the extensive menu, which we hoped would be being prepared by the restaurants “award winning chef”. Fresh pops and a variety of dips were devoured whilst the Council discussed the recent England football debacle, with only Dave sticking up for the lazy overpaid gits.

Starters arrived before too long and were well received with Woody enjoying a Shami Kebab and CMS tucking into the Tandoori Chicken which was a big daddy piece of chicken wing. Other members stuck with the usual selection including a large tasty Chicken Chaat.

Mains took a while to arrive but were worth the wait with the Council trying a variety of dishes as is par for the course these days. The restaurant advertises how dishes can be tailor-made to suit your palette and with Dave and Woody specifically ordering ‘non-Spring Chicken’, this was probably the reason behind the slight delay.

Good-sized portions were served up with a mixture of Boiled and Pilau Rice along with accompanying Nan’s of Plain, Peshwari and Garlic – which were all very nice.

Woody thought the Chicken Shahee (Chicken and minced lamb combined with butter, spices, tomatoes and onion – with several boiled eggs on top) was excellent and CMS enjoyed the “nice and not too spicy” Chicken Mossommon (the Chef’s specialty, cooked to his own secret recipe).

The bill arrived at £26.50 each, with a tip, which we felt may have been a tad expensive with the Council thinking that the fashionable location may have upped the price somewhat. However, the food was of a very good standard with great portion sizes and faultless service too. All in all, the Council felt that the Spice Lounge is well worth a visit and gets a big thumbs up.