Address: 252 Kensington Road,
LEABROOK SA 5068
Gallery/Testimonials
About Us
The Spice Kitchen was established in October 1989 as a one stop shop for authentic Indian food, recipes, Spice Blends, Chutneys etc. ‘The Dhaba’ developed as a casual eating place with a seasonally changing menu focussing on innovative, regional home-style, street foods, peasant, Tandoori and fine dining recipes all under the one roof letting you explore the many faces of Indian cuisine – Thus you can enjoy the best of charcoal roasted Butter Chicken, Biryani’s, Goan & Innovative Vindaloos, Traditional Dosa and little known recipes of Duck & Venison.
The menu reflects the influence of other cultures over a thousand years, namely the Ancient Romans, Greeks, Mongols, Portuguese, the Dutch and British. Coupled with the best of Australian produce, each dish is cooked from scratch. There are no bulk cooked meats and one sauce fits all tweaked with varying ingredients to produce same tasting curries. This is labour intensive cuisine maybe slightly more expensive but there are no short cuts to real Indian food.
Our Special value choices include the $15 Quickie Meal, our $49 Degustation Banquet, our 2/3 course Food and Wine Menu $60 or $70 respectively. Takeaway or Dine in Lunch Specials from $8.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Customers that have dined with us commented on their meals:
"great meals as always'
"Excellent Customer service. Beautiful Food"
"The service was excellent and the food was tasty, we really enjoyed our anniversary"
"Very Tasty + delightfully different but increditbly delicious!!!"
" Great dinner, Great service, Very Happy"
"Amazing food and excellent service. Woody was great help and very informativg -great experience over all (very full!) 10/10
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Discover that spice of life
Anyone feeling remotely bored with Indian food can reinvigorate their palate at Dhaba at the Spice Kitchen. Owner/chef Ragini Dey pushes boundaries with her innovative modern Indian cuisine. Dhaba (an Indian roadside cafe) opened about 16 years ago as a spin-off from Ragini’s original Indian takeaway and the restaurant has devotees throughout Adelaide.
We haven’t booked, expecting a mid-week evening to be quiet, but it was a full house with fleet-footed waiter Darren working wonders at front of house.
We kicked off with a quirky appetiser of a pappadum cone filled with chickpeas, rice bubbles and sev (fried snack) topped with tamarind and green chutney ($4.80). For entrée, little fermented rice and lentil batter pancakes called uthapam ($18) with cheese and potato topping were served with coconut chutney.
Main courses (ranging from $22 to $34) cater for adventurous diners with dishes such as korma curry made with duck and blood orange, while traditionalists can find butter chicken. We savoured a sublime, dark, glossy beef, caramelised onion, chocolate and rum masala ($29). A new take on the classic biryani ($26) was excellent. We loved our “Indian affogato” with coffee and walnut Kulfi (ice cream) and espresso shot, in addition to a reworked bread and butter pudding made with Naan and teamed with rhubarb and ginger.
Food: 4.5/5
Sevice: 4.5/5
Family friendly: 4/5
______________________________________________________________________________________
Advertiser Food Awards 2010
Best Indian - The Spice Kitchen
RAGINI Dey keeps on rolling out wonderful, innovative dishes still so true to the traditional fare of her home country.
Her menu changes with the seasons, an unusual asset in itself. Ask for uncommon preferences, such as brains, when you book and she will come up with an extra dish for her ever-changing specials list.
And, while the pure class of her menu has it a little higher in price, there are early-bird and banquet options that put it in everyone's reach.
From the starter which just revs the appetite snap, crackle and poppin' spicy stuffed pappadam cones topped with tamarind and green chutney to the ultra-mod tray of four vindaloos, her spare ribs, a gorgeous fruity Kashmiri naan and unbeatable kulfi, there seems to be no parallel in Adelaide.
The Spice Kitchen, 252 Kensington Rd, Leabrook; ph 8431 4288
______________________________________________________________________________________
"Street Foods by SK, a new arm to the award-winning Spice Kitchen, has been tucked into a drop-in space just off The Parade, in Margaret St.
"We're doing a special kind of cooking that can't be replicated in a regular restaurant setting," says owner Ragi Dey.
"The street food concept takes on different cultural influences. It replicates the foods you can buy at carts commonly found along the roadsides in India which don't have all the restaurant trappings, so the food has to be cooked fresh, on the spot and it needs to be easy to eat."
Ragi's son, Chiragh, is the manager of the diner which is a giant departure from the family's elegant Spice Kitchen. He insists street food is not to be confused with the modern perception of "junky fast food". It's "fresh, mainly locally-sourced food, fast curries rather than slow braises," he says.
"We use things that can be cooked quickly, tender cuts of beef, chicken and vegetables, put together while you wait," he says. "It's also an all-day thing. We can be busiest from 2-4pm, which is exactly what street food is about no sitting down at meal time, but picking up food when you need something."
Chef Jaswinder "Jassi" Singh could be mistaken for a pizza chef as he twirls Indian doughs into the air to quickly form a wrap which cooks in minutes in the tandoori oven.
His wonderful tandoori-baked and grilled breads envelop crisp salads and delicious Indian rubbed meats in wrap-style. Or, a must-try is an uthapam (pancake) lined with egg and filled with crisp salad and aromatic meat.
The menu offers a dozen versions of lassi, plus mulligatawny, a duck, potato and coconut fork-food number with lentils, plus popular
food in a bag like butter chicken pies and cardamom choc chip and orange cookies.
You can eat in but most prefer to dine on the go."
The Advertiser October 19th 2011
