At Spice Lounge

MY  husband tells me with concern that this is a mild winter. Doesn’t feel like that in the pre-dawn hours before the sun starts warming us up — but already jasmine is starting to flower, the wild ginger is sprouting purple and courgettes fruit bravely in the vegetable garden.

All the same I am freezing unless I can follow the cat’s example and move from sunny spot to sunny spot throughout the day. Hot food and bright colours are the answer to keeping warm.
Bright colours abound at Ewanrigg Botanical gardens about half an hour from the tollgate on the Shamva Road. These gardens are spectacular at this time of year with huge swathes of flowering aloes and succulents covering the hillsides and rockeries. Sprawling red, orange and yellow aloes with their intricate leaves, giant aloes standing sentry against the huge old msasas, pink flowering frangipani and swollen succulent trees and shrubs all make for a stunning display. The old herb garden on top of the hill is past its former glory but picnic sites are well kept with new braai stands and nice seating areas. (entry US$3 for adults)
Spices work well in winter with colours, scents and tastes — sandy coloured ground ginger, bright orange turmeric, red chillie, scarlet paprika, tea coloured cloves, yellow saffron — conjuring up hot sunshine and humid tropical summers.
We expected the Spice Lounge in Kensington to satisfy our desire for warmth and almost succeeded. Some sunshine penetrates the broad verandah but the inside rooms feel cold in this season. It’s spacious with a couple of large inner rooms as well as the veranda and green garden. Crispy snacks served with a really good fresh chillie sauce and a delicious green coriander chutney kept us going while we waited for our starter. Menu is extensive and from a long list of starters — ranging from US$4 for samoosas to US$10 for tandoori lamb chops, we chose prawn pakora (US$8) crispy deep fried prawns in a spicy batter. There were six in the portion and they were delicious — great crunchy texture in a light and delicate batter.
Other starters include fish, chicken and vegetarian tikkas cooked in the tandoor as well as lamb shish kebab and vegetable cutlets. Now under new management, the food and service is certainly much better though unfortunately they still charge from US$1 to US$2 extra for all accompaniments —raita, pickles, achaar and chutneys.
We ordered palak paneer (spinach and home made Indian cheese) and Goan prawns (US$14) for mains — accompanied by naan bread. Never easy to know the spice temperature of a new kitchen so we erred on the side of caution and ordered medium. Next time we will go for hot. I expected the prawn curry to be much spicier and the palak paneer was very mild. But both dishes were well cooked and tasty. Most vegetarian mains are US$10 and there is a lot to choose from – okra, potatoes, chick peas, different paneer (cheese) dishes, cauliflower and dhals. Treats from the Tandoor oven include chicken, naan and lamb kebabs. Otherwise choose fish, lamb or chicken — no beef. Chicken dishes include butter chicken and jeera chicken — a gujerati special and there is a variety of biryanis.
Small Indo Chinese menu looked interesting and will be keen to try some of those starters next time — chicken rolls looked tempting- chicken mince rolled in a light dough as did the chillie chicken and paneer tikka in a sweet and sour sauce.
Desserts (mostly US$5) included cardamom flavoured chocolate brownies, carrot halva, favourite sticky gulab jamon and barfi icecream for warmer weather.
g.jeke@yahoo.com