31/10/2022

Spice Merchant, Leek

Spice Merchant opened last month in the Staffordshire Moorlands market town of Leek. I ate dinner there on Saturday night and found Indian and Bangladeshi dishes of a high standard with beautifully judged spicing.

With a combination of old favourites and not so familiar dishes, I think this friendly restaurant, bar, and takeaway represents great value and recommend it.

LEEK’S NEWEST RESTAURANT

Spice Merchant, Leek’s newest Indian and Bangladeshi restaurant, bar, and takeaway, opened its doors last month. But if you haven’t been paying attention, you could be forgiven for thinking it’s been there a lot longer.

That’s because it’s based in Cross Street Mill which has been home to an Indian restaurant or takeaway of some kind for a number of years. As Qarma Tandoori it was one of my very first reviews as a blogger back in 2017.

For a short while the site came under the Maazi chain before returning to the Qarma team. But the pandemic meant tough times for the hospitality industry everywhere. After a series of lockdowns, rules being lifted, then tightened again, the site ended up empty.

Now, Cross Street Mill is home to a new venture: Spice Merchant. It’s under the same owners who ran Qarma but this time, I’m told, they’ve joined forces with those of Bon-o-phool, formerly of Congleton.

Re-reading my old Qarma review, I see there were two main reasons for me recommending it. First, I liked that as well as offering British Indian restaurant classics, the menu included dishes less familiar to most of us. Second, I thought that the spicing was very well judged. Back then, I considered it was the best I’d had since leaving my old hometown of Leicester – which knows a thing or two about this cuisine.

So, how does Spice Merchant compare?

THE MENU

I always go to a restaurant’s website to read their menu before heading out. If you do the same, be aware that in this case you’ll be viewing the takeaway menu. Which is not exactly the same as that in the restaurant. As you’d expect with all the necessary overheads, prices in the restaurant are also higher.

But there are loads of choices on both menus, whether you’re after an old favourite or something you haven’t tried before. While partner ID and I were choosing, we were given complimentary poppadums and a chutney tray to snack on. From the bar, we drank Cobra beer (£5.50 for 660ml, £3.50 for 330ml).

STARTERS

For my starter I went for something I hadn’t tried before: the Katti Roll (£7.50). Described as ‘Bangladeshi railway station food’ this smelled incredibly appetizing even before I’d cut into it.

Sometimes called kati or kathi rolls, it’s easy to see why these flatbread wraps make perfect takeaway or street food.

Much as I’d have liked to grab it in both hands, restaurant etiquette won over and I went in with knife and fork. I was rewarded by the delicious flavour of delicately spiced lamb mince and lots of it. The bread was nicely chewy and lightly flaky.

There were little dabs of a punchily hot chilli sauce around the plate – just right for dipping the odd morsel into. The accompanying salad garnish and coriander leaf were nice and fresh.

For his first course, ID went for a dish combining some classics: the Mixed Starter for 1 (£7).

This was a very generously heaped platter with a chunky piece of chicken tikka, minced lamb sheek kebab, a vegetable samosa, and large onion bhaji. There was also a good heap of fresh salad.

I tried a bit of everything too; we agreed that all were excellent. The chicken was tender and moist. The lamb had beautiful spicing which was completely different to that in my katti roll.

The samosa and bhaji were crispy, crunchy, and full of flavour.

After such a great start, anticipation for our main courses grew. But we didn’t have long to wait.

MAIN COURSES

If you’re a lover of traditional British Indian restaurant dishes, then you’ll find all your favourites at Spice Merchant. Balti, korma, bhuna, dopiaza, Rogan josh, madras, etc. with a wide choice of proteins like chicken, lamb, prawns, and paneer. There’s also several vegetarian and vegan dishes including those with a plant based meat substitute or jackfruit.

We decided to share two dishes from the Chef’s Special Dishes section of the menu.

First, here’s Moghul Empire Lamb (£13).

This consisted of large pieces of perfectly tender lamb in a rich sauce with spinach and lentils. The spicing was beautifully delicate with mild to moderate chill heat.

We both enjoyed this interesting, subtle dish.

Our second dish was equally good and, flavour-wise, a big contrast to the lamb.

There was no mistaking that there was plenty of garlic and chilli in our South Indian Garlic Chilli Chicken (£13). But, in case you were in any doubt, a whole chilli stuck out of the centre of the dish and the top was sprinkled with slices of fried garlic.

Here again were large, tender pieces of meat. This time though, instead of the gently spicy, there was a huge flavour punch. I’ve been cooking for over thirty-five years. But I couldn’t tell you, other than the chilli and garlic, what combination of spices and other aromatics created this knockout flavour.

As well as chilli heat and spice there were pleasantly sour or acidic notes too. Add to that what seemed like good quality chicken, and we had another great dish.

SIDE DISHES

We’d toyed with the idea of sharing a vegetable side dish. But in the end decided against it. Given the generous portions of what we did order, that was probably a good idea.

Although I’m not a huge rice fan, we did get a portion of Vegetable Pilau Rice (£4). This was nicely cooked with the grains perfectly separate. There must have been at least half a dozen different types of vegetable in there.

But what I really like to accompany this type of food is one (or more!) of the wonderful breads of the region.

What I don’t like though is burnt bread. All too often that lovely bubbly nan, chewy chappati, or flaky paratha arrives with lots of blackened, burnt bits.

At Spice Merchant the breads were perfect for me. Our plain nan (£3.50) was golden with just a few darker, nicely crispy edges.

The chappati (£2.50) was soft and delicate

Taken together, I’d have to say that our lamb and chicken dishes, plus the rice and breads, formed a faultless main course.

DESSERT

Although initially disappointed that they’d run out of several classics like gulab jamun and ras malai, I enjoyed my simple dessert of kulfi ice cream (£4).

Any remaining teeny bit of dismay was dismissed by the unexpected arrival of a complimentary glass of Irish cream liqueur and one of brandy!