Bombay Spice, York

Bombay Spice, York

The snow is coming down, it’s cold, your hungry, what else would you want other than a nice hot curry?! During the recent cold spell we took a trip to a very beautiful and snowy York. Like most visitors to somewhere new, when looking at the sights in the day we took note of the various restaurants on offer so we had an idea as to where to eat in the evening.

Bombay Spice is on one of the main streets in York, not far from the Minster, it is tidy and clean from the outside and was an immediate contender for later on in the night. After a few drinks in the pubs situated on the same street (there are a few to choose from) we walked in without a booking and the 4 of us were seated straight away.

The restaurant decor itself is fairly average, but the service and food is excellent. It was a Friday night and although very snowy, the restaurant was still fairly busy with a large party and a couple of other tables of diners. We were given a decent amount of time to decide on drinks etc before the waiter approached to take our order and I can say that  the service continued to be friendly and efficient throughout our meal.

Their menu is varied, with Indian and Bangladeshi dishes available. It also contained quite a lot of duck dishes, which I myself have never seen in any of the curry houses I have eaten in before. After deciding on a pickle tray, starters and various main meals for the 4 of us, the pickle tray was brought out promptly preventing us from eating the table, as by now the fantastic smells coming from the kitchen had resulted in our stomachs thinking our throats had been cut. Hunger had definitely set in.

Pickle trays are pickle trays really and this was nothing special, but the starters that arrived were fantastic. Some of us went for the usual, including onion bahjis, but I had a gorgeous chickpea chaat (I can’t remember the correct name for it) which has to be one of the best starters I have ever eaten. Seriously. The flavours were fantastic, so much so that even though it was quite a large starter, I ate all of it leaving very little room for my main, but it was worth it. Everyone tried it and agreed how good it was. That’s not saying that the other choices weren’t up to scratch, as they were equally as good, but the flavours in this dish really can’t be described.

Main wise we ordered chicken dishes, which included a Sagwaala – cooked perfectly again and my boyfriend had one of the speciality dishes in a hot sauce. Each dish had immense flavour and more importantly, tasted different. How disappointing is it when you look forward to your curry dish only to find that when 4 dishes arrive it is obvious that one ‘gravy’ has been used as the basis for each sauce, with a different amount of spice being added to differentiate each dish from the other. Well this wasn’t the case at Bombay Spice, each curry had it’s own taste and flavours. Yes, the hot dishes were spicy, but again, the flavours were not over-powered by the hotness of the dish.

With the main dish being a decent portion, I did struggle to finish this along with the rice and chapati, but it was too good to leave.  We took our time over the meal and at no point did we feel as though we were being rushed, or that the table was needed.

After the meal the waiting staff were pleasant to chat to, discussing our views on the meals and we enjoyed a nightcap before leaving very full and content. The were very reasonable and compared with those at our local restaurants, which surprised me with the restaurant being in the centre of York.

I would definitely go back to Bombay Spice and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a nice curry.  One tip is to pick up a York Visitors Guide when you arrive, Bombay Spice is featured in the guide and if you show it to the waiting staff you get a discount off your meal.  Even better!

Details on the restaurant are available in the Food and Drink section of the Visit York website www.visityork.org

Bombay Spice
58 Goodramgate, York, YO1 7LF
Tel: 01904 613300

Related posts:

  1. Bollywood comes to Rotherham
  2. Yorkshire’s Pass to Crown Jewel Attractions
  3. Sunshine, excellent food and …….. cows. That’s Goa!
  4. Car hire users ‘scared of night driving’
  5. Car hire users given night driving tips