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Spice
Route could hardly do more to attract all of those with a chronic case of
eyes-bigger-than-stomach syndrome to their lair if its management drove
round town throwing people like myself onto the back of a lorry. This is a
big restaurant, with a liberal buffet policy and a lot of dishes to gorge
on, mainly (but not exclusively) from India, Malaysia and Thailand, the
19th century ‘spice route’ - where the name is taken. Buzz’s photographer
described it as a pan-Asian version of a Harvester. This sounds like he
was being catty; he wasn’t, for two reasons: the relative originality of
the concept, in South Wales at any rate, and the fact that the food is
prepared with a respectable level of care & culinary education.
Starting with the inspecific nibbles section the first Indian section
yields a highlight of the evening - dosas, crispy Indian pancakes, which
you can watch being made and which are filled with commendably light and
flavourful spiced potato. Two trolley’s worth of Indian snacks continue
the unblotted copybook, before we bear east to the Thai noodle bar. This
is also viewable by the customers, with the added attraction of shocks of
flame threatening one’s brows, and a spicy concoction of beef, prawns and
veg has that agreeable pan-seared flavour. Buzz’s dining partner can’t
cram in a sample from one of several tureens, but this reviewer’s portion
of beef in black bean sauce gets thumbs up, as do what desserts we can
manage. The buffet is £13.95 on weekend evenings and £12.95 in the week,
with those prices halved in the daytime. |
