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This little restaurant is one of those ubiquitous curry houses you get in London. I’ve been walking past for a couple of years on my way to and from the office and I can safely say it’s rare to see anybody in there, especially on a week night. However after working late one Friday night and after just signing up a new client, we decided to eat out as a little celebration. The Lavender Spice was the nearest place we hadn’t tried - which in itself speaks volumes - and we decided the time was right to give it a go.

It’s a funny place, the darkened windows do nothing to invite you in and along with a sign on the window stating “we serve drinks, not drunks” the appearance tends to be a little off-putting. In any case we headed in and quickly found a table by the window. There was a group of four other diners quite noisily having a good time and seemingly enjoying their food. The charming Bangladeshi waiter quickly served us with drinks and popadoms along with the usual relishes while we studied the menu.

My other half is a vegetarian and this often leads to some difficulty in making a selection at Indian restaurants - the veggie options are generally plentiful. On this occasion we were not let down, although in the end she decided to ask for something off the menu. Thankfully the chef was more than happy to entertain our request. Whilst we sat waiting for our food to arrive, a steady stream of customers came to pick up take-away orders. This I can only assume is how the restaurant makes its money.

When our food arrived we’d already demolished a couple of popadoms each along with the relishes. We were more than ready for our mains. I’d ordered a chicken pasanda which was simply delicious. Its thick creamy gravy and sweet almond flavours were coupled with tender chicken. The other halves custom dish was a paneer and vegetable curry which was also pretty good. As always we had the pilau rice and a couple of chapattis which was more than enough for the two of us.

We hadn’t expected much from this restaurant but we were pleasantly surprised. The excellent food, decent service and a reasonable atmosphere means we are more than happy to pay another visit. I can only suggest they work a little on the appearance if they want to attract a few more customers through the door.

Overall rating 8/10