Exotic Spice

When you’re a student and money is at a premium you jump at the chance to grab a good takeaway for under five pounds. Exotic Spice offers just that with a sensational value Student meal deal priced at just four pounds and ninety five pence. For this next to nothing sum students can get a papadom or onion bhajee, a Balti dish and the choice of either rice or naan. This becomes even better value for money when you consider that the food at Exotic spice is fresh, flavoursome Bangladeshi cuisine which never fails to tickle the taste buds and have you watering at the mouth. Good food, great staff and waiting times which don’t leave you so hungry you could devour a deceased horse, who can complain at that?

I love curries and I’m sad to say that this place is not the place for me! I have only been here once and when I came I ordered a couple of meals to take away. I found the place a little dreary. The fish tank under the counter was a cute touch though. However, I suppose the food and the service is the most important aspect of any take away. The guy that served me was quite friendly and he pointed out that I could get a student discount on my order, which was nice as the meals were already quite cheap. I had ordered a chicken korma and a chicken tikka masala, along with rice. When I got home I found the meals to be quite bland and not as rich and tasty as I had expected. I know all places make curries slightly differently, but I was not too keen on this. The rice on the other hand, was lovely. I haven’t been back since, but I think it may just be down to my taste, great prices and service though!

This place has changed hands 3 times since we moved into the area 2 years ago and has improved with each name change. The first lot were absolutely useless — they hardly ever appeared to be busy and yet the food took over an hour to cook (despite a promise of 20 minutes). When they left (presumably to pursue their interest in the slow food movement) a family firm took over but quickly moved on, taking a decent chef with them, and it became Exotic Spice, which it trades as now.
This operation is definitely the best of the three I’ve experience from this small unit on the Raddlebarn Road. The food is fresh and tasty and gets cooked in a reasonable amount of time. The portions are generous on the meat dishes — there are more than just a few lonely chunks of meat swimming in sauce that you often get from takeaways — and the side dishes they offer at reduced prices make excellent accompaniments to their mains.
As this is an area densely populated with students they offer a very competitive meal deal for £4.95, which consists of a main, a side dish and a naan bread. If you are a student and live in the area you can’t really argue with that price, and I can recommend the food.