Spice of Life

The ideal local shop to buy excelent quality food stuffs at a relatively affordable price; the service is quite friendly, and the range of foods does go from A to Z, they sell nuts, dry ruit, Italian pasta (to which I am partial to but there you have it), various oils and, well, extensive choice.

THE Roath supplier of wholefood wholesomeness. Spice Of Life was my staple for grains, seeds, nut butters and cereals, I particularly loved the vats of olives — the Kalamata was king.
Sadly when I moved to Grangetown visits became rare. However to my recent joy Spice of Life have brought their wholefood mountain to Mohammed. They now have a stall at the Real Food Market that I regularly frequent– woopey! There is obviously not quite as wide a range of stock on their stall as in their shop, still, they seem to manage to bring a superb range of cereals and seasonings, some flours, eco cleaning products and more.
My recent stall discovery has been a small packet of dried rose buds for under a quid. I pop a couple of heads in a mug and hey presto fragrant rose tea — yum.
The couple owners are really fab — characterful and friendly. Their business is one of only two real independent wholefood enterprises of their kind in Cardiff (the other as previously has been mentioned is Pulse in Canton). Spice of Life is a fantastic Cardiff asset and a staple of Cardiff foodies, vege, vegan and the health conscious alike.

It’s pretty amazing that whatever the size of your local mega-​chain enormo-​store supermarket, sometimes finding weird and wonderful cooking ingredients (or even just niche ones for particular dishes) can turn into a right wild goose chase. Spice Of Life know their celery salt from their table salt, thankfully, bursting with every sort of spice and condiment, plus savoury snacks like dried fruit and nuts, plus unusual sauces (the hot sauces they stock are particularly awesome) and a whole bunch more. The range of curry powders alone is impressive as well. The vibe is friendly and relaxed, a good old local store yet clean and modern without any dirty corner shop likenesses. Being just off Albany Road, it’s a little hidden from casual passers-​by, which gives it that treasure trove feeling. But Spice Of Life covers its bases so skilfully that being a few steps off the beaten track matters little.

I’m glad the Spice of Life is in my neck of the woods. I’ve been coming here on and off for quite a few years now. It’s always interesting to have a browse around and see what’s new. If you get there early enough you can pick up some organic bread too but that goes pretty quickly. The staff are really friendly and will always check to see if they’ve got stock in the back you might want.
For me the only frustration really is it looks and feels the same as it has done for many years now. It feels as if it hasn’t really developed in the same way Pulse has over the other side of town. Often the shelves are empty and it has a faint air of muddle and neglect. The couple who run it are lovely but don’t seem to be interested in developing it. It feels like it’s stuck in a bit of a time-​warp.
To be honest I would visit more often if this aspect improved.

Spice Of Life is a great shop, similar in many respects to Pulse Wholefoods on the other side of town. It stocks locally sourced fresh organic veg as well as all of the other dry health-​foods that you would expect from a store like this. It is strictly vegetarian and so there is no meat counter. They even shy away from stocking replacement foods like soya mince etc. Instead you’ll find things like Tempe, a fermented soya bean product that tastes like… erm… well… like itself! This is delicious if marinated in soy sauce and ginger before cooking.
I’ve noticed that nuts and pulses have really increased in price since all of the price hikes in the last couple of years. Spice Of Life stock a really good range of nuts and pulses, and thankfully the costs are still pretty affordable. This is a friendly shop that stocks some items that you may not be familliar with. Don’t let this put you off. All you need to do is ask for assistance, and someone will help you out!