City Spice

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses:
   £6.95 (set lunch)
   £18 (evening meal)
• House wine: £12.50 per bottle

• High point: Straightforward and substantial stuff
• Low point: Gets a bit busy when the rugby's on . . .
• Food served: Mon-Sun noon-2pm, 5.30-11.30pm
• Delivery: Free, but minimum order £15 within central Edinburgh
• Open since: 2001
• Also offers: Vegetarian options (at least 25% of menu), Wheelchair access, Take away

The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 is now in the shops.

This review is from the 2007 edition.

Located a hop and a skip from Haymarket Station, City Spice has been a regular fixture on Edinburgh's restaurant scene since 2001 and attracts a healthy mix of locals, students and rugby fans on the way home from the big match. It's part of a new city-wide breed of curry houses that reject the flock'n'dark-wood interior design combo in favour of pared-down chrome and birch stylings. That said, there is still more than a whiff of traditional ostentation here, displayed in the form of a rather oversized candelabra and a chunky menu full of classic Brit-Indian dishes such as kormas, vindaloos and tikkas (the menu also lists their UK birthplace - be it Birmingham, Brick Lane or Manchester). Starters of chana on puri (chickpea crêpe) and sabzi (vegetable) pakora are robust and tangy, and the main dishes don't disappoint either, with a meaty king prawn jalfrezi bursting with fresh chilli and coriander, and a smooth, buttery agra chicken passanda (which comes complete with rosewater). If you've still got room after all that there's an attractive range of desserts including a nutty saffron mango kulfi.