Great food to warm a cold winter's night

Nov 13 2008 By Andrew Jackson

This week Andrew Jackson visits Spice and Herbs in Amersham to put their curries to the test.

Spice and Herbs, Sycamore Road, Amersham on the Hill. Telephone 01494 434159.

The chef at Spice and Herbs had his work cut out when I walked through the door to review the Amersham restaurant.

Perhaps I should explain. I love curry and I was in the mood for a good meal out on a Saturday evening and I was looking forward to it.

But first I had to get there. The wind was howling, the ice cold rain was lashing down and I had to drive there in pitch black because the council has, in its wisdom, decided to switch off most of the street lights to save a few quid. Not ideal when you want to avoid the standing water on the crumbling road surface.

And to cap it all off, my beloved football team, Tottenham, were losing 1-0 to Liverpool.

So as you can imagine, I needed a good curry. And fast.

We hadn't booked, but we could get a table for two at 8pm on a Saturday night, even though it was busy - always a reassuring sign, in my view, when you walk into a restaurant for the first time.

The waiters quickly showed us to our table and we were immediately met with a cosy, warm dining room full of happy diners coupled with the intoxicating aroma of Indian food I have loved all my life.

We decided to order two papadoms to start, which gave me my first hint that this restaurant was different to other curry houses. Among the usual dips and chutneys was an olive-based dip which we both agreed was delicious and unusual, a welcome step away from the usual suspects accompanying your papadoms, although they were there too, to satisfy the purists among you.

We decided to skip the starters and go straight to the mains. I like my food hot and spicy and was tempted to go for a jalfrezi or madras.

But in the interests of this review, I selflessly ordered something unusual and out of my comfort zone (I know, I'm too good to you).

I ordered a Bengali freshwater fish dish called mas biran. I was given the choice of the fish on or off the bone. I went for off the bone - too fiddly otherwise. The meat was shallow fried and served with stir-fried vegetabled and olives. Again, the olives were unusual but worked very well. I also had pilau rice and an aubergine side dish, brinjal bhajee.

My dining companion, a self confessed prawn addict, ordered a prawn biriany. Complete with rice and a vegetable curry the dish was excellent, with fresh, perfectly-cooked prawns.

I genuinely didn't know what to expect with my fish curry. A tentative first taste and my spirit lifted. I could forgive the lack of spice in the dish as all the subtle flavours played on my palate. I could even forgive Tottenham for losing again.

The augergines were great company for the main course and my pilau rice was...well it was just pilau rice, but that's exactly what I wanted.

Just as I was beginning to forget my troubles, warm up and dry out from the horrendous weather, I overheard the next table's conversation - Tottenham had, against all the odds, scored twice against Liverpool to win the game.

Suddenly, my food tasted even better...

What the bill came to:

Two papadoms £1.20

Prawn biriany £9.95

Brinjal bhajee £3.50

Mas biran £10.95

Pilau rice £2.50

Coke £1.60

Diet Coke £1.60

Total £31.30