For the latest reviews on our blog, please click here

Great food, thin turnout: 10 main dishes for 10 people - achari lamb, lamb shatkoora, Gurkha chicken (not quite as tasted in Liphook or Grayshott), (ayre) fish bhuna, prawn balti, garlic chilli chicken, chicken jalfrezi, hot prawn dhansak, chicken chilli massala, and one more that didn't make it to my end of the table.

Spice Lounge were very hospitable, we had a great evening, the food was good - just fewer attended than we might have expected for a Petersfield venue. Maybe too many of us were credit crunched. This was our lowest December turnout since 2003 when only seven made it to the pre-rebuilding Madhuban.

Still, a good time was had by those who came - let's hope 2009 is a little cheerier for everyone!

Unbelievably, we hadn't been to Spice Lounge since May 2007. There's so much strong competition from the other restaurants in the area - in fact the only one we've visited twice in the last year is Gurkha Chautari in Liphook. Anyway, we didn't let them down, and a good turnout of Curry Club members enjoyed food to match, after seriously denting the kitty over aperitifs at Foggys.

Following a mixed starter of bhajis, samosas, kebab and tikka chicken, we had a great array of dishes. Chicken came as CTM, chicken chilli mossala, garlic chilli chicken, and murgh Khyber Pass; prawn dishes included zingha zafrani (tiger prawns), king prawn sag and prawn jalfrezi. Lamb dishes were achari lamb and a balti, and side dishes included chana dhal, tarka dhal, a selection of plain, keema and garlic naans.

Will missed his first Curry Club meeting in over a year, so you won't be getting one of his ratings for this meal. I thought the food OK, reliable, but not outstanding. Possibly the decision to serve so many main dishes made it less easy to perfect any of them. The only disappointment for me was the tarka dhal which seemed all thick dhal and no tarka (sizzling garlic oil on top). But as ever, we were made very welcome and we shouldn't leave it another 11 months before we go back

We went to Spice Lounge, Petersfield in May and enjoyed ourselves as usual. Pleny of choice in the menu, selected by the restaurant: achari lamb, chicken chilli massala, lamb korai, korai prawn, chicken korai, prawn dhansak, saag aloo, and the centrepiece dish was a superb kulchi lamb.  Good turnout again - our average numbers are well up on last year.

A big turnout enjoyed no less than 11 main dishes - chicken in the main (dhansak, CTM, chilli massala, korma, pathia), aloo gobi as a main course, something that had started with prawns in it (just sauce remaining by the time I saw it) but with some good lamb dishes too and a kulchi lamb to top it all off.  We were made as welcome as ever by Foggys beforehand, and Susie added a dimension of calm refinement to the evening.  John and Fiona arrived back from Mexico just in time to attend.  In one of the pictures, Fiona looks as though she's holding a Martian's goolies, but it's really not true, they're just a pair of maraccas.  A great time (and not a small drinks bill) shared by all.

Will comments:

The Spice Lounge, where I'm likely to be found on a Wednesday evening. 

‘Every Wednesday night is banquet night’, oh yes.  I know the staff by name, the menu by heart.   In this I am surely not alone. Almost every evening, even on moribund Mondays one finds the restaurant well populated.  Football teams bonding, families reunited, couples romancing, lone curry clubbers waiting at the bar for their take away fix.   As the leaves melt from trees and autumns fire is stifled by Jack Frost, the PLACE is a refuge, a cosy little den, warmly lit, reminiscent of an old coach house. The sound of satisfied chatter combines with the scent of eastern spice and a pervading sense of well being.

Being well acquainted I can vouch the SERVICE to be efficient and attentive not fussy. Firuz (dignity personified), Iqbal, Alom, Sol (my careers advisor) and Aktar (a real charmer) are busy busy not hasty.

Wednesday dinner costs £10, starter, main, rice, side dish and ice cream; at other times à la carte PRICES are modest.  The menu makes exhaustive reading, true, but if one chooses wisely then returns are better than average.  Here are my FOOD recommendations; To start with either Potato Chat on a puri, the Shabji Pepper stuffed with tandoori veg, or the Tandoori Chicken.

To follow: Concerning the 14 Chef Specials, Achari with a zingy lime/mango sauce, Chicken Chilli Massala or Sali Boti.  A thick garlicky, Tarka Dhal complements all three.  Of the traditional fare Prawn Patia, excellent with a Chana Sag side dish or a fairly hot Chicken Dhansak.

In SUMMARY, trust in me! A friend from the hinterland, Four Marks, enjoyed the Achari so he said he'd return and lo, he has since been back, the place doesn't lack, so go to the Spice Lounge, go!

The venue for 8th March was Petersfield - Spice Lounge, with Drinks at Foggys.  Malcolm was the organiser for the evening and reported a great meal with a very good turnout.

An excellent turnout, with food to match. Thank you to all the members that e-mailed to say Yes or No - it meant that we got the booking right which helps both the restaurant and us.  Kulchi lamb was top of the bill, with a wide variety of other curries and side dishes.  And a contribution from members and the restaurant of £32 to the Disasters Emergency Committee.

New owners, new menu - they cooked Indian Indian for us, including a Kulchi Lamb and a Kulchi Chicken - specials that normally have to be ordered 24 or 48 hours in advance.  They were both great, and other great dishes included pilau rice with lamb chops, dhal, and vegetables.   We really appreciated the effort they'd made to bring us something out of the ordinary.  Well worth a visit.

The Square, Petersfield

Phone: 01730 303303

Trains to Petersfield

Upstairs in the half-timbered building where the Donkey Cart used to be.  Was previously the Tara Palace (was that up until the Great Fire of Petersfield?). Wide range of choices, within easy reach of the Old Square Brewery.