Southern Spice offers flavors of India
As the name suggests, Southern Spice Indian Cui-sine highlights the dishes that hail from India's south-em cuisine, particularly of India's Chettinad region. Ex-pect a few more seafood dishes on the menu — along with a few of the standard favorites of Indian cuisine from this small restaurant set in a topping center off Turkey Lake Road.
What I would try a second time
Southern Spice's parda biyani was an instant favor-ite. The restaurant seals rice mixed with cooked onions, masala (a mix of spices), and either a protein or more veg-etables into a special pot with uncooked rod (a flat-bread). Steam builds inside the pot, cooking the ingredi-ents — but not drying them out. The flavors were bold and spicy.
What I didn't like
Sometimes a restaurant's "spiel" feels forced and un-comfortable. You know the one describing the cuisine and the chef's vision, yada yada. In the case of Southern Spice, however, it would've been nice to learn a bit more about southern Indian cui-sine from the server. I will say, however, our server didn't hesitate to make sug-gestions when asked.
What I would put on Instagram
Our appetizers will be highlighted on my Insta-grain account: @or-landafoodie. We snacked on spongy orbs of lentils and spices called lcuxhi paniyaram ($6) at the be6inning of our meal. Sambhar, an aromatic lentil stew, and a chutney accom- panied them. A mutton pepper fry ($12), or chunks of chewy lamb sauteed with onions and spice, was our second appetizer. I enjoyed our duo — it felt like a nice balance of light and earthy.
Other eats
The Goan shrimp curry ($24) was flavored with co-conut milk along with grated coconut, mustard seeds and curry leaves. Plenty of shrimp were cov- ered by the spicy, slightly sour sauce. A mango lassi ($5), a thick yogurt-based mango smoothie, provided a not-too-sweet ending note to our meal.
How I was treated
Despite the lack of communication noted above, our meal was served at a regular clip. We didn't want for drinks of food.
My next visit
I'd like to get a chance to try a few of the dosas and dosa-like dishes listed in a lengthy section of Southern Spice's menu.
For bar-hoppers
The beer menu is stocked with mostly American macro brews. Just one Indian brew, a lager called Taj Mahal, is served.
For those with special diets
Indian cuisine, particularly southern Indian food, is known for its meat-free dishes. There are separate sections for vegetarian appetizers and entrees at Southern Spice.