Fine Dining Merchant or Wheeler Dealer?

The Spice Merchant is a restaurant located @ 77 Manor Way, Peterborough PE6 8PX which is in the middle of a housing estate hidden away. Without google or being local to the area it would remain a hidden gem.

On arrival we were greeted by the manager who was very welcoming, drinks were served promptly and the poppadoms were shared with allll the sauces accompanied by some lime and pickle. The menu is very efficient the way it’s laid out with minimal pages and clear to read.

When placing our order the manager showed great knowledge of the menu when quizzed on certain dishes.

For starters there were a variety of dishes ordered, but the stand out starter for me was the chicken momo’s - traditional Nepalese dumplings served with Szechuan chutney, they were incredibly more-ish.

The main courses were very well presented, you could tell the chef was passionate about the food he was serving and portions were plentiful. I had the lamb shank which is slow cooked with onion and aromatic spices, the meat fell off the bone and was tender and full of flavour - I highly recommend this dish.

The only negative that let them down was we seemed to be the only people dining that evening with no background music which provided little atmosphere, which was surprising for a Friday night. Unsure if that was a one off and it normally is busy because the food was great and the staff were friendly. The value of the meal was also reasonable.

Spice Merchant scores

Customer Care = 8.3

Service = 7.8

Value = 7.2

Quality = 7.3

Atmosphere = 2.75

Overall = 6.67