San Diego, CA (The Joy of Food) — The restaurants in San Diego’s Pacific Beach neighborhood cater to a mostly beach bumpkin clientele — lots of burgers, drinks, and other things you’d enjoy while stoned out of your mind.
Spice Lounge is an Indian restaurant right off the main drag in Pacific Beach, in an area of town not renowned for ‘ethnic’ eats. In other words, I don’t expect a lot from the Indian dining scene in Pacific Beach, or really any dining scene in Pacific Beach, but the food at Spice Lounge stands apart and is worth a spot on your dining rotation.
Most Indian restaurants try to span all of India in one menu, with a rather heavy emphasis on Punjabi-style tandoori cooking. Spice Lounge is no different. Here you will find tandoori chicken, garlic naan, and every curry dish under the sun. Spice Lounge seems to deliver the goods with all of them.
If authenticity in Indian cooking means using as much chili powder as possible to kick up the heat, then you’ve come to the right place. You can’t go wrong with any of the curries, in particular the chicken tikka masala which comes out with the perfect balance of spicy, savory, and sweet. The saag, a mix of spinach and spices, is a hearty dish of comfort; get this with paneer to really amp up the creaminess.
The tandoori alone is reason to visit, juicy, throughly spiced, and deeply smoked from hours of clay oven cooking. The shrimp gets sautéed with garlic, cilantro, and black pepper. The chicken is marinated in yogurt and spices, then barbecued. Either way, the flavors of each are distinct while contributing to the cumulative effect of the whole.
You will not want to skip the appetizers here. The aloo tikki is a vegan dish of smashed potato and peas and comes topped with enough onion and tamarind chutney to make a salad. These are delightfully fragrant and wonderfully light despite being deep-fried. This is also a good place to stuff yourself full of naan, freshly baked and speckled of herbs and garlic.
Drinks are not recommended. I ordered a mojito and was handed a tall plastic glass filled with something that tasted mostly of nail polish remover. The “fresh mint” floated along the top like a twisted kelp bed. It wasn’t particularly good.
Spice Lounge is truly a feast for the senses, as long as you stay away from the alcohol.
Written by Joy
Thanks for reading. The Joy of Food blog celebrates eating well, traveling often, and living la dolce vita. San Diego, California is home base, but thoughts are from all over. Reviews and photos help to highlight wonderful (or not) food experiences from around the world.
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Mmm. Tandoori chicken and naan sounds good. 🙂
Yes a good variety here and it is all done well for the most part. I tend to skew toward curry myself but the tandoori chicken has been great when I’ve had it.