Mother’s Day Out... at Malaka Spice!!

 On a wintery afternoon, on Boxing Day two beautiful mums and one very angelic daughter (yours truly :P ) decided they needed to nurture themselves with some nourishing food. We initially opted for an Italian restaurant but unfortunately it was closed as it was a Monday. I believe destiny had another cuisine planned for us and so ended up walking into that marvellous place; the one we all know as Malaka Spice.

What can I say about Malaka Spice that hasn’t already been said umpteen times? Oh what the heck, I’m going to write about it anyway. :P

As we sat down the first thing we ordered were our drinks: two Virgin Pina Coladas and one Fruit Punch. All very well made!

For starters we chose the Crab Rangoon Dumpling (fried), Vietnamese Roasted Duck and Prawn Crispura.

The Prawn Crispura is something we always order. I guess that clearly conveys how much we enjoy the dish. The dish comprises of beautiful batter fried prawns served with an awesome mango sauce. We can never get enough of it! 

The Vietnamese Roasted Duck unfortunately was a letdown for all three of us. The duck was tough and we had a hard time cutting and chewing it. I did give immediate feedback to our server with regard to the same when we he came over to enquire if everything was to our liking. The sauce served with the duck and the flavour of the duck was, however, wonderful. If only the meat wasn’t tough, it would have been such a superb dish. 

The Crab Rangoon Dumpling; was the star of the afternoon. The dish was excellent! The dumpling covering, though fried, was ever so light and the crab filling was so delicately flavourful. I could go down on my bended, arthritic knees to beg for more. I earnestly request Team Malaka Spice to incorporate this dish into their year round menu. I truly do not want to wait for another winter season to have this.

For the mains we chose Lamb Bulgogi and Laos Prawns in Coconut Cream with our all time favourite, Roti Jhala, as accompaniment. 

The Lamb Bulgogi was beautifully cooked. I usually refrain from ordering lamb at restaurants as they tend to undercook it but the lamb for this dish was cooked to perfection. 

The Laos Prawns was a mildly-spicy dish, with perfectly cooked prawns in satisfying coconut cream gravy. After all, this is Malaka Spice. I have never known them to get prawns wrong. Roti Jhala served as a perfect accompaniment to both our mains.

We were quite stuffed by the time we finished the main course hence opted for a light dessert of ice cream BonBons. Bonbons are bite-size pieces of vanilla ice cream coated with chocolate. They used to be a very popular ice cream dessert in the 70’s and 80’s. Mum and our guest had these after years and were ever so thrilled to bite into these babies.

I don’t write reviews every time I visit a restaurant but I keep an eye out for what needs to be looked into. This is something I noticed on my last three visits to Malaka Spice. I need to make a mention about the service. This time, when we walked into Malaka Spice at 1 pm, barely two tables were occupied. As time went by crowds began walking in and by 3 pm nearly all tables were occupied. I have noticed (on this and previous visits) that the servers, regardless of whether the restaurant is at full capacity or nearly empty are often inattentive because they are either talking among themselves at the kitchen door or near the bar at the back. Often, they fail to catch the customer’s eye even as they pass by the table. This is a recent problem that I noticed during the last three visits; it was not so earlier. Another issue that needs looking into: some of the servers need a wee bit of training with regard to serving food to each patron at the table in correct proportion. We had once ordered a dish that had 8 pieces, (I apologize, I don’t remember what it was). We were four people at the table. The server gave three pieces to my dad, two pieces of mum, two to me and finally one to our guest at the table. I do understand the server would not know host from a guest at a table, but ideally, should have been trained to serve two pieces per plate. As a host at that table this was, truly, a tad embarrassing. Did I make a mention of it to the head captain at the time? Yes, I did.

I need to make one more request to Team Malaka Spice. Years ago they had a dish on their menu, which were large sized, crab and prawn balls. They took it off the menu years ago but I’ve never ever forgotten the taste of that wonderful dish. Every time I walk into Malaka Spice I crave those crab/prawn balls. Along with the Crab Rangoon Dumpling request, please reconsider bringing the crab/prawn balls back on the menu. Please, pretty please! :)

All in all it was a wonderful afternoon spent with 2 beautiful, charming ladies. Both happened to be mums of angelic daughters named Kainaaz (my mum and Kainaz Nunes’s mum, Keroo). Ahem!! *wicked grin*

Team Malaka Spice, except for the tough duck meat I could find no fault with the food served. The rest of the dishes were excellent! Thank you for retaining the wonderful consistency of the food you serve and rest assured this greedy foodie will soon be back for more.

Food: 4.5/5

Service: 2.5/5

Ambiance: 4.5/5

Address: Lane 5, Opposite Oxford Properties, North-Main road, Koregaon Park, Pune

Tel: 020 26151088