Spice Coast does pretty good biriyani and Indian fare on Marine Drive.
Marine Drive is slowly becoming a commercial street, but a lot of the restaurants there aren’t very good. We’re happy to add Spice Coast to the list of good ones. They do a good biriyani, paneer and other Indian foods, as well as having a Chinese menu (by popular demand). The service is nice and they have a good view of the ocean across the street.
The Food
We tried the chicken dum biriyani (Rs. 390), two garlic naan (Rs. 140 each), paneer 65 (Rs. 490), and the dhal makhani (Rs. 350). As you can see it’s not super cheap, the chicken tikka and most of the chicken dishes range from Rs. 490 to 650. They don’t serve beef or pork, but they do serve mutton.
The biriyani was quite good, well seasoned rice, tender chicken – it’s definitely all cooked together, adding flavor all around. It comes with a small raita and an indistinct gravy. Includes an egg inside. The biriyani is tasty but we would mention that the portions are small. Not for us, we couldn’t finish it, but it’s not a thumping Sri Lankan sized biriyani. That’s probably a good thing.
The garlic naan are quite big and one would have been enough. The dhal makhani (black lentils) was really good, tasty and mixed with kidney beans. If the paneer 65 is any indication, their chicken 65 should be quite good. Fried and not very healthy, but a good Indian nosh.
Location
The space could have been a bit cleaner and it remains a bit hot, narrow and not that connected to the sea. They have decent tables and table-setup with a place to wash your hands in the middle of the room. There are seats overlooking the ocean but those get a bit hot as the A/C is at the back.
They have nice cut cement floors and walls and the overall impression is good, it could just be kept a bit cleaner.
Service
The service was quite nice. They’re welcoming and polite.
Conclusion
Spice Coast has good Indian food on Marine Drive. We personally think this is an ideal place for Indian takeaway/delivery and not a bad place to dine in.
