Malaka Spice, Koregaon Park, Pune

Malaka Spice prides itself on being not only one of the finest restaurants in Pune, but also across the country. With my limited food experience, I tend to whole heartedly agree. For the sheer quality, and variety on offer Malaka Spice is most definitely one of the finest restaurants in India at least when it comes to question of fine dining options in South East Asian cuisine. The most striking aspect of the restaurant apart from the absolutely brilliant food and great décor is the Menu Card. Tastefully designed, the menu card has small stories about the restaurant and tales about the lands from which they have put together their astonishing selection. They have over 250 choices not including drinks, to give you a most delightful choice of excellent mouth watering and mostly spicy dishes.

Malaka Spice has the décor of a high class fine dining restaurant. Situated in a swanky neighborhood, the restaurant takes up a pretty large area, there are indoor and outdoor sections, both of which are pretty spacious and very comfortable. The light in the evenings is stylishly dim, yet adequate, adding to the overall fine dining experience. The staff is bright, attentive and dressed in bright beach t shirts and dark trousers. They go out of the way to make you feel at home. The restaurant also has a staff card at the table introducing your attendant to you along with something about the person. Very cool and adds to the classy, yet casual feel at the restaurant.

The food? Well South East Asian is my favorite cuisine and Malaka Spice does a fabulous job of creating on spicy delight after another from the region. The last time I was there I had the prawn tom yum soup, burnt garlic and shrimp rice and chicken Penang curry. All three dishes were good in their own way, but the highlight was the tom yum, I cannot take too much spice but love the zing I get when sampling something that borders on the brilliantly tasty, which is just under the bearable spice level and the tom yum soup hit the sweet spot. Lots of ginger, lemon grass and chilli and the prawn stock created a broth for the heavens which served as the benchmark for the rest of the evening which could not be surpassed.

The main course was very good as well, the burnt garlic and shrimp rice imparted the essential garlic flavor but still left enough room for the side dish to make its mark. The Penang curry was on the sweet side and was a yellowish curry of chicken, carrots in a cinnamon and cream base. Very tasty and quite soothing after the tom yum soup, also it went excellently with the burnt garlic and shrimp rice. A fantastic meal and worthy of the restaurant. The only issue I have with Malaka spice is that they don’t seem to have a dish anymore that I used to love – the Garlicky prawns. The same is also the case in Lemon Grass as well who have done away with their Chicken in Indonesian Yellow Curry – I guess that’s the price you pay for innovation and trying to do justice to the gastronomical paradise that is South East Asia!

A meal for two at Malaka Spice without drinks will cost you approximately Rs 1200/-.

How to get there: Malaka Spice is on Lane 5 in Koregaon Park in Pune. Once you reach Koregaon Park you should be easily able to locate it with a bit of help.