East West menu at Spice Grill

The lobby in Spice Grill is decorated by portraits of
popular personalities with their quotable quotes

If you are familiar with the authentic taste of Indian cuisine at 7 Spice Restaurant, then you will be delighted with similar standards of quality in the food served at Spice Grill, the restaurant group’s newest outlet now open at The Little Red Cube, Puteri Harbour.  With six years experience in serving homemade flavours for North and South Indian recipes to regulars and even the royal family, the restaurant owners have created a fine-dine restaurant to please a discerning clientele.  

At Spice Grill, diners will be spoilt for choice as they may select from two menus for traditional Indian cuisine as well as Western food.

              

Beef Rossini, a tender cut of Wagyu beef topped with
foie gras served with a side of three distinctive sauces

Step into the lobby and you will come face-to-face with portraits of renowned personalities like Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, for some inspiration in their quoted words.  Created in a corner unit in The Little Red Cube, Spice Grill has an elegant dining hall, private dining rooms as well as a comfortable outdoor section with a balcony that overlooks the promenade and Puteri Harbour.  When you are comfortably seated, take a closer look at the elegant ambiance and you will see the restaurant’s insignia, “SG,” repeated on the table linen, cutlery and crockery.

Assistant Outlet Manager, Rohit Dwivedi, serving a guest
a portion of Murg (chicken) Sahajani Reshmi Kebab appetizer

You don’t have to be overwhelmed by the big menus and the Tamil words for food names in the Indian cuisine menu because there are brief descriptions in English and their helpful managers and waiters are on hand to answer your queries and suggest recommendations.  The Indian cuisine menu, with vegetarian and non-vegetarian items, is also marked with icons like a chef’s hat for chef’s recommendations and one or two red chillies to indicate the spicy hotness of certain dishes.  One of the plus points about dining here is how diners at the same table may pick food from one or both menus and savour a mixed menu in one meal!

Dum Chicken Briyani [Right] is complemented by three
sauces [Right to Left] traditional raita, a brinjal-based
sauce and a special Spice Grill sauce

Diners who do not wish to have Indian food at Spice Grill can happily opt for choices from soup, salad, appetizer and main course to dessert in the Western menu.  Start with mushroom soup with truffle oil and end with a stylish presentation of L’opera cake or Blueberry Roasted Pear, each served with a side of vanilla gelato.  

Popular main course items include “Oh My Cod,” a chunk of grilled cod fish with mashed potato, stuffed mushrooms and a side of vegetables and “Beef Rossini,” a tender cut of Wagyu beef topped with foie gras served with a side of three distinctive sauces and vegetables.

A range of delicious gravies to savour
with freshly baked Indian breads

North and South Indian cuisine are clearly indicated in the Indian menu and you may also enjoy some specialties that are popular in the state of Kerala.  The chefs are handpicked from Ranisai, a village near Kolkata where families are renowned for their culinary skills, and here the chefs are given the opportunity to impress the clientele.  

For instance, the Dum Chicken Briyani at Spice Grill is complemented by three sauces: traditional raita, a brinjal-based sauce and a special Spice Grill sauce, that are unique to this restaurant.

                                             

If you prefer freshly baked Indian breads instead of rice, you can try the Laccha Paratha, a wheat bread, and the Kuberri Kulcha bread topped with chopped almonds, cashew nuts, sesame seeds, raisins and bits of red and green cherries.  Pick from a range of gravies like Gosht (lamb) Vindaloo, Pulicha Keerai Chicken, Lamb Mappas, Egg Curry and Kolkata Spicy Fish Curry, and you will surely wipe up every delectable drop of the gravy with repeat orders of the freshly baked breads.  

Gulab Jamun served with vanilla gelato at Spice Grill

Then end your meal sweetly with traditional Indian desserts with a modern twist like their serving of Gulab Jamun with vanilla gelato!

Spice Grill is at Lot B1, Ground floor of Little Red Cube, Persiaran Puteri Selatan, Puteri Harbour, Nusajaya, 81300 Johor Baru.  Convenient parking spaces are located at the Puteri Harbour carpark (outdoor) or The Little Red Cube (indoor).  Open daily from 12pm to 10pm with the bar open till 1am.  For reservations, Tel: 6019 – 745 7788.

A version of this article was published in The New Straits Times, Streets Johor on 30 December 2014