Know Metropole hotel right beside Mona Lisa Guest House in Deshapriya Park? It now houses a fine-dining restaurant called Spice Market.
We went in the evening to check it out, and the predominant red just lights up the whole place. On entering, to the right is an elevated area with tables arranged. You can grab the ones by the windows which overlook Sarat Bose Road. There is a small bar if you're planning to catch-up with a friend over a couple of drinks.
Being loyal to the name, we like the wall mural just beside the bar with framed pictures of different spices adding to the uniqueness of the place. We chose the section near the kitchen because of the quirky semi-circular cage seats. We sat down only to be welcomed by the fruit punch mocktail, presented beautifully with cherries and apple. The portion is considerably large and you might want to share it. We also tried the B-52 - three layers of Kahlua, Baileys and Cointreau, and is highly recommended if you are looking for a heady drink to set the mood.
As soon as the appetisers started pouring in, we couldn't help our glutton selves and hogged on the veg Chinese platter which included spring rolls, veg fried wonton, dry chilli potato and crispy chilli babycorn. For non-veg, the mutton shammi kebab was waiting for us. Vegetarians can try the chilli garlic noodles and veg manchurian for mains. For non-veg, we got ourselves chicken biryani, chicken tikka butter masala and onion kulcha. The kulcha and the chicken tikka masala was a match made in heaven and we were left licking our fingers.
The compulsory dessert for the evening was the date pancake with vanilla ice cream, and our date with Spice Market undoubtedly ended on a good note.