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    Tuesday, November 05, 2024

    Review: Spice Club earns its place as a Niantic institution

    Sushi Nachos at Spice Club in Niantic (Kristina Dorsey)
    Crispy Garlic with pork (Kristina Dorsey)
    The Spice Club bar (Kristina Dorsey)
    A seating area at Spice Club (Kristina Dorsey)
    A takeout Spice Club Roll (Kristina Dorsey)
    Pad Thai with beef at Spice Club (Kristina Dorsey)
    Spice Club’s Hainanese Chicekn (Kristina Dorsey)
    Spice Club’s Bibimbap (Kristina Dorsey)

    Niantic has become a boomtown of new restaurants over the past few years.

    Which is wonderful. But East Lyme has long had its share of quality eateries. Chief among them: Spice Club, which opened in 2012 in the building that was once a supermarket (or supermarkets, since it was home to Mitchell’s, Colonial and Niantic Farms). We decided to visit the venue to see how it is faring more than a decade in.

    The interior has been reconfigured so you’d never know it was previously a store. Faux flowers are arranged in different groupings on the walls. Round lamps hang from the ceiling above the bar, with the wall behind it painted a peachy orange to coordinate with the bar seats. Booth seating looks over the parking lot and Niantic Bay beyond.

    It’s comfortable casual, in the best possible way.

    I know what you’re thinking: The atmosphere is one thing, but how about the food?

    Let me start out by saying you’ll likely find something that appeals to you on the Spice Club’s expansive and mouthwatering menu.

    One section is devoted to curry dishes, such as Panang Curry ($9.95/+), featuring Panang Curry paste with coconut milk, bell peppers, peas, kaffir lime leaves and your choice of meat. Another offers teriyaki dishes like Teriyaki Chicken ($16.95) with meat and veggies served with the restaurant’s homemade teriyaki sauce, sesame seeds and spring onion, along with jasmine rice.

    The food at Spice Club seems reliably and across-the-cuisine good. I tried a range of dishes with pals on a lunch visit, and I ordered takeout on a different day.

    My favorite discovery during our in-venue lunch was the sushi nachos ($16.95). First of all, the presentation was gorgeous — each of five nachos placed on top of bamboo leaves, with the nachos an explosion of color: the pinkish tint of the tuna (you can also order salmon), the green of the slices of avocado, the orange of some tobiko, all set on a tropical-blue plate. In the middle are thin strips of daikon radish. And the taste: fresh and fabulous, including the wonton chips that all the ingredients were nestled on top of.

    If a restaurant serves pot stickers, I have to try them. And I do tend to judge a restaurant by how good its are. Spice Club’s ($8.95) have long been among my favorite pot stickers in the region, with the pork inside giving it all a heft, and the wrapping provided a light and crispy counterpoint. (You can order them with chicken or vegetables instead of pork.)

    The sushi rolls, meanwhile, are things of beauty. They are given an artful display on the dish, although takeout versions are less beautifully presented, which I guess is to be expected in takeout of any kind. I tried the Spice Club Roll ($16.95), since, well, it’s called the Spice Club Roll, so it seems as though this would be the equivalent of the house special. It consisted of spicy salmon and a bit of avocado in the roll, with it all topped by salmon, spicy mayo and tempura flakes with tobiko. It was flavorful and the kind of meal that felt healthy at the same time.

    Keep this in mind for Valentine’s Day: the Sweetheart Roll ($17.95, with spicy tuna and avocado inside the roll, salmon and tuna on top), whose pieces are shaped into little hearts.

    The Hainanese Chicken ($16.95) was good, although it was the sweet and spicy ginger sauce on the side that elevated the deep-fried, buttered crispy chicken beyond the ordinary. It’s served with garlic jasmine rice, and it comes with a clear chicken soup on the side that my friend said was quite good. I personally loved the pop of color the fuchsia orchid gave as a visual accent.

    Same goes for the orchid that adorned the Crispy Garlic plate. The Crispy Garlic with pork ($13.95) benefited from the light sauce and the al dente vegetables — broccoli, carrots, snow pea and cabbage — that accompanied the pork.

    The Pad Thai with beef $13.95) was a fine version of a dish that is a popular entry at most restaurants. The only recommendation would be a little more beef in the mix, but the quality of the ingredients — beef, stir-fried thin rice noodles, egg, bean sprouts, scallions, and ground peanuts — made it the kind of thing you’d order again.

    I tried the Bibimbap ($17.95), and I couldn’t believe how huge the bowl holding the abundant contents was. (If it didn’t have food in it, I would have been tempted to see if I could put it on my head and wear it as a hat.) The marinated slice spicy Korean beef, bathed in a dark sauce, had a nice kick to it — enough, but not too much. It was served with kimchi, vegetables that included carrots, daikon radish, and broccoli in my order, and topped with a friend egg.

    There is so much worth trying at Spice Club. The prices are reasonable for what you get, and the food will make you happy.

    239 Main St., Niantic

    (860) 451-8121, thespiceclubct.com

    Atmosphere: Casual

    Cuisine: Sushi rolls, Thai and Pan-Asian entrees

    Alcohol: Yes

    Hours: 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. and 4-9 p.m. Mon.-Fri. and noon-9 p.m. Sat. and Sun.

    Reservations: For four people or more

    Service: Friendly and efficient

    Prices: Reasonable

    Credit cards: Yes

    Handicapped accessibility: Ramp from parking lot to sidewalk that leads into the entrance.

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