Spices Of India — Restaurant in Île des Terres Basses

You could walk by this place for a week, and not even realize it’ is there.. small, quaint and super clean.. ..The service was immediate, pleasant, warm and comforting..

To begin, we, my teen son, and I, ordered an ‘Irani’ paneer dish, more out of curiousity for the name, rather than any particular passion for the dish..

How did the Persians make it onto this menu?, ..I wondered…

It was a huge appetizer, adequate for 4, and was a large roasted kebab of paneer(cottage cheese ) slabs and vegetables.. very tasty and quite filling.. and we’re only at appetizer stage..

As his main course, my son ordered chicken tikka masala with naan bread, and I ventured into the Biryanis.. a mutton one.

A little bit of personal history here.. I hail from Indian Hyderabad.. the city that invented the Biryanis.

I’ve eaten some of the best, and painfully, some of the worst Biryanis in my lifetime. . And so I wasn’t expecting much from this tiny nondescript little restaurant in an otherwise calm and sleepy Dutch Island..

The presentation of the Biryani in a flat coppery dish with a tight fitted lid piqued my curiosity… these folks seemed to know Biryani secrets and subtleties that were rumored to have died with the Hyderabadi nawabs and nizams of centuries past..

I popped off the copper lid, and I was hit with a light cloud of steam that seemed to have flowery bright colors to it.. and fantastic spice aromas that took me back to Hyderabad. The layering of the saffron, fried onions, reddish orange, yellow and mellow rices was a festival to my nose and eyes.

And now it was time to taste.. I took a couple of large spoonfuls of the Biryani, still steaming hot, with mutton pieces jostling for attention, onto my plate. I judiciously chose the contents of the first forkful.. some meat, some heat, some rice and some spice… …I was thoroughly impressed. The spice level was perfect, not too spicy, nor bland.. just perfect.

The meat was so tender, it fell apart delicately as I gathered the biryani onto my fork… oh, and yes, the meat was still letting out subtle clouds of rich aromatic steams from my childhood… I was impressed.., but I couldn’t objectively rate this dish, because it was waay beyond my taste scale, and had ventured into a sort of “love” by now..

My lovable son, a born and raised New Yorker, knew little about Indian foods, and ordered Chicken Tikka Masala, more due to his familiarity with this one dish, rather than any knowledge of the other Indian dishes.., ..with Naan

The Naan looked like it had just won a naan modeling show… Wow.. are we even allowed to touch that?, ..looking and smelling perfect, crispy and hot to the touch, and crumbling gently as I ripped it into more eatable sizes. The naan had just been made and had that rare fleeting oven crispiness that is hard to capture, especially at a busy restaurant.. Delicious!!

The Chicken Tikka was perfectly spiced, and tasty but not overwhelming. The silky smooth sauce was an orangy ground up mix of multiple spices and firm roasted pieces of chicken. .. aah, Heaven!! The overall dish was an A+

If you’re already on this Island, it’s well worth your journey to this place, and when you do make it there, order a biryani in my honor..

If you venture to St Maarten, don’t miss out on this gem..

(The spice level we ordered, was...

If you aren't sure how to find this restaurant, just simply follow your nose as the amazing smell of fresh and fragrant spices will lead you straight there! Once you arrive, this family owned restaurant is immediately welcoming and really strives to make you feel at home.

The depth of flavour is without equal (some dishes are even prepared/simmering from the night before!). The spice level was fantastic! If you have a more spice sensitive palate, talk to any of the staff and they will take the time to speak to you and recommend an appropriate spice level (ranging from mild, medium, hot). Sometimes when my wife and I try a new Indian restaurant for the first time, we order mild and taper up from there (very few people like an overwhelming "melt your face off" level of spice). They took the time to speak with us and we went with their medium level of spice and it was exactly what we wanted! Really great job taking the time learning the guests needs. We are also vegetarian and this has to be one of the top 15 restaurants we have been to on our many travels.

Oh, did we mention that it is also nestled in St. Maarten's world renowned Maho Beach?! After your meal you can enjoy the exciting and bustling Maho strip with shopping, night life and plane watching at SXM. Highly recommend, will...

I came to Saint Martin to celebrate my birthday and wanted a catering from this place. Unfortunately they are just too busy to leave the restaurant to cater a small group but we managed to pick up the food ourselves. It’s located in a strip shopping mall (Maho Village) and their hours in Google Maps are not accurate. But the great news is that the food is AMAZING!!!!! Everything was just too delicious. The best lentils ever (Dahl Makhani) and the Biryanis were mouth watering. We grilled the naans in our oven and they tasted even better. We ordered Samosas, pakoras, onion fritters, vegetarian tandoori, fish curry, sag paneer….a lot of food (see pics). We truly couldn’t decide which was the best dish. They were ALL delicious. Also, not too spicy so my friends could enjoy. Still full of flavor. The portions are generous. Good communication via WhatsApp. I have eaten in many upscale and regular Indian restaurants around the world and this is just top...