Spice Waala — Restaurant in Seattle

This is a small takeaway place, with a few picnic tables scattered out front and you will need to figure out the street parking. There are alleys nearby, so nothing to despair about.

I was born in kolkata and grew up there, and then lived in Delhi for 13 years. So I think I am fairly Indian and knowledgeable about India, having lived there for 35 years.

Kathi rolls and calcutta rolls are different, they always were and will be. Retrofitting an egg into a kathi roll will not make it a calcutta roll, neither will adding french fries into it make it a gyro.

So who ever wrote that menu doesn't know much about Indian food.

In a kathi roll, there is a rumali roti which is wrapped around kababs with mint chutney and onions.

In a calcutta roll, it is a thick patatha deepfried and the eggs added to one side, the inner stuffing can vary from simple chopped salads and sauces to potatos to curried chicken or goat. The point to note being that they are very very different. The roll is also wrapped half in a special kind of tissue roll to give it a grip and absorb the dripping oil and gravy.

What was offered to me(pics attached) was closer to kathi rolls in appearance, packaging, taste and just because I added the egg didn't make.it a calcutta roll.

That being said, the stuffing inside was very generous and the quality of the lamb kabab and mint sauce was good. While the wrapping roti might not have been a rumali, it resembled them closely as well.

The chicken kabab could have been better and chicken tikka stuffing would make the chicken option more lucrative in my opinion.

I must appreciate the owners efforts to give us a taste of Indian food away from home, I also am okay with the fact that it didn't match my kolkata.roll.expectations, it atill is a pretty good kathi roll.

Now, I have read the angry responses from the owner to any kind of negativity posted, but I would encourage them to keep an open mind as well, they are welcome to visit my place and have a real kolkata roll if thwy want a point of reference.

I like.fuaion food, so no complains or...

When is a kathi roll not a kathi roll?

When you order it at Spice Waala.

Marketing materials at this location evoke fond memories of Indian street food, but one wonders if the purveyors of these ersatz rolls have ever wandered the bylanes of Kolkata, sampling savory delights as they go. If they had, they'd surely know that absent the kathi (the skewer on which delicious morsels find their way into the tandoor), one can't really produce a kathi roll. And, knowing this, they'd offer paneer tikka kathi roll - cooked, of course, on said kathi - over the vastly inferior paneer bhurji. While bhurji is an insult to well prepared paneer at its best, this establishment hardly reaches those middling heights, instead delivering a dry and overly salty filling, lacking a sufficient quantity of the delicately simmered tomato, onion, garlic, and ginger that provide moisture within a well prepared bhurji.

The less said about the roti, the better. It is, as roti goes, adequate. However the discerning kathi roll consumer knows that kathi roll is served on paratha. In what is surely a labor saving move, the substitution of roti completes the lie that Spice Waala serves a true kathi roll.

For anyone who has attempted to order pizza at a Delhi sweet shop and received Kissan ketchup and Amul cheese atop roti, this move is familiar. The deceptive bait and switch, predicated on the assumption that the customer simply won't know better, is a slap in the face to those of us who accepted the promise of Spice Waala's marketing materials.

In one small nod to Indian authenticity, my roll was made with a dearth of the crisp and cool onions that provide counterpoint to the paneer. I can only assume that was in solidarity with the restauranteurs of India, who are occasionally forced to skimp on the aromatic when a poor monsoon spoils an onion crop, driving prices unsustainably high.

J'accuse, Spicewaala, j'accuse. But will you answer the call with true kathi roll?

Two stars instead of one because of the...

Spice Waala is a much anticipated and greatly appreciated Indian street food walk-up new to Seattle’s Columbia City neighborhood. I visited the location one month after their opening. The menu is limited but varied enough that there is something for everyone who likes an Indian menu. In the two times that I have eaten from their menu I’ve had the chicken tikka Kathi roll, lamb kebab Kathi roll, the Chana chat and the Indian spiced fries. Everything was well seasoned, well prepared and tasty. The chicken was juicy and flavorful, the lamb meatballs were tender, well flavored with herbs and spices and well balanced with the spice level. The Chana chat was equally good, though I would have preferred it room temperature rather than chilled. The fries were a real surprise. They were reminiscent of the way the fries are chosen, and cooked at Dick’s, but heads better with the spice blend clinging to their crunchy exterior and pillowy insides. Fries are served with green chutney on the side. But, be warned, you must like cilantro as it is very cilantro forward. All servings are generous with the fries ample enough to serve two. I gave a 3-star rating for atmosphere because there is only outside bench and picnic table seating. I must reveal to you that at my first visit the staff forgot my fries. I called to let them know and they told me “no problem” and asked me for my name. When I returned a bit over a week later, they had no issue with making good on the fries, no questions asked. Good customer service is always worth an extra star. I plan to work my way through the entire menu. I will...