Planet Spice, Walsall

The best curry in the universe? Probably not but it's cheap, cheerful and served up by friendly staff,

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It's called Planet Spice – but is this Indian restaurant out of this world? Finding out was the primary objective as I visited the Walsall town centre restaurant for the first time.

Situated on busy Bridge Street, the heart of the town's entertainment district, Planet Spice is popular with revellers and is regularly packed at weekends.

We chose to visit on a Sunday, when unsurprisingly the town centre was pretty deserted.

A couple of tables were taken up inside the restaurant.

The decor was fairly bright but pretty outdated, although I heard from a waiter that new management had recently taken over and they were planning to update the look.

I wasn't a fan of the blue and brown colour theme for the tables and chairs surrounded by yellow walls.

A fish tank brightened up the centre of the room, near a well-stocked bar. There is seating for 64 people, including five booths for parties of four.

While browsing the menu, we tucked into a pickle tray and poppodoms. A plate of chopped onions and a gravy boat of sauce was also brought to the table – a generous addition but perhaps a bit too much, and we were running out of room.

The menu is exhaustive, tons of choice that would surely satisfy even the most difficult of customers.

It would've had been rude not to try as much as possible, so my partner and I settled on starters that let us try as much variety as possible.

One was a delicious mixed dish of chicken pakora, shami kebab and vegetable samosa, the other a tandoori mixed starter – sheek kebab, chicken tikka and lamb tikka -which came out still sizzling on a tray.

Freshly cooked, the flavours complemented each other perfectly and left us gagging for more. The jalfrezi special curry was a mix of chicken, lamb and prawns, prepared with green pepper, onion, tomatoes and fresh green chillies.

The menu boasted the dish was as hot as a madras but unfortunately it didn't appear to be as spicy and I was disappointed to find the lamb was quite tough.

My partner enjoyed his creamy chicken ceylon curry, which consisted of chicken, cooked in an exotic sauce with lemon and coconut.

The portions were very generous and neither of us had any room left for dessert afterwards.

One of the best things about our visit was the staff – smiley and friendly, they looked after us very well and made sure our food was prompt, but left good breaks in between courses.

The bill, with a bottle of pinto grigio, came to a very reasonable £36.95.

Planet Spice is not really out of this world – but it's cheap, cheerful and definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.

In a few weeks the name Planet Spice will disappear into a black hole as the restaurant is to be relaunched as Shahi Grill, and the staff are planning a grand opening event in the near future.

Perhaps that revamp is just what this curry house needs to rocket it to success of more galactic proportions.

ADDRESS

Planet Spice, 89 Bridge Street, Walsall WS1 1JQ

Telephone: 01922 624 079