New Peterborough restaurant’s love affair with the flavours of Goa

Following a preview night tonight, chef Loyd Luis will be welcoming the public to 1498 The Spice Affair in Priestgate tomorrow.

He says he wants to share his authentic Goan Indian cuisine with a a wider audience, having previously operated out of a hotel in Spalding before it was taken over last year.

“ We want to bring the Indo-Portuguese flavours to Peterborough, we were limited in Spalding,” he says.

The restaurant will be open 5pm to 10.30pm from tomorrow, and at lunchtimes from Tuesday.

“Goa is a tourist destination in India with lovely beaches, lovely food, it is a different world with a very European culture in regards to the architecture and food,” adds Loyd. “It is unique and that is what we want to share.”

The lunchtime offering will, he says, be small, south Indian dishes – tapas style snacks.

Evenings will have an extended menu of Indian and Goan food, plus a selection of Portuguese and Indian wines and beers.

Goan specials on the menu include fish curry – tilapia fillets; xacuti (a famous Goan dish) chicken or lamb; squid ambotik– a hot and sour curry; crab xee xee – a crab curry with Goan roast spices and grated coconut; chourico de Goa – home-made Goan sausages cooked with onions and potatoes ; and prawn balchao – pickled prawns in sweet, sour and hot Goan sauce.

There are lots of appetisers, biryanis and even some Indo-Chinese/Chindian dishes. For the less adventurous there is a “Made in England” section with curries such as korma, tikka masala, balti and dansak.