Southern Spice – Interesting Southern Indian Food in Flushing
** For full post and pics**: http://www.lauhound.com/2010/12/south...
I’ve been reading about Southern Spice in Flushing for a while. I finally decided to try it a couple of weeks ago. It is a southern Indian restaurant that according to the website serves food from Andhra Pradesh (where Hyderbad is located), Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It was interesting because I’ve heard about this Chicken 65 dish for years because I knew a guy from Hyderbad who told me about this dish all the time (it was one of his favorite dishes), but I’d never seen it on the a menu and Southern Spice serves it. So, I figured this was a Hyderbadi restaurant.
It’s located in a somewhat run down area of the Flushing and the outside of the restaurant matches the neighborhood (i.e. it looks way run down). The inside is a bit nicer, but not much décor to speak of either.
Here’s what we got:
- Chicken 65: This was pan sautéed cubes of chicken breast marinated in spicy ground peppers. It’s got a ton of spices all over it; you can really taste the spicy ground peppers and onions. The chicken meat is pretty good, it’s not dried out. It was one of the more spicy dishes here. I highly recommend squeezing the lime all over it; that really made the dish a lot better and tastes completely different with the lime on it. It also tastes a lot better with some rice. Overall it was pretty good although I did find it a bit on the salty side and it wasn’t as transcendent as a lot of reviews made it out to be. 3.75/5
- Lamb Sukka Varuval: The manager recommended this dish. It was boneless lamb dry sautéed with spices and fresh ground peppercorn. I liked this dish, it wasn’t gamey at all. The spicing was nice and it was spicy. The lamb meat wasn’t dried out and if you put some yogurt on it it really took it up a notch. One of the better dishes we had. 4/5
- Channa Masala: This was interesting, it was much different than most channa masala I’ve had. Channa masala is chick peas in a ginger curry sauce. However, the ginger was much more evident than most versions I’ve had and the sauce was much more watery in texture as opposed to being more of a thick gravy. The one downside to the dish was that I felt the chick peas were a bit undercooked, they weren’t bad, but they should be a little softer. 3. 5/5
- Garlic Naan and Onion Kulcha: We got these to eat with our main dishes. Onion kulcha is a naan stuffed with coriander and onions. This was really good, probably the best onion kulcha I’ve had in the US. The garlic naan was just unleavened flat garlic bread. This was also really good. They definitely make some of the best Indian breads I’ve had in NY. 4.5/5
- Hyderbadi Mutton Dum Biriyani: This was also recommended by the manager and I’d read various glowing reviews of it. It is slow cooked basmati rice with mutton, fresh herbs and spices. The rice itself was decent, but I was disappointed in the meat. When I had really good biriyani in India, the meat turned out reasonably tender, but the meat here was pretty dry. The dish was also a bit on the bland side. I had to dump a bunch of yogurt on it to make it better. I was a bit disappointed in this dish. 3.25/5
- Jumbo Prawn Coconut Curry: The manager also recommended this dish. This was awesome by far the best dish we had. It was shrimp in coconut curry gravy. The gravy is slightly sweet and creamy. It was so good and it tasted amazing with the rice. The shrimps were cooked well and not overcooked. I really liked this dish and everyone else agreed that it was definitely the best dish. 4.5/5
Overall, it was a good restaurant although I do not think that it lived up to the hype that I had read on chowhound or yelp. I don’t think I’d come all the way from the city to Flushing for it. Although if I lived in Queens or it was located in the city, I’d go back again. I might come back just for that jumbo prawn coconut curry.
By Lau
on Dec 4, 2010 09:45 AM
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Their biriyani is very Southern style and when I had it, it was very good. You do normally mix the raita straight in to help hand eat it though. It's pretty much the best biriyani I've ever had in the States by a lot.
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i was hoping it would be really good b/c i had read some pretty favorable reviews about it and i really like biryani. perhaps they had an off day or something b/c it was the weakest dish that we had there, no one really liked it.
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The chicken 65 here is so good. So much better than any other place I've had it in the city. I can echo JFored and say I really enjoyed the biryani, which was out favorite entree when we went.
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it was actually the first time ive ever had it, ive heard about it for years (see the post), so i don't have much comparison. i did like it albeit it was a bit too salty, i would order it again if i went back
i went for lunch so like i said its possible that they had an off day or something, but i will say that it was not better than what you can get in the city and what you can get in the city is not very good. if i go again, i will re-try it
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I think that this place had already experienced a downfall in quality as of a few months ago.
I was on board with the good reviews to begin with. Not so much now.
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I ate at SS about a year ago, so can't tell you how consistant they are. Chicken 65 is often (not exclusively) served at Indo-Chinese restaurants, and like American Chinese, the hybrid tends to have a high sodium factor. Anything that's a conduit for curry leaves is okay in my book, but honestly I almost think of it like an spicy Indian version of General Tso's (though I'm sure many would object to that characterization). I recall Southern Spice being true to its name, and the spiciest version I've had. I also have enjoyed it at Chinese Mirch in Curry Hill. I think Tangra Masala (Sunnyside) serves a decent version too, but might have a different name for it.
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Tangra Masala
87-09 Grand Ave, Queens, NY 11373
Southern Spice
1635 Hillside Ave, New Hyde Park, NY 11040
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I feel like southern spice's version is a completely different rendition of chicken 65. When I've had it other places (which is admittedly only a couple of times) it was deep-fried chunks of chicken in a sort of reddish, slightly spicy sauce. no curry leaves, no mustard seeds, etc.
also, SS's version of chicken 65 is salty, but for me that's not such a bad thing, as my family's favorite way to eat it is to get it to go and have it room temp the next day. And room temp food can carry a little more salt than hot food.
and as to the biriyani, i remember it being ok, but in general i'm not a big biriyani fan, either here or in india. so i don't order it many places. I ordered it once at SS because people said it was so good, but since we don't like biriyani much, we haven't ordered it again.
If you go back, I urge you to try the vindaloo. Often stellar, sometimes just very good. and very spicy--much spicier than the chicken 65.
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well that is actually why i thought the chicken 65 was alot better with the lime and rice, the lime gave it a new dimension and the rice helped cut the salt. i did think it was good.
i almost ordered the vindaloo b/c i read it was good, but i didnt order it....ill try it next time
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I try and order it whenever I see it on a menu and SS's version didn't seem so so foreign compared to the other versions I've had. Some had curry leaves and some didn't, some were spicier than others. I've never had it in a "gravy" but some places give that option, and I always opt for dry. But yeah, it's basically spicy/tangy fried chicken pieces.
What also helps cut the salt is a beer. The wikipedia article explains it's popular as a bar snack. I'd much prefer it to pretzals or peanuts.
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now that you say that and im thinking about it, it would be really good with beer
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yah i heard they were moving...new hyde park is way out there. Is that a big indian / desi area?
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Yes, it is. There are patches of Indian enclaves/restaurants that stretch from Jamaica (Hillside Ave in the 160's), then really explode in Floral Park and parts of New Hyde Park. If Southern Spice retains its' quality, it will make for a great one-two punch with 5 Star Indian Cuisine. It will be hard to choose between them.
P.
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ahh interesting, i used to know some indian people from floral park when i was in college, they were very knowledgable about indian food and culture, so i guess that makes sense
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