SPICE 45

Leicester Road, Narborough, 0116 2865517

cost: £21.95

Few things change in the villages of south west Leicestershire.

The pubs are okay. Fosse Park is on your doorstep and you can always hear the buzz of the M1 motorway, no matter which way the wind is blowing.

So imagine our excitement when not one, but two, Indian restaurants open up in Narborough within a few months.

Call me a traditionalist, but I thought I would try Spice 45 over the Heritage Restaurant.

One sounds like a curry house, the other one sounds like it serves scallops on colcannon and salmon terrine.

From the outside, Spice 45 looks a bit grotty.

"Are you sure we've chosen the right one?" the gert whinges as we pull up outside.

PARTNERSHIP

She's come with me to pick up the meal because she is so excited at new takeaways opening on our doorstep.

Inside, the decor is smart and the welcome is friendly.

We rush home with that lovely smell of curry in the car – which takes my mind off her new Girls Aloud album.

Her chicken tikka dansak is moist, tasty, slightly hot, and the lentils and pineapple make a lovely partnership.

I go big and order something I "would never normally have" because it's pay day and I am feeling flush.

At £11.95, An akbori chingri is tandoori king prawns served in a garlic, ginger and coriander sauce.

The prawns are whoppers, the meat cooked beautifully and the sauce hits the spot.

The gert munches her peshwari nan like it's going out of fashion.

My accompaniments are mushroom pilau rice and a saag aloo.

I hope the spinach will help get rid of this cold which the missus has been jokingly saying is Swine Flu all week. Ha ha.

I eat every morsel, then lean back in my chair rubbing a bloated, yet wonderfully satisfied belly.

"You fat pig!" the gert says.

There she goes again.