Eating Indian food is one of my many joys in life and even better when it’s on my doorstep! I had planned to visit Bo’ness Spice when I received a menu through my door so I was thrilled to be invited for a meal.

The usual suspects of poppadoms and an array of nibbly delights – Lime pickle, spiced onion salad and the smoothest and most tastiest mango chutney! The owner Mohammed was kind enough to bring us a top up when we gobbled them all in seconds. The restaurant isn’t licensed but you can BYOB.

Bo’ness Spice is just what the town needs, it’s Bo,ness’s only Indian restaurant which I’m still flabbergasted by! Bo’ness is a town set on the River Forth neighbouring historic Linlithgow and is home to Scotland’s oldest purpose-built picture house, The Hippodrome, dating back to 1912! The quirky vintage cinema is full of charm and a highlight when visiting the town. If it wasn’t a school night (quite literally) I would have definitely paired my outing with a visit. Bo’ness Spice is the ideal choice for a pre-movie meal.

The starters were outstanding! In honour of its namesake, we just had to go for the Bo’ness Tandoori Jingha. King prawns prepared in a special house sauce recipe, tomato based yet creamy, it was a party on my taste buds. What I was even more impressed by was the manager Mohammed’s ability to persuade me to try the Tandoori lamb chops marinated in light spices, yoghurt, mustard and olive oil, garnished with coriander and chilli flakes. It has to be something special for me to eat lamb as I don’t normally like the taste of it, I am quite fussy that way but this dish was to die for! The chops were marinated to perfection and the mustard yoghurt dip was incredibly moreish.

I can’t see past a Chicken Chasni for my main course, it has everything I love in a curry, sweet but a subtlety of spice in a creamy tomato sauce, not dissimilar to the sauce in our Bo’ness Jingha. Except sometimes curries are so runny you’re left dunking for your chicken and ending up with a spoonful of sauce but not these curries. The meat to curry sauce ratio was perfect, I could see the big pieces of chicken but still have enough sauce for nan bread dipping.

And what a nan it was, don’t get me wrong I love a giant nan but the fact that the nan was portioned, brushed in melted butter, made it all the more manageable and I actually ate it all.

My husband chose the lamb Rogan Josh because he likes his curry to be more on the spicy side, he also liked that the dish wasn’t too runny and the pilau rice we shared was fragrant and filling.

We were both satisfied at this point but we couldn’t resist a wee gulab jamun served with creamy vanilla ice cream. A firm favourite Indian dessert full of sugar and deep fried, but oh so tasty!

The restaurant has a very intimate feel with the finest of finishings, we were looking around at the rose gold door handles and stylish light fittings. The choice on the menu however is vast with everything being cooked to order, fusing Scottish produce with traditional Bangladeshi and Indian cooking methods, takeaway is also an option. We really enjoyed being hosted by Mohammed and his team and as a local restaurant of ours I’ll be making sure I make my dreams of a pre-movie meal combo come true in the near future.

Bo’ness Spice Website

Bo’ness Spice Instagram

*I was invited and gifted my meal, all opinions are my own.