Best Restaurants for Spicy Food in Essex

Excellent meal! We will definitely return. Expected a more active restaurant and was pleasantly surprised to find a small neighborhood spot that welcomed us. Well done!

Good experience, food was very good and servers helpful with first time Ethiopian food clients! Restaurant very pleasant but got a little noisy as it filled up later in the evening. Recommend the lamb tibs, lovely meat!

We went there on a Friday evening and it wasn't too crowded. The food was very good and came out fairly quickly.

Discover the rich flavors of India at Indian Ocean. They serve authentic Indian cuisine made with the freshest ingredients. We were meeting my sister and brother-in-law for dinner, and our table was ready and waiting when we arrived. We were warmly greeted by Suraz and Ari. The restaurant has a quiet and peaceful décor. They immediately placed on the table Papadum (light crispy Indian wafers) and two dipping sauces to get us started. BYOB with no corkage charge is always a plus for us. Ari, our server, was so friendly and attentive. A lot of people think Indian food is too spicy or loaded with curry. It is not – here you can request the spice level you want and there are a ton of dishes with no curry. My brother-in-law started off with a cup of the Mulligatawny Soup (a traditional Indian soup made with delicately spiced lentils and seasoned with mustard seed) and an order of Pakora (fritters coated with chickpea flour batter and fried to a golden perfection) and served with two dipping sauces. He also asked Ari if the chef could make him a dish that had lamb and eggplant with the Tikki Masala sauce, and they did! My husband enjoyed one of his favorites – the Tandoori Shrimp (jumbo shrimp marinated in herb mixture and delicately broiled in their tandoori clay oven). My sister and I had my favorite – the Asparagus Mushroom Korma – a lovely, savory dish of asparagus and royal trumpet mushrooms cooked in a cashew sauce. All of the dishes were served with basmati rice. The portions were generous, so we all had lunch for the next day. Everything was top notch.

Was not crowded or loud at all. Was a very enjoyable experience. Servers were very attentive and turned on the fireplace for us right when we arrived. The food was delicious and portions were worth the price.