DAVID MARTIN tries out an Indian restaurant with a bright, modern look, but did the food match the fittings?

SPICE Twenty One is an oasis of warm colours amid the dark, derelict shop fronts of George Hudson Street by night.

This out-of-the-ordinary and out-of-the-way Indian certainly stands out from the curry house crowd in style and decor - a large open-plan restaurant of modern furnishings and fittings, bright but tasteful colours, and of course, that ultra-modern name - not a hint of the usual Rajs or Stars or even India.

There's even a review by sometime York-dwelling Daily Mirror eccentric Victor Lewis Smith in the window.

Tucked away off the tourist trail it may be, down one of York's less attractive examples of planning indecision, but of course this is the heart of Micklegate Run country, and a stone's throw from the offices of Norwich Union and Railtrack, so maybe it's wise that the restaurant seems designed as an ideal venue for large parties.

Not that it seemed oppressively vast when the four of us arrived as the first customers of the night. Even as sole diners, sitting by the front window, it felt more like a comfy lounge than a sterile furniture showroom - so far, so good. Though we were glad when a few more parties turned up minutes later.

The menu looked promising too, with possibly the biggest range of dishes I've seen in a York Indian restaurant. Even our friends and Eating Out culinary conscripts, Sam and Emily, the kind of people who not only know their Vindaloo from their Sag Aloo, but can actually do a good job of cooking up the stuff at home and don't suffer restaurant shoddiness gladly, were impressed by the range available.

The waiters were politely efficient, getting our order for drinks and poppadums straight away, and they arrived equally promptly.

We were a hungry gathering, so all just opted for a main course. My eye caught the chef's special (£6.95), a preparation of chicken, lamb, mushrooms and dhall, proudly boasting 21 ingredients, and just wouldn't leave it. Sam went for a vegetable Jalfrezi (£4.75), Em going for the King Prawn Korma at £6.50. My partner, Vix, chose her favourite, Chicken Tikka Passanda (£6).

The food arrived swiftly, but there was some confusion, vegetable rice instead of the mushroom rice Em ordered, and the wrong naan breads - and there weren't even that many people in. The waiters did sort things out swiftly though.

The hardware was impressive - particularly the hot metal pot affair my Twenty One Special arrived in. But the food, sadly, didn't quite match up - mine was pleasant enough and there was plenty of it, but for all its ingredients and it being a house speciality, it seemed a little lacking in flavours and, well, spice. And it soon proved a similar story all round. Sam's Jalfrezi probably fared the best, with hot green chillis to kick it into life. Emily found the sauce too sweet on her korma and wasn't overly enamoured with the prawns, though she said the chicken version of the dish would be a better bet. Vix was least impressed, as her passanda, though it arrived at an acceptable temperature, rapidly cooled off and became lukewarm.

The biggest black mark of the night though, was the Sag Paneer Em had ordered, a side dish of cheese and spinach (£1.95), which arrived looking suspiciously as though it had just had grated cheddar melted on to it, and her verdict was simply "nasty and greasy".

The bill for four of us came to £48, reasonable for four main dishes, a couple of side dishes, rice, naans, poppadums, and a couple of beers.

We'd had an acceptable evening, and were glad we'd tried the place out. But we all agreed the food at Spice Twenty One was just adequate, rather than attractive enough to tempt us back - given the quality of the competition, even just round the corner on Micklegate. A case of style over substance, perhaps.

Fact file:

Food: Average with some let downs

Service: Efficient

Value: Resonable

Ambience: Modern, best for large parties

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