Bombay Spice, 58 Goodramgate, York

The street has long been home to the Bengal Brasserie - a finalist in last year's national curry awards, and one of my favourite Indian restaurants in York.

Now there are two new kids on the block: the Bombay Spice and the Spice Club. With one of these setting up shop at the Petergate end of the street, and the other at the Monk Bar end, Goodramgate has suddenly developed its own 'curry triangle.' But how do the new restaurants rate?

The Bombay Spice, the restaurant we opted to visit, is at the Petergate end of Goodramgate. It has been open only a few weeks - but already, judging from the number of diners there when we turned up at 7.30pm on a cold, wintry Saturday night, it is already building up a reputation.

We were pleasantly surprised to find, when we walked in, that the restaurant has gone for a plain, stylish dcor. No attempts at making the place seem overly oriental. Just a deep maroon finish to the walls, modern tables and chairs, and exposed beams in the ceiling.

Equally pleasing was the menu - which, in addition to the usual range of Indian and Bangladeshi food, also featured a selection of duck and fish dishes. Unusual, but very welcome.

A waiter took our coats when we walked in, then showed us to a small table for two in an archway connecting the restaurant's front and back rooms.

One of the great joys of eating out at a curry house is the poppadoms. Those at the Bombay Spice (50p each) are good. The pickle tray that accompanies them is even better. There were the usual trays of raw onions and of mango chutney - but also a lovely, warm, yoghurty dip I couldn't identify which had a nice kick and a lovely aftertaste.

For starters I chose the Shammi kebab - a "silky, minced lamb patty" (£2.75). My two patties looked like small minced lamb burgers. They came on a bed of salad leaves with a slice of lemon and more of that divine yoghurt dip. They were fresh and hot, with a nice, subtle lamb flavour. Without the yoghurt dip, they'd have been OK. The dip raised them to a different level, perking up the lamb flavour no end.

Lili's starter was the jhinga palak pakora (£4.25) - king prawn wrapped in spinach and bread crumbs with herbs and spices then deep fried. Lili's portion consisted of three pale green balls that were, truth be said, more spinach than king prawn. But the surface of the balls cracked nicely when you bit into them, and the mainly spinach (with just a few prawns) filling was light, moist and tasty. Again, the dish was perked up nicely by the yoghurt dip.

Keen to sample the duck and fish offerings, Lili chose the duck tikka bash (£7.95) for her main course, while I went for the ayre machli sathkora (£8.95) - Bangladeshi ayre fish cooked in a medium-strength sauce with a Bangladeshi lemon known as sathkora and herbs and spices.

We also ordered a side dish of mushroom and spinach (£2.50), plus two portions of pilau rice (£1.95 each) and a plain naan to share (£1.95).

The fish was a winner. The steaming platter placed on our table was filled with large chunks of firm-yet-tender fish in a mild-coloured (ie not too red) and richly textured sauce. Perhaps because of the sathkora, the fish had an oddly warming, almost smoky flavour which was quite unlike any fish I've tasted before but was nevertheless very satisfying.

There were generous quantities of duck in Lili's dish, and while the sauce was so strong as to almost disguise the flavour of the meat, it was at least pleasingly tender and moist. The bamboo shoots worked a treat in the spicy sluice, nice and crunchy.

The mushroom and spinach side dish was excellent, the pilau rice fine if a little dry, the naan bread perfectly acceptable without being anything to rave about.

Unable to finish everything, and not wanting to waste such good food, we asked our waiter to pack the leftovers up for us. He agreed, a little grumpily - and brought the leftovers back to our table neatly packed in takeaway foil a little later.

Unfortunately, he also seemed to assume that we had finished our meal, presenting us with hot towels to wipe our hands and faces, and failing to ask whether we would like desserts or coffees.

We had to flag down another waiter to ask for the dessert menu - and then got forgotten again.

Eventually, I was able to order a refreshing mango kulfi (traditional Indian ice cream, served traditionally straight from the fridge, £1.95) and two coffees. They were perfectly good, but the delay and the mix-up over the service slightly marred what had been a pleasant evening up until then.

The bill for two, including the coffees, an apple juice for Lili and a cold bottle of Stella for me, came to £42.40, which we thought was pretty reasonable.

Steve visited Bombay Spice on Saturday March 11, 2006.

Bombay Spice, 58 Goodramgate, York YO1 7LF. Tel: 01904 613300.