Husband-and-wife team Russell and Linda Burger have for many years built up a reputation as a couple whose food has always been innovative and filled with tempting flavours.
And since moving from a somewhat less classy room off Florida Road a couple of years back, they have built solidly on those early foundations.
Spice, as most discerning diners know, is now situated in Lillian Ngoyi (Windermere) Road, somewhat incongrously adjacent to a garage, but its ambiance, in a restored and converted old house, feels just right.
Certainly the Burgers (Linda in the kitchen and Russell up front) are widely regarded as having one of the top three or four restaurants in Greater Durban and its surrounding areas and, on yet another outing last week, we came away singing their praises.
Fine dining and nouvelle cuisine can be misnomers and misleading, but Spice manages to create beautifully cooked dishes with some intriguing twists and yet the customer feels familiar and, most of all, realises that the ingredients and recipes are all world class, even though you will pay a few more rand than the run-of-the-mill restaurants.
For starters I chose a favourite, the tempura caraway-spiced prawns and avocado salad at R64. This is a real gem, with the spicy avo and rosa tomato salsa giving it an invigorating tang to the tongue. Plump prawns, and lots of them, make this the perfect starter.
Then, from the specials menu, a friend ordered the carpaccio, stuffed with cream cheese and peppered avocado and served on a ruby grapefruit salad. A wonderful amalgamation of flavours.
Other starters include saffron- spiced prawns, herbed asparagus and bacon, wrapped in phyllo, red chilli and spinach dhal soup and smoked salmon trout and marinated artichoke salsa.
For those into salads, or the special lunch menu, there is a wide choice.
There are salads with trout and potato, roasted duck and port drunken orange, crispy bacon, avo and prawn (can't wait to try that one day), plus roasted butternut and mushroom.
I felt in a meaty mood after my shellfish starter so went for the peppered beef fillet. This was a tender and delicious piece of meat, on roasted butternut and portabellini mushrooms with a brandy pepper sauce and accompanied by vegetables of the day. It was cooked to perfection and my only regret is that I did not order chips, instead of potatoes, which were good, but slightly bland.
On the other side of the table was a dish that was truly out of this world - slow-roasted duck with gooseberries and Amarula. This was delightfully crispy and tender, with the gooseberries and amarula in a caramelised star anise-infused sauce making it a knock-out experience. One of the best dishes I have tried in a long while.
Other main courses include Linda's amazing lamb curry and turmeric rice; grilled sirloin with avocado and roasted marinated peppers; roasted coriander and rosemary spiced rack of lamb; and oriental prawn curry.
Seafood dishes include a whole baked trout with olive oil and dill; grilled peri peri prawn skewers; and a seafood shepherd's pie, while if you're into chicken, try the balti- spiced chicken (with coriander, garlic, ginger and a chilli paste) or the chicken lyndhurst (asparagus and parma ham).
If you are more budget- conscious, Spice have a daily lunch menu which is extremely good value. There are four salads and then five main courses, each in the R62 to R78 bracket, including peppered rump steak, grilled mustard chicken with bacon and avo, plus Bunny for the Grovos (a good old Durban bunny chow).
Vegetarians are also well looked after here with four starter dishes (how about baked mushroom with courgettes?) plus four mains, including a spinach, butternut and potato bake.
Spice has a well stocked wine cellar and seating is inside or out on the patio.
It is open every day except Mondays.
It remains, for me, one of the best dining experiences in town.
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By Michael Tarr
