Spice Traders (Onehunga, Auckland, New Zealand)

This is the place that introduced me to Butter Chicken and since then, that dish became one of our family favourites curries and every time we dine in to an Indian restaurant, it will be impossible not to order them. Dress Smart was one of the outlet shop malls we frequently visited when we first arrived here in NZ, with the lack of big malls during those times and knowing that Filipinos have this massive mall culture, Dress Smart was our primary hangout location when we were adjusting with our lifestyle here. That novelty worn off after sometime and we rarely visit Onehunga anymore unless we really need something from there like heavily discounted Nike Shoes and winter jackets.

Several weeks ago, we had that need to go here, we were looking for a gown for our daughter and a running shoe for ourselves. We came here in the morning probably just after 10:00 AM but it was so busy so we ended up having lunch here as well and like the good old days the first choice was this Butter Chicken from Spice Traders. I guess it was more than a year since we came here and we were quite surprised about the pricing which came up again, a thing that we noticed every time we visit this place. I still remember a meal here (curry, rice, naan and drink) would cost us NZ$12.50 that was more than 10 years ago but almost every year they increase by NZ$0.50, today a meal costs NZ$18.50.

As usual regardless of the price hike we still grabbed our favourite, alongside that we also grabbed some Pakora with tamarind chutney. So, as we grabbed our orders everything seems to look normal, the curry it still looks and smell the same but the basmati rice looks like it had changed, they don’t look like those extra-long grains anymore and looks like the ones we had that time was cooked with lots of water. As we try the curry, the taste had changed quite drastically, it was not the same butter chicken we enjoyed before. While it was still sweet, savoury and mildly tangy, it was not as creamy as it was before, I felt it was watered down. We were quite disappointed; this was my favourite butter chicken before and now it is my least favourite. I hope this was just a mistake that day because this was the one that introduced us to our favourite. We will definitely give this place a shot the next time we visit Dress Smart so watch this space.

Spice Traders
Address: 629B/151 Arthur Street, Onehunga, Auckland 1061, New Zealand
Phone: +649 636 7789
Website: https://spicetradersonehunga.co.nz/