Blended spice dishes: Tomato chermoula, fish curry, choko curry, curried walnuts, five spice powder, ras el hanout spice blend, panch phora, za'atar, chicken tikka with garam masala, mixed spice, spicy mocha mix, spicy relish, and so forth.
Hot spice dishes: Cayenne pepper, green chilli/chile quiche, fried potatoes with mustard seeds, freshly ground pepper, five spice powder with sichuan pepper, wasabi mashed potatoes, and so forth.
Sweet spice dishes: Fried cardamom cookies, cinnamon rolls, cinnamon toast, cinnamon hot chocolate, crystallised ginger, Armenian nutmeg cake, hot chocolate with star anise, real vanilla bean ice cream, vanilla custard, and so forth.
Intense spice dishes: Apple strudel with allspice, Jamaican jerks seasoning with allspice, fenugreek herbs with mushrooms, galangal and mint raita, bechamel sauce with mace, za'atar with sumac, roasted paprika almonds, and so forth.
Here are a few suggestions that are a tip of the spice iceberg: Fragrant spice dishes: Pumpkin coriander filo parcels, Coriander relish, caraway cakes, cauliflower with tomato and cumin sauce, hare with prunes and juniper berries, saffron potatoes, Cumin & Sesame Roasted Potatoes and so forth.
The most highly spiced dish of our evening was spicy squid sauteed, a sizzling cast-iron platter of stir-fried squid with chopped scallions and red hot peppers.
Chicken Stew With Sweet Potatoes, Almonds and Apricots: Loosely based on an Algerian recipe from "Real Stew" by Clifford A. Wright, this sweetly spiced dish, with beta-carotene-rich apricots and sweet potatoes, is also evocative of recipes from the Middle East and Iran.
Most memorable was the jambalaya, a mountainous, deeply spiced dish containing tasso ham, andouille and chicken, and topped with shrimp; it kept bringing the heat and flavor in welcoming waves, and it seemed to be on every other table.
No children's menu, but momos and a few gently spiced dishes might please some youngsters.
Mahachai Thai, Schlüterstrasse 60, 49-300) 313 0879, tucked near the S-Bahn stop Savignyplatz, was a lucky find -- a serenely decorated Thai restaurant with fresh, authentically spiced dishes.
