Spices Taste of India in Hanoi, Vietnam

Spices Taste of India is an established Indian restaurant at 17T5 Hoàng Đạo Thúy in Hanoi’s Thanh Xuân district, well outside the Old Quarter tourist core. It is best suited to travelers or residents who want a broad Indian menu rather than a token curry section inside a general international restaurant. The current official site covers appetizers, tandoor cooking, curries, rice, South Indian dishes, thalis and desserts, and it gives the same address and phone number that appear in current business listings. The most useful limitation to understand is location: this is not a place to casually add to an Old Quarter walking route, so visitors staying around Hoàn Kiếm should plan transport in both directions.

The restaurant’s current menu is unusually broad. Appetizers include samosas, papadam, chaat-style dishes, chicken and seafood starters, while the tandoor section includes chicken, mutton and fish cooked with Indian spice blends. Curry pages cover vegetarian and meat dishes, and the rice menu includes mutton, chicken, prawn and vegetable biryani as well as several thali combinations. The restaurant also promotes South Indian food, which distinguishes it from Hanoi Indian restaurants that focus almost entirely on North Indian butter-chicken-and-naan standards. For a mixed group, that breadth means one table can order grilled food, curries, rice dishes and vegetarian plates without everyone having to share the same style.

Vegetarian diners are particularly well served by the documented menu. Current pages list dal, chickpea curry, okra, aubergine, mixed vegetables, paneer-related dishes, vegetable biryani and vegetarian thalis. That is useful because vegetarian choice here is structural rather than an afterthought. Anyone following a strict vegan diet should still ask about dairy, ghee, yoghurt and cream, which are common in Indian restaurant cooking and appear in several menu descriptions. Likewise, travelers with gluten or nut allergies should discuss ingredients directly with staff instead of relying only on dish names, because sauces, marinades and breads can contain ingredients that are not obvious from a short menu title.

The current official site presents Spices as a place for both short lunches and longer evening meals. That matches its 11:00 to 22:30 daily operating schedule shown by recent business listings. Lunch can therefore be straightforward, while dinner allows more time for shared starters, breads, curries and rice. A normal meal for two or a small group will usually take around one to one and a half hours. Larger groups may need longer, especially if they order across several menu sections. Reservations are sensible for group dining, and the restaurant’s long-standing InCham presence indicates that it also serves Hanoi’s Indian and international business community rather than relying only on tourists.

The address, 17T5 Hoàng Đạo Thúy, sits in a modern mixed residential and office area. For visitors unfamiliar with the district, ride-hailing is the simplest arrival method. Use the full building reference rather than only the restaurant name, because Hoàng Đạo Thúy contains several large towers and commercial addresses. The current phone number published by the restaurant and recent listings is +84 24 6251 1555. There is no need to rely on the legacy Travel S Helper pin, which has not been independently verified for an exact entrance.

Current pricing on the official site shows a restaurant positioned above very cheap street food but still accessible for regular dining. Appetizers range from inexpensive papadam and salads to larger seafood and tandoor plates, while curries and biryanis occupy a mid-range bracket by Hanoi international-restaurant standards. Thalis can be useful for solo diners because they combine rice, lentils, curry, bread and accompaniments in a single order. Prices can change, so they should be used only as a planning reference, not as a fixed tariff. The same applies to promotional discounts listed by membership organizations.

The restaurant is a good choice when the group specifically wants Indian food and does not mind traveling beyond Hoàn Kiếm. It is less compelling as a sightseeing stop in itself, and travelers with only one or two meals in Hanoi may prefer to prioritize local Vietnamese cooking. For longer stays, however, Spices offers a useful change of pace, particularly for vegetarian travelers, families and diners familiar with Indian regional food who want more than the most common curry-house standards.

Because the official site is active in 2026 and publishes current menu content, Spices can be planned with more confidence than restaurants that survive only in old review listings. Still, travelers should treat specific menu items and prices as changeable and call ahead if a particular South Indian dish, dietary preparation or group arrangement is essential. The core facts are stable: the restaurant is active at 17T5 Hoàng Đạo Thúy, serves a broad Indian menu, and currently operates every day from late morning through the evening.

For first-time visitors, the menu structure also makes ordering easier than at restaurants where unfamiliar regional dishes are mixed without explanation. A thali gives a built-in overview, while tandoor items and biryanis can be shared. The official menu’s separation into appetizers, curry, rice, tandoor, South Indian food, desserts and drinks helps diners compare styles before arriving and reduces the need to improvise at the table.