Hackney curry house Spice and Grill reopens after refurb

Shahid Haroon and Mohammed Latif in Spice and Grill before its refurb. Photograph: Josh Loeb

Popular curry and kebab house Spice and Grill has reopened after a refurbishment and will this summer celebrate 10 years of furnishing hungry diners with Punjabi samosas and rich fish curry made with chunks of fresh coley.

The Clapton institition is run by friends Shahid Haroon and Mohammed Latif, and its menu has not changed despite its new, smarter look.

“I learned how to cook from my mother,” said Mr Haroon, who worked as a pensions administrator for British Coal before starting Spice and Grill in what was previously a run-down chippy.

He added: “Sometimes our customers ask us to increase our prices because they reckon the price is not that much, and secondly, they like our food.

“We have customers from all walks of life. People come from Canary Wharf.

“We had one customer who moved to Kent, to Orpington, and he wanted us to deliver food to him. He rang up and said: ‘It’s quite a big order, can you do it?’”

Spice and Grill has appeared on the big screen twice. It was used as a set in two films, Fall on My Feet and Cassiano.

Though not on a par with the Town Hall in terms of the magnitude of its standing, it is evidently popular with politicos. Queensbridge ward councillor Patrick Vernon, who lives around the corner from Spice and Grill, and his fellow Labour councillor Ann Munn, are among its fans.