They say brevity is the soul of wit. So, for once at least I will attempt to be witty for a change, or at least brief. I hate this place. There I said it. So, if you’re happy with my emotional ejaculation you can now leave it at that. Hopefully my hate has brought some happiness into your life and you can now carry on with your day. But for those who wish to read further please note that my hate for Spicy Space is not the same as one may hate muscle bound jocks flexing and ogling themselves in front of a mirror or the way perhaps one may harbour resentment when you gather the courage to ask out a pretty girl only to be to snubbed without even a courteous«good-bye» or «have a nice day». No, my umbrage for this establishment runs much deeper than these mere follies of life and has a much more genuine flair to it. Spicy Space is a Chinese restaurant/takeaway located close to the University of Manchester and almost directly behind Trinity Highschool. It is opposite to Bento King. I loathe Bento King and gave it 2 stars. But at least at Bento King I was treated with the same courtesy as any other wheeled cog that comes rolling into their eatery. Spicy Space has several chairs to sit in accompanied by the usual table. But the restaurant is mainly used for takeaway meals. They also serve chips, sandwiches and the usual fare. My fried rice and mixed chicken and vegetable dish was adequately prepared and, thus, adequately edible. Their food is perhaps marginally more tasty than the average bad takeaway(as most Chinese takeaways in Manchester tend to average in being bad, which they excel at remarkably). But even all this I can forgive, but there are some transgressions which I cannot. I hate tribalism; the” us” and«them» mentality. It breeds discontent which can lead to hatred. Most restaurants and takeaways have one menu and everyone eats from the same menu. Spicy Space has two menus: one for their British customers and one for their Chinese. The Chinese menu is written in Chinese, and contains no pictures, it is indecipherable(unless of course if you read Chinese). The food that the Chinese customers were ordering looked much better, by several magnitudes, than the food that the non-Chinese(i.e. British) customers were ordering. For one, it had much less shiny looking sauce on it and appeared to depend more upon the spice flavouring. Thus, it also smelled better. Obviously, I asked to order from the Chinese menu. At this point what imbecile would not? Unfortunately, I was told that I could not because I was not Chinese. That was a peculiar response, one akin to being denied into a fraternity while simultaneously being slapped by your young female tutor, while she’s naked. I was told that the menu was«too spicy» for me. Now, I know my spice limits better than most people, but I’m South Asian and grew up with a mother who walked around the house eating chili peppers as if they were crisps. I assured the gentleman that I could indeed handle my spice and I ventured into his restaurant because I expected the space to be spicy — hence the name spicy space, opposed to calling it the Bland Box. He said no, that I would not like it, that it was too spicy and offered no assistance with the Chinese menu. As I could not read the menu I ordered fried rice and vegetables from the English menu. My friend at this point left without placing an order. And to put the nail in the coffin, here is the hygienic report of the restaurant: «Spicy Space was last inspected on 28th January 2015 and was given a food hygiene rating of 1 out of 5 by a food safety officer representing Manchester’s hygiene authority. Businesses that are given ratings of ‘0’ or ‘1’ are required to make major improvements to their hygiene standards.» Source: Stay Spicy, Gagun
