The Spice Traders Kitchen

Food was good. I got spicy Street noodles and shrimp fried rice. Portions were large to my liking. But that’s just room for leftovers!!!

I have been waiting to write a review of The Spice Traders Kitchen since their opening week. The wait was well worth the time. It has been a pleasure to watch this restaurant grow in to what I consider phenomenal cultural dining experience. The owners have taken the time to select ingredients from around the world that compliment each other in a magnificent way. From either taking out with a bahn mi for a quick bite or a dal paat for two with a black tea from London the food at The Spice Traders Kitchen is always a fulfilling experience. In today’s dining out world it is a per joy to walk in to a local restaurant and be recognized by the owner who engages you with genuine desire to talk about the various ingredients and flavors they are serving and shares in the rich discussion of new culinary ideas.
I have dined all over the world and it is a joy to say that I have found a local food experience in the small town of Winooski that provides in my opinion some of the best and most culturally diverse food I have had in one place.

We ordered takeout for the first time here tonight. We loved the previous restaurant here (Namaste), and we visit them at their new home on North Ave., so we were intrigued and excited to try Spice Traders for the first time.
Three of us ordered:
— Veggie Spring Rolls
— Street Noodles w/​Shrimp & Veggie
— Szechuan Tofu
— Chicken Coconut Curry
The food was ready in around 20 minutes. I had a 15 – 20 minute drive home and I could barely contain myself with the smells emanating from the bag of takeout sitting on the passenger seat. It was mostly the Chicken Coconut Curry — that thing is seriously aromatic.
I got it home and we delved in. Everything was incredibly flavorful. The flavors really pop on your tongue. The spices are remarkably fresh and perfectly balanced. Delicious! The spiciness is really just perfect — they obviously use a lot of very fresh spices, but it’s not overly hot (they don’t go crazy with the chili peppers) — it’s just really flavorful. That’s exactly how I like it!
Portions are predictably large, except for the rice portion served with the curry — that was only a cup of cooked rice. I think two cups would have been more appropriate to go with a dinner-​sized portion of curry.
This was overall an extremely yummy and satisfying experience with very fast and friendly service. And inexpensive for the quality and quantity of food.
We’ll be back!
[This is really a 4.5-star review. I’m going to round-​down to 4-​star until our next visit, when I will revise as needed.]

We were gifted with a l’il smörgåsbord of veg dishes while I was recovering from surgery and hubs was ill.
Everything was PHENOMENAL, perfectly spiced and seasoned, not excessively oily/​fried and really nutritious and OMG it was all tremendous. We had a selection of curries, salads, noodles, a soup, and a heathy amount of rice and all was weepily fresh and clearly homemade.
A HUGE addition to the Burlington & Winooski food scene, and an important one.
My sole regret: we used to live in the same block as STK. Could’ve had this wonderfulness daily.

I love what I’ve had from here so far – moh mohs, street noodles, drunken noodles and the vegan curry have all been so flavorful and filling! I can’t wait to try everything on the large menu. generous portions, amazing smells and colors, and great value all served up with some of the best customer service around! The outpouring of love coming from the owners shows in their food and their warm and welcoming space. Thank you for being a part of my neighborhood!

Tastes really good. Everything tastes good. Fried chili mushrooms are the best. Reasonably priced. Friendly staff. Killin it. Get a banh mi for lunch.

A++ service. Nice little spot. i loved the chicken dumplings I had last night. All the food was flavorful and I would love except the food is with few exceptions very spicy (even if you order it with low spice). Doctor recently told me I cannot eat spicy food, so with the exception of the dumplings and possibly a few other things, I will not be eating here. That being said, if you do like spicy and flavorful, this would be a great spot for you to try out.

Absolutely incredible! Authentic, fresh, flavourful and affordable. The owner and staff couldn’t be more friendly or accommodating. This is the type of establishment you are happy to support. Highly recommend the dumplings and samosas to get started. Can’t wait to get back!

Hands down the best Himalayan /​Nepalese food in town. Not only was the food amazing, the price was incredibly reasonable, and the portions generous. My husband and I were quite full when we left and had a HUGE doggy bag of leftovers to take home on top of it.
The owner and the staff were also exceptionally friendly and accommodating. We can’t wait to go back.

My wife and I went here for the first time last night. This is by far the best Nepalese food I’ve had in Burlington. It’s nearly identical to the food my Nepalese friends would make when I lived in Boston.
The owner and staff are exceptionally friendly and modified their ingredients to my vegetarian wife’s pregnancy requests. We couldn’t ask for anything more and will be adding this location to our most frequented restaurants.

I had high expectations due to Namaste, which occupied the same space before this little place opened. Namaste’s food was cheap ($ 3.50) and delicious. This place is more expensive and the taste just wasn’t as good. While I prefer the banh mis made by Namaste, the banh mi’s here have a more crunchy and crisp bread for the sandwiches. The dessert we had, Saffron Infused Pound Cake With Lemon Drizzle was too dry. This might be due to the fact that it has been sitting there for most of the day. There are only 3 desserts, but that’s the plus side of this place over the old place which offered no desserts.
The other thing that I really had a hard time with was how cold it was inside! We sat next to the windows, which was freezing! My food became cold fast. It’s hard to keep such a little place warm with the door always opening to people coming in for take-​out, but if you do eat inside, sit right next to the heater near the water station. Also, wear a jacket when you go to the restroom, it’s colder than the eating area.
Service in this place was great. The wait staff was fluent in English and very friendly as well as accommodating.
Overall, I’d recommend just coming to this place for take-​out until it gets warmer.

Prices are good. Dish size is good (I hate it when I walk out stuffed to the gills, or have to leave food on the plate… especially when it’s yummy). Customer service was great.
I had the egg rolls, cardamom tea, and street noodles with peanuts. The tea came out in this beautiful little pot. It’s amazing how wonderful tea can taste when it’s served in beautiful pottery… I’m a sucker for that, but it really works. The tea was good, but the pot and beautiful cups made it FUN. The street noodles were very flavorful with a nice hint of peanut — nothing crazy overpowering. The last time I had an asian dish with peanuts (not here) it was so peanutty that the flavor overpowered everything else. This dish… was not that. Very good flavor with a nice afterburn of spicy heat.
My husband had the homemade moh moh (pork) which was nice and spicy (like we like it) and came with soy sauce and another yummy sauce. His entrée was the Daal Bhat Platter, which he likened to dishes he had in Sri Lanka (spicy and flavorful).
All our plates went back to the kitchen empty.
The small restaurant was never empty while we were there, with a constant flow of take-​out traffic almost the entire time we were eating. There are a few tables outside for when the nice eat-​outside-​weather returns. And there was plenty of street parking on this Friday evening in December.
I think we’ll definitely have to go back.

So Robyn and I had just finished a rehearsal with the VSO chorus at the Elly Long and decided to drive down the hill into Winooski for a look at the Spice Trader’s Kitchen. We had read a good review in Seven Days and were looking for something a bit different.
The place was a bit hard to find because of the poor lighting on Main St. but eventually we found parking right across the street. The restaurant is configured like a pizza place; 4 tables in the front, long and narrow. We were greeted warmly by a young man who I understood from the article to be one of the founders of the restaurant.
We samples some fried moh moh’s for an appetizer; spiced chicken mixture in fried wontons. I stuck to the sweet sauce as the moh moh’s had plenty of spice.
Robyn has been encouraging me to expand my horizons and my palate where spicy foods are concerned, so I ordered an Asian «bowl of red» called Red Curry Pork. Lots and lots of heat but lots and lots of flavor as well. I couldn’t stop eating it. I’ll tell you if you ever experience a night in Burlington when the temperature is in the teens or single digits and the wind off the lake is cutting you like a sword, head up the Spice Traders Kitchen and get you a bowl of this wonderful curry.
But as good as that was I was bowled over by Robyn’s dish which was a Chicken Coconut Curry. So many wonderful and complex flavors. Just the right amount of heat. This dish was absolutely exquisite.
Our praises were appreciated by the aforementioned young man who could be seen to take great pride in the food they served and loved to talk about it.
We’ll be back for sure. So many more things on the menu to experience.

Delicious, affordable and HUGE portions, prepared and served by a friendly staff including the owner Alyssa.
This is easily my new favorite place and I find myself going 2 or 3 times a week (which, given the portions and resulting leftovers, allows me to eat it nearly every day!).
This is not «Chinese takeout». One of the things I love most is how fresh everything seems in all of these Vietnamese and Nepalese inspired dishes, which is satisfying but not lethargy inducing. A welcome departure from greasy «Chinese takeout», which I love and had its place, but as we all know often produces a less than desirable, shall we say, afterglow.
I wish I could pick a favorite, but I’ve really loved every amazing dish I’ve tried. The Asian chicken salad, shrimp spring rolls, and egg rolls brought me back the first few times, but now I struggle to decide between the chow mein, fried rice and curry. Their sauces for each dish are spectacular too, but in particular I just want to chug the peanut sauce by the pint!
They recently expanded the menu and have been testing various specials to see what else people like, so be sure to experiment even after you find your favorite dish, if for nothing else to ensure the variety keeps coming for people like me!

It was alright for take out. We had the fried rice which was ok. Was very surprised how bland it was. We also has the chow man which too was very very bland. It was all noddles. The samosas where good as was the soup. The portion of the rice and chow mans were very very big, which was nice. But because those two dishes are so bland I don’t think we will order it again nor finish what we have .
I am sure this place will get over time. But I am disappointed to say, I was not thrilled by the taste of our rice and noddles.

My first experience was great! The staff were so sweet and helpful, and the dining area was much nicer than I expected. Good range of good, tofu is an option, and the prices are decent too!
We tried the tasting platter for $ 12 that had 2 curries, including the specialty of that day which was a nicely spiced, vegan curry! The other one was less flavorful and a little soupy, but still a good taste.
We also tried the vegetable moh mohs and vegetarian spring rolls! The spring rolls were massive and we loved the peanut sauce. And I’m always SO happy to find vegetarian dumplings, so the moh mohs were great.
Last, we got dessert! This might have actually been my favorite part. Homemade, Chai-​infused truffles. What?! So so delicious and definitely a unique option.
Keep up the awesome work guys! I highly recommend.

Definitely not as good as my first visit.
Tried the Fried Rice with Chicken — mostly a mix of rice, cabbage, onion and chicken. Flavor was a bit bland, but that can be adjusted, but a lot of the rice itself was not fully cooked.
I decided to save it for dinner instead. Once home, I put it all into a small rice cooker, added some water, and cooked the rice the rest of the way. It was pretty good, once it was fully cooked (and I added some additional veggies).
I’ll still come back, but I probably won’t get the Fried Rice with Chicken again.

This is a new restaurant that is definitely worth visiting! My meal was delicious. The shrimp spring rolls are light and flavorful, a great starter. The chicken wings are crispy and hot and the tangy sweet chili sauce is very nice. The Banh Mi sandwich is rich, warm, and flavorful. Overall very good, affordable food!

Excellent home cooked Himalayan/​Nepalese food. The combo small plate platter was good: egg rolls and samosas were good with their sauces. Chicken momos were okay. I had the pork curry which was a good and moderate level of spice, balanced with a good helping of white rice. The service is good and you will have to expect with two people in the kitchen, they will take their time to cook. The owners are nice and very prompt and accommodating for this small restaurant space. I like the simplicity of their menu and the fresh flavored of their food. Will come again.

If you like curry, spice, and everything nice — just eat the whole menu.
The Spice Traders’ Kitchen was recommended to me by a coworker. I was informed they just opened so, due to my inability to wait for someone else to review, I decided to dive right in.
The menu is simple, enticing, and really affordable. The location is small and sweet for any intimate «date nights» or for a quick lunch. Alyssa, one of the owners was there and she was so great! With a smile on her face jumped into making my take-​out order.
I ended up ordering the Shredded Pork Thai Salad and the Pork Curry.
While I waited, I drooled over the rest of the menu. It took SO much self-​restraint from ordering more… but I didn’t. The food was prepared very quickly, and it is all made on the spot. Love my fresh meat and veggies.
Now, onto the food. The salad was divine. I refused to share it with anyone. I munched away at the crunchy vegetables that were tossed in a slightly spicy vinaigrette. The pork was so soft that I almost forgot there was meat! And the colors… don’t get me started. Beautiful.
The pork curry on the other had a kick and the color and taste was equally as divine. Everything just fit so well with the jasmine rice that yet again, I taunted my household and refused to share.
To conclude my journey, I will DEFINITELY be returning and am hoping to sample their Banh Mi Sandwiches.