Achar, a jewellery tray of crunchy, pickled vegetables and shattered peanut, set us off. Necessary too, given the 50-minute wait for starters (this 50-minute thing happened at Jamie Oliver, too. I can’t be any clearer: Oliver is not the gold standard). But forgiveness was swift once kam heong mussels came, the shells proffering upwards like cupped hands. Soybean-bound sauce, accented with shrimp and given heat with curry leaves, ran deep with warmth. With mussels gulped, I soon spooned the pooled remains. And then panicked: here is the creeping kind of spice, I thought, as a wildfire began to lick across my tastebuds.