We have been witness to a social phenomenon. The growth of Indian restaurants in Calgary has started to take off in the last 5 years. Predictably, this growth within Calgary, has now, like stage 4 prostate cancer, spilled out of the capsule and into outlying communities. Happily, unlike stage 4 prostate cancer, eating curry in Cochrane has a more cheerful outcome, as we found out tonight at Mehtab. (matt)

Unfortunately, like all good curries, and prostate cancer, curry in cochrane has the definite possibility of causing melena and fecal incontinence. However, unless matty has suddenly discontinued his disgusting habit of describing his bowel movement to me in haiku, I believe Mehtab did not cause us any gastro-intestinal disturbance. Yay! (ren)

As I drove out to meet Ren in Cochrane, I tuned into Randy Bachman’s Vinyl Tap on CBC Radio 2. Not because I’m a fan of BTO or the Guess Who but because on this night the theme for his show was “Songs you’d like to have played at your funeral”. Quite a concept really. Listeners would email their suggestions and then Bachman would play the best suggestions. After several predictably overdone suggestions (ie. Trooper’s “We’re here for a good time…” and Sarah McLaughlin’s I will remember you), I nearly lost faith in the program. Then he busted out the Irish Rovers with Wasn’t that a Party and everything about the world was right again. Who doesn’t love a talking cat? (matt)

Since we were both leaving from our separate residences, and heading for a location of undetermined distance away (Guess we should have checked google maps) we didn't really know when we should leave to arrive at nearly the same time. I tried to work out one of those old-school math problems to help me visualize things, but since neither of us was taking a train from Bangor, Maine, I just couldn't make it work. Complicating things was the fact that I had a bit of a surprise for matt, and that surprise required a tank of gas. I made sure matty gave me a big head-start, and predictably, I arrived a good 15-20 minutes before him. (ren)

I arrived late. Ren looked famished. When I say famished, I really mean he looked bored. Sometimes with Ren, the lines between these two terms are easily skewed. However, he wasn’t too bored or famished to show off his new toy, a vintage motorcycle from the 80s. Herein lies one of the principle differences between myself and my best friend. When I worked in ICU, the nurses referred to bikes as “donorcycles” (I had to get them to spell “donor” cause at first I thought it was a reference to some type of pedal powered kebab). That was enough to convince me never** to ride a motorcycle or any other type of motorized cycle. Ren currently works in an ICU and rewards himself for that hard work by investing in a two wheeled death machine. I concede. He is much manlier than I. (matt)

Of course, the ICU I work in is actually the CVICU, where I get to see all sorts of cardiac surgery patients, a fair number of them with fatness-inflicted cardiac trouble. This has not deterred me one bit from eating the richest and creamiest curries available, whenever possible (or drinking beer and eating doritos whenever not eating curry). I would kill for a donaircycle right now. (ren)

When we entered the restaurant, the maitre d’/owner got up from a table where he was having a large family meeting to show us to our own table.

“Ah!! You guys are Bikers,” said the maitre d’ excitedly, having spotted Ren’s helmet. “Great day for a ride!”

The concept of being referred to as a “Biker” conjured up thoughts of organized crime and extortive plans in my head. I could sense that the owner felt intimated by my plaid shirt. Really, we were just there for a curry. He needn’t be worried. That is, unless he was part of some type of rival curry blog trying to bust in on our turf.

It was at that moment I decided to do less mescaline. (matt)

We took our seats and I told matty to try to remind me to take my helmet with me when we left. I could think of nothing worse than leaving and getting locked out of the restaurant and not being able to ride my bike home. Well, besides getting eaten by a bear while hitchhiking home. That would be worse. (ren)

We spotted the owner’s family sipping on mango lassis and decided that we also needed to try them. They were excellent. For an appetizer we decided we would try the never seen before Chicken Pakoras. When I say they have never before appeared on a menu, I should clarify. A chicken pakora is essentially a chicken finger (served with cilantro and tamarind sauce on the side). Regardless of their plainness, they were decent chicken fingers.(matt)

I think we've seen them on the menu before, we just ignored them in good sense. However, me in my famished, delirious state, and Matty just trying to make amends for his tardiness, we decided to give them a go. Something more exotic, like paneer, or fish is definitely my preference on the pakora front, but these were ok. Be a good introductory item for a curry noob. The mango lassi's were fantastic. No ice at all, and the perfect complement to the meal. (ren)

For mains, Ren went with a Kalimirch. It had a good cashew flavour and Ren raved on about it during the meal. I admit to not enjoying my experience as much. However, it’s probably my own fault. Before leaving the house, I had glanced at the online menu and noted a dish I had never ordered before, the Chicken Tikka Achari. Online, it’s listed in both the “Non Vegetarian” options section and also in the “Tandoori Items” section. I guess I stupidly assumed that if I ordered the CTA, I’d get something comparable to the Chicken Tikka Masala rather than just Chicken Tikka. When it came, it was in fact, just Tandoorized Chicken pieces. My fault really. I should have read the menu closer. That’s not to say I can’t still be bitter about the experience. For what it’s worth, Chicken Tikka Achari tastes like someone has dry rubbed tonnes of Dijon mustard into chicken and then roasted it. I wasn’t too happy with it. Ren tried to cheer me up by pointing out how good the naan was (true), but it didn’t really work. (matt)

Poor matty. The menu describes the CTA pretty much exactly as it arrived.....however it's a dish that I've seen prepared in a sauce, so he wasn't out of line to expect it to be more than just chicken chunks. My dish, the chicken kalimirch, was pretty fantastic. It's a dish that I routinely (pretty much once per week) get from my regular local curry spot, so I had very high expectations for it. It was just about perfect. To the uninitiated, chicken kalimirch is basically butterchicken with some cashew and black pepper flavour added to the sauce. I was grading Mehtab hard on this one, and they exceeded my expectations. Huzzah!!!! (ren)

I wanted to give Mehtab a 6, but Ren has convinced me otherwise. I’ll leave the scoring to him but will point out that the pricing for the two of us was about $30/head. Not a particularly cheap option especially if you have to drive out from Calgary. (matt)

While I accept matty's caveat about the price being a bit steep, I think if you live in cochrane, Mehtab is a solid 8. If you live in NW Calgary, probably a 7, and if you're living in the curry district, just a 6. If you actually fly all the way from India to eat at Mehtab, and then immediately went home, you'd probably give it about a 3. However the curry at the Calgary airport would still get a 9....it's just that good.

Not at the restaurant

• Norman Luxton (AKA Mr. Banff, he once sailed a canoe to Australia)
• Marianna Meyer ( Fan of Unicorns and Lakes)
• Leithe Holowaty (Shoppers Drug Mart Associate)

Rating:

**Dec 30/04: After a night of heavy drinking on a beach in Thailand, I made a poor decision and relented to my Kiwi friend’s dire insistence that since I was less drunk than he, I should double him on his rental scooter back to our chalets( 20 mins away). Predictably, I crashed the scooter into the jungle.