Dodgy Curry - Ren & Matt's Curry Reviews


 

Dodgy Logo

Dodgy Logo

 

India Restaurant and Sweethouse - February 2nd, 2010 - 7196 Temple Drive NE


There are a lot of reasons why your favourite website might suddenly "go dark".  Sometimes it's due to hackers.  Other times it's due to the author(s) moving on to other projects.  Maybe there was a sudden disaster or emergency and the last posts on the site are actually the final contact your web-host had with this mortal world.  Maybe the author decided to take his game to another level and is writing a book.  Or maybe they figured nobody was reading anyway, so they gave up shouting to an empty room.  Or maybe, just maybe, they were on a fantastic adventure.  Perhaps they decided to sell all their worldly possessions and acquired two vintage motorcycles (one with side-car), an electric guitar, and a small drum set.  Perhaps they filled up the motorcycles with gas, and headed south-east.  They'd spent all their money on the motorcycles and musical instruments, so when they ran out of gas, they needed to play the local bars and cafes to earn the cash to move on.  Unfortunately they weren't very good, so it took a lot of shows and a lot of charity to get them back on the road.  Eventually they found themselves at the crossroads.  The (in)famous crossroads of the blues.  Eager to sell their souls in exchange for legendary musical talent, they waited for the devil to show.  However, since Ren is an athiest, he did not.  Our heroes decided to head back to their starting point,  tails between their legs but souls intact.  Except for Ren's, cause he doesn't believe in souls.  Now that they've rebuilt their shattered lives, it's time for DODGY CURRY 2.0 (ren)

Guillermo Valdez, the cruise ship’s staff abortionist, was working overtime.

What do you think? Pretty good eh? This is the opening sentence to what will soon be the greatest novel ever written. Oh sure, it probably won’t feature a Dickens-like virginal orphan being manipulated by some wretchedly evil antagonist or ever be taught in a Grade 11 English class, but I firmly anticipate a feature film to be made shortly after (or possibly before) the novel’s release. The working title is Carnivals, Coffee Beans and Coat Hangers and it is the reason we haven’t been posting anything on this website for months. I submitted a leave of absence request to Dodgycurry.ca a few months ago to work on my literary masterpiece. Despite that request being denied by Ren, I basically just didn’t write anything for this website or go out for Indian food and it accomplished the same goal. Ren on the other hand, was apparently too busy being married to notice.  (matt)

Oh yeah, the real reason for our hiatus, and spotty posting record over the last year or so, is my marriage to the lovely Miss Elizabeth ......no, not that one, wrestling fans.  Also, as mentioned in probably 3/4 of our last reviews, we've been kinda running out of new spots to visit.  It was getting harder and harder to get motivated, knowing that a simple trek for curry was probably going to turn into a journey to all four quadrants of the city, all in the name of another 6/10 review.  So, we were feeling pretty down.  I had my personal fave places, and have been keeping my tastebuds "review ready" by having curry regularly, but we just weren't out doing reviews. (ren)

India Restaurant & Sweethouse 2010Then one day at work, I got a text from Ren to say that he was having a bad day and needed a curry. I can relate. At times, curry can be an adequate substitute for cheap gin. But not just any curry. You need a sweaty dive bar curry. You need to go to the kind of place you know is gonna give bacteria-phobes the fits. The kind of place that in the country of Laos, is probably an opium den. For occasions such as this dear reader, we cannot offer a more genuine recommendation than the India Restaurant and Sweet House.  (matt)

What better way to get back in the reviewing spirit, than heading to one of our dodgy faves.  In addition to our previous reviews, I've been a fairly regular patron of this restaurant over the years.  I often used it as a "first date" spot to test a potential lady-fan's ability to tolerate my curry-fiend lifestyle.  (ren)

We have already twice posted on this restaurant. While we were doing that, John Gilcrest was having tea at the Palliser and the Calgary Sun’s Bill Kaufmann was asking his editor which word in the English language he could shorten or reinvent so that his readership would understand his column. (Note to SunMedia Editors: Preem is not an acceptable abbreviation or term for “Premier”) On this occasion our experience was just a good as in the past. (matt)

The reason I keep coming back to the India Restaurant and Sweethouse is its combination of great food and low prices.  Their menu hasn't changed since my first visit there and the prices are still amazing.  I don't think there's a single thing on the menu over $10 and the veg curries are all in the $6 range.  Be warned, though.  The menu is completely lacking in english descriptions of the dishes, so you need to have a pretty good grasp of what you're getting based on the name.  Of course you could ask the staff, but I don't think the help you'll receive has improved since our first visit.

Us: "What's this?"
Them: "Chum-chum"
Us: "What is chum-chum?"
Them: "Chum-chum is good"

So yeah.  Take along someone who knows what you'd like.  Or hell.....just order something.  The "worst" you'll end up with is curry goat.  And that one's easy to avoid, cause it's called "Goat Curry" on the menu.  And unless you can handle the heat, if they offer you your choice of spice level, don't go above medium.  I have a feeling their hot might kill some poor curry virgin, but their medium is the perfect mix of spicy and tasty. (ren)

India Restaurant & Sweethouse 2010As usual, we were the only ones in the restaurant. Ren was feeling gluttonous and made me order 3 entrees, an appetizer, rice and naan. For an appetizer, we chose the veg samosa dish which came with chickpeas. Bonus. Unfortunately it wasn’t served with plates and we were left to disgrace the occasion by making an utter mess with the inside of the samosa randomly dropping onto our table and the environs. The freshly washed pitcher of water we ordered was probably the only thing left unscathed.  For the entrees we went with Shahi Paneer, Aloo Curry and Chili Chicken. These were all fantastic and sometimes a food reviewer can say more by not describing a dish. Basically, order them. You’ll like it.  (matt)

Hmm...I'm going to undo matt's good work at saying more by not saying anything, by saying stuff.  Shahi paneer.  "BEST IN TOWN!!!" Creamy, spicy, tasty.  Big chunks of paneer.  You and your dining partner will be fighting over who gets to finish up the last of this one.  Aloo curry:  It's potato curry.  Nothing fancy.  But it's freaken good.  Maybe the sauce was a little runny.  But that's just nit-picking.  It's not a creamy curry, so it's going to be a bit thinner.  Shut up and eat.  Chili Chicken.  This is a dish that can be all over the place depending on where you get it and what spice level you request.  At its most basic, it's chicken with a healthy dose of onions and green and red peppers.  As the heat (and quality) goes up, there are fewer onions and more chunks and varieties of peppers.  And pepper seeds, too.  This dish can be a lovely introduction to a standard "curry" if prepared mild-to-medium for a noob, or it can induce instant gastritis and life-ruining post-traumatic stress disorder in even the most hardened curry veteran, if prepared in its hottest variations.  We got the medium and it was fantastic.  (ren)

India Restaurant & Sweethouse 2010As we dined, a Bollywood DVD concluded and reverted back to the main menu. As the staff were all in the kitchen doing god knows what, the intro for the main menu just kept looping and replaying. It reminded me of the time I woke up in a disorientated fog on the couch at 4 AM and realized that I had fallen asleep 3 minutes into “Dude, Where’s My Car”. Something had to be done. I proceeded to locate the remote from atop the sweets counter and selected Special Features – Director’s Commentary . That’ll teach ‘em. One day Ren and I are going to film our curry adventure and then do a DVD commentary. It will probably be watched by us and us only. (matt)

Anyways, eat at this restaurant. All our food was 36 dollars and 36 times better than all those squeaky clean Indian restaurants your friends recommend. Now, quit bothering me, I gotta get back to being a novelist. “Chapter 75: The French Navy’s Final Conquest of Ben’s Arc Welding Complex at Colonsay, Saskatchewan” (matt)

As for the magic number. We give it a solid 9.

Rating:

9/10


back
   
© 2010 DodgyCurry.ca Site design by Metamorphosis