It’s the most wonderful time of the year. NHL PLAYOFFS. To celebrate
the Flames being in the playoffs, we thought we’d get some takeout
and watch Game 1 of the Calgary-Detroit series. Admittedly, I was comatose
most of the day due to the epic quadruple overtime match that kept me
up until 1:30 the night previous. It’s my personal goal to watch
the longest game of all time. (Matt)
Since I'm finally writing my share of this review a month after Matt's
portion....we all know the Flames are out. Bastards. (ren)
Ren was responsible for pickup this time but I still had to check out
the place. I took an extra long lunch break and found Saffron at the
back of Dalbrent Plaza, across from Winston Churchill High School. I
walked in and noted that despite being a take out place, Saffron was
in no way shady. A giant dark oak table in the middle of the foyer, almost
too nice to sit at, is available for people while they wait. I found
the owner hard at work preparing Beef Vindaloo. I introduced myself and
grabbed a take out menu. She explained to me that you can get Butter
Chicken and Dhal daily and then depending on the day of the week, they
have daily made specials. Today was Vindaloo, Jeera Chicken, Aloo Mattar
and Stuffed Eggplant. (matt)
I must say I really like the online
menu for these takeout
places. (Note: the site was working last month but seems
to be down now!) Makes it soooooo much easier to decide
on what you want. Especially
for a place like this (or Baba) that has the menu rotating depending
on the day of the week. (ren)
Later in the afternoon, I phoned Ren with my order of Jeera Chicken
which I last had a Nasim’s (our first ever review). I loved it
because it was loaded with cilantro. I hoped that the same would hold
true this time. (matt)
I really didn't feel like frying my asshairs with the vindaloo so I
decided to go with the butter chicken. Add on some rice and I was
ready to roll. When I phoned it in they asked for 45 minutes to
prepare our orders because they were just making a fresh batch of butter
chicken. Sounded good to me....except that I'm an impatient jerk
and still showed up at the 30 minute mark. Waited about 15 more
minutes and got my food to take home. (ren)
Since the game was in Detroit, it started early at 5PM and pretty much
everyone in Calgary was racing home at ridiculous speeds so they wouldn’t
miss the start. Its lucky the entire police department was patrolling
the Red Mile or there would have been a few nasty speeding tickets handed
out. While I weaved in and out of traffic, I cycled thru a number of
radio stations and sadly had to settle for “Our Love’s in
Jeopardy”. Bizarre. I think Weird Al did a spoof of it called “I
Lost on Jeopardy”. Not one of his better songs.(matt)
When I arrived at Ren’s place, he offered me a Newcastle Brown
ale and then we opened our take out orders. Ren’s butter chicken
sauce was a bizarre pink, spawning a discussion about Manly Salmon vs.
Girly Pink. My Jeera chicken was alright but a little watery and lacking
the distinct cilantro taste I remember from Nasims. (matt)
Yeah...the butter chicken was literally a creamy pink
colour. The
kind of shade that an expectant parent paints their nursery when they
want the child to have nightmares. The taste was pretty good....although
I hate to say it...probably a little too heavy on the cream and not enough
spice. The Newcastle beers were fantastic however they were not
supplied by the restaurant so they do nothing to help their score. (ren)
The Flames went on to get routed and so that kinda
spoiled things for us. Matt wanted to give Saffron a 6 but Ren tried
to barter it up to a generous 7....in the end though....that pink butter
chicken keeps it at a 6.