I'm always on the lookout for new places to eat, and fortunately my friend Shazad from work is always happy to suggest places we haven't tried yet. Apparently Chutney's is one of his mom's faves. Its located downtown on the edge of chinatown and seems to be mostly geared up for the lunchtime buffet crowd. A huge buffet area and about 50 tables with numbers on them were my tip-offs. I should have been a detective. Or a town crier...but thats a whole other story. (ren)

A much-needed day off for me meant a round of golf and a curry. I’ve often wondered if you could get curry in the clubhouse at St. Andrews. In a curry-mad country like Scotland, it’s not inconceivable. With Glasgow being the curry capital of Europe, it’s in fact, quite conceivable. Nonetheless, the par 3 at Confederation Park certainly did not have curry. All they have is dodgy hot dogs and bottled water. Unfortunate. (matty)

On the advice of Ren’s colleague, deeming it to be superior to other restaurants in town, we were asked to check out Chutney. Not above taking counsel from other people, we decided to give it a go. Well that, and the guy is apparently brown so he knows what he’s talking about. (matty)

Located in Sun Life Plaza, in the vicinity of 2 or 3 major oil company headquarters’ and the Calgary Petroleum Club, a visit to Chutney is a stark reminder of where we live. Calgary now has more national offices than Toronto (Center of the Universe, my ass.) and a good bulk of them are oil and gas companies. Parking in the area is a bit difficult and I had to park a few blocks away. Outside the restaurant, a young man asked me for spare change. I never give beggars in Calgary anything. Not with Help Wanted signs in every window. There’s no excuse not to have a job. You have to be bloody moron to be unemployed here. (matty)

I actually found it fairly easy to get to and park near the restaurant despite the downtown location. This was good since its a fair ways off the C-Train tracks so you pretty much have to drive and park, or you can drive and park at a c-train station and then walk 6 blocks through the vagrant-guantlet. (ren)

Feeling adventurous i went with a mango lemonade, rather than the usual lassi. Very nice, refreshing and not too sweet. Might have to start drinking these more often. (ren)

Being hassled by vagrants, I arrived late. Ren, with apologies to his family, was incestuously hungry. I quickly decided on the Chicken Dhansak (Chicken, tomatoes, garlic and lentils) having only perused the menu for maybe 30 seconds. Bonus points to Chutney for having an easy to read menu. Their specialties are in red and you can’t lose if you stick to that. Ren had Madras and Ang pulled through with a SIZZZZZLLLER. (matty)

While we waited for our food, I had Ren fill out my passport application. I wondered how many known terrorists had filled out their travel document applications while waiting for Indian food. And if there was a link, would our waiter be on the phone with CSIS? That being said, the service was fantastic. They have a zealous crew who seem to enjoy their work. Bonus points there. Ren thought the leader of the zealots, uh, I mean, wait staff also worked at Mac’s in Tuscany. (matty)

Actually I don't know if thats it...but he seemed pretty familiar. My madras was perfect. Lots of spice, but not stupid-hot. A variety of veggies in a curry sauce. You just can't go wrong. So often I go with the rich and creamy dishes...but this one reminded me why I should just get a "curry" every now and then. Ang couldn't decide on a single item so she went with the tandoori mixed platter. This was a freaken mountain of food, including prawns, chicken tikka, kebab chunks (beef and lamb) and some tandoori chicken pieces. Its not often that as a reviewew you see a dish that is so good that it makes you want to take a point away from the same dish at another restaurant....but thats exactly what I was feeling when I compared this platter to the one I got at "Glory of India". Everything was just as tasty as my platter...and there was waaaaaay more of it. (ren)

To say the food was good would be an understatement. Dhansak is not a dish I’ve ever had, but from now on, I will start looking for it at every possible restaurant. Including Wendy’s. It’s just that good. Ang’s Combination Sizzler was basically a mountain of meat. How can you lose with that?!? Sizzlertastic! Ren was also pleased with the meal although he did leave slightly suspicious of the gas jockey from his neighbourhood. (matty)

And oh yeah...the rice was good and the naan was great...fluffy and yummy. Mmmm... (ren)

Food critics rarely give perfect scores. It’s probably shunned upon as it’s our way of being discriminating snobs. That, and its super fun to rip a place apart. Try as we may, we could not find anything wrong with this restaurant. It was a brilliant reminder of why Ren and I started eating Indian food. Congratulations to Chutney for earning this website’s first perfect score of 10 ELEPHANTITIS FEET!

Secondary review. Because of our enjoyable experience on the friday, Ang and I took some curry newbies here again on the following monday. These guys wanted to try some authentic indian food but didn't want to be disgusted by the bathrooms or the general cleanliness. Forest lawn and NE calgary were just not gonna cut it so we returned to Chutney's. I was still impressed. I had matty's Chicken Dhanzak dish, and it was as tasty as he proclaimed. Kinda like someone took a pot of chicken curry and a pot of dhal and just mixed them up. Best of both. Ang had the Chicken tikka platter. I got to sample our dinnermates entrees as well so here goes.

We had a couple appy platters and they were very good. Pakora's samosas, meat, veg, paneer...all there...all wonderful. Lamb Balti. - Very tasty. Hadn't had this with lamb but I like. Lamb Korma. - Creamy mildly spicy with tasty lamb bits. Yummy Palak/Saag Chicken - chicken in spinach. Very good, I could never eat more than a couple scoops of this one but if you like spinach its great. Malai Kofta & Butter Chicken - both had tasty creamy sauces. The chicken was apparently very nice as were the koftas....The sauces were a bit more "tomato-y" than I really like but the diners who ordered these ones enjoyed them.

All in all it was another success. Perhaps matty and I should expand this hobby of ours into some form of culinary tourism and charge people. Hmm.

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