If you are an avid reader of Calgary’s Avenue Magazine, first of all, get off our website. We don’t cater to aristocratic snobs with time to hang out at charity benefits and get their photos taken for the paper. Secondly, you probably enjoyed the January/February issue entitled “100 Things We Love about Calgary”. While I applaud the editors of the magazine for including the Rider Nation and Vietnamese Subs on the list, I am hideously annoyed that Indian Restaurants were excluded. Certainly the active “Curry Scene” could have replaced “Daytrips to Nanton” or “Our Historic Buildings”. (I’m no expert on architecture but I certainly know that there are cities with more impressive edifices. For example, any place that is older than 120 years.) (matt)

I really didn't like or dislike this restaurant enough to comment....so here's a list of places that are older than 120 years:

Aachen, Aden, Akko, Aleppo, Alexandria, Algiers, Alhama,Alicante, Al-Mukha, Amsterdam, Ancona, Antequera, Antwerpen, Appenzell, Arras, Asilah, Athens, Augsburg, Avignon, Azemmour, Baalbek, Baden, Baia, Banghazi, Barcelona, Bari, Basel, Basra, Beirut, Benevento, Berlin, Bern, Besançon, Bilbao, Blâmont, Blois, Bonn, Bordeaux, Bourbourg, Bourges, Bratislava, Braunschweig, Bremen, Brielle, Brindisi, Brouwershaven, Bruges, Brühl, Brussels, Budapest, Budva, Cadaqués, Cadiz, Cagliari, Cairo, Calais, Calicut, Cambridge, Cannanore, Cape Town, Cartagena, Casablanca, Cascais, Çesme, Ceuta, Cheb, Civitavecchia, Colmar, Cologne, Conil, Corfu, Cusco, Damascus, Dardanelles, Derbent, Diu, Dordrecht, Dover, Dresden, Dubrovnik, Duisburg, Dunkerque, Durrës, Eçija, Edinburgh, Elmina, Emden, Emmerich, Erfurt, Famagusta, Feldkirch, Fez, Florence, Fondi, Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt an der Oder, Freiberg, Freising, Fulda, Gaeta, , Gallipoli, Gdansk, Geneva, Gennep, Genova, Ghent, Gibraltar, Glarus, ,Goa, Gorinchem, Görlitz, Gotha, Granada, Gravelines, Grodno, Groningen, Haarlem, Haifa, Hamburg, Hamina ,Hannover, Heidelberg, 's-Hertogenbosch, Hormuz, Huy, Ieper, Iskenderun, Ingolstadt, Iráklion, Istanbul, Izmir Jerusalem, Jaffa, Jamestown, Jena, Jérez de la Frontera, Jijel, Kalámai, Kalkar, Kampen, Kassel, Kempten, Khalkís, Khaniá, Kharkov, Kilwa, Kíthira, Kleve, Koblenz, Konstanz, Koróni, Kotor, Kraków, Kronshtadt, Lappeenranta, La Rochelle, Larnaca, Leiden, Leipzig, Lemesós, Leuven, Levkás, Lille, Limburg, Lindau, Lisbon, Livorno, London, Loja, Luzern, Lübeck, Lüneburg, Lviv, Lyon, Maastricht, Magdeburg, Mahdia, Mainz, Malaga, Mahón, Mannheim, Mantua, Marburg, Marqab, Marrakech,  Marseille, Masqat, Matera, Mechelen, Meissen, Melilla, Messina, Metz, Mexico, Middelburg, Milan, Milazzo, Mistrás, Modon, Mombasa, Monemvasía, Mons, Montpellier, Moscow, Mozambique, Mukachevo, München, Münster, Nantes, Narva, Napoli, Návpaktos, Návplion, Nîmes, Namur, Neuss, Nicosia, Nijmegen, Nitra, Nové Zámky, Nördlingen, Nuremberg, Nysa, Odessa, Orléans, Oldenburg in Holstein, Oran, Osnabrück, Ostia, Otranto, Ouidah, Palermo, Palma de Mallorca, Paris, Parma, Pátrai, Pavia, Pécs, Penón de Vélez, de la Gomera, Pílos ,Poitiers, Porec, Poznan, Pozzuoli, Prague, Priozersk, Pula, Ramla, Rashîd, Regensburg, Reggio di Calabria, Riga, Ródhos, Rome, Rostock, Rothenburg, Rotterdam, Rouen, Rouffach, Safi, Salerno, Salé, Salzburg, Sankt Gallen, Santander, Schaffhausen, Schwäbisch Hall, Schwyzm, Sète, Sevastopol, Seville, Sibenik, Sidon, Siena, Sion, Socotra, Sofala, Sol-Iletsk, Solothurn, Speyer, Split, St. Augustine, St.-Germain-en-Laye, St. Peterburg, Steenwijk, Stockholm, Strasbourg, Straubing, Syracuse, Tallinn, Tanger, Tarragona, Taranto, Thessaloníki, Tel-Aviv, Timisoara, Tobolsk, Toledo, Toulon, Tours, Trapani, Tremiti, Tricarico, Trier, Trieste, Tripoli (Lebanon), Tripoli (Libya), Tunis, Turin, Tyre, Ulcinj, Ulm, Uri, Utrecht, Unterwalden,Valladolid, Valletta, Vejer de la Frontera, Velez-Malaga, Venice, Verona, Vienne, Vilnius, Vlorë, Vyborg, Weimar, Wesel, Wien, Wissembourg, Wismar, Wittenberg, Worms, Wroclaw, Würzbur, Zadar, Zákinthos, Zons, Zug, Zürich.(ren)

Ang returned from Jamaica only to find that Ren had been living on Doritos and Dr Pepper for 10 days and that the fridge was completely bare. As such, curry seemed like an appropriate option. We chose Nawab. The only dodgy thing about Nawab is the location: next to a backpacker’s hostel (which in North America equates to a homeless shelter) and Le Centre d’Emploi Francophone. So basically, a bunch of Quebecois tradesmen who had just arrived after their 3-day bus trip to strike in big in the “ouest” but who had nowhere to live, were milling about in front of the place. Inside the restaurant, the décor is chic. It’s the kind of place that you can take a business client who’s staying at one of the downtown hotels to and not feel embarrassed or out of place. (matt)

Chic was a band.  As stated on the allmusic guide.  “There can be little argument that Chic was disco's greatest band; and, working in a heavily producer-dominated field, they were most definitely a band.”  Most people only know them for the song “Le Freak” which has been a cornerstone of the Time-Life album and 8-track series from day 1.  They also perfomed the song “Good Times” which of course became the backbone of the Sugarhill Gang's breakthrough hip-hop single Rappers's Delight. The Sugarhill Gang consisted of Wonder Mike, Master Gee, and Big Bank Hank.  They should never be confused with the Apple Dumpling Gang despite the dessert-sounding names. (ren)

Ren and I got lassis which tasted quite good at first but which were unfortunately spoiled with ice. Putting ice cubes in the lassi only creates problems later on in the meal when the cubes melt and you’re left with a very watery beverage.  For appetizers, we chose the chili pakoras while Ang smartly went with veggie pakoras. The waitress warned us that the chili pakoras were hot but we ignored her caution. Foolish. I’m convinced that they actually surgically added more pepper seed to the chili because I struggled through my share. The waitress made fun of us.  The veggie pakoras were excellent and we’d recommend them to future patrons of Nawab. I was disappointed by the amount of tamerind available for dipping the pakoras. Basically, a small 1 and half-inch line of sauce dotted each corner of the plate. (matt)

Ok....one paragraph about the meal.....the chili pakora's were ridiculous....not quite “Ass in the Tub” Hotsauce hot.....but pretty close.  I hammered my way through that Lassi like no-body's business.  hmm...The drink....not the young scottish lady.  I had the paneer makhani.  It was full of paneer but after the taste-bud scorching i'd received i was having a bit of trouble tasting it.  I think it was good....just not great.  (ren)

Within seconds of finishing our appetizer, the waiter informed us that our entrée was ready. This is never a good sign, as it means that the curry sauce has probably been sitting in a warming well all afternoon. Plus, Ren and I were still retrieving our taste buds from the floors of our stomach mucosa after the hella-spiced pakoras. I had the Lamb Dhanshak. I’m not a big fan of lamb and this dish certainly didn’t convert me. The lamb at times was different consistencies. Usually a nice consistency but sometime also more chewy then I wanted. Ren’s dish didn’t blow my mind and Ang basically had dried chicken (chicken tikka.....no masala).  It was decided that while the samples of naan were plentiful, they were also overly crispy and quite pricey. (matt)

The human tongue has about 10,000 taste buds.  I think at least 9000 of mine were begging for mercy.  Its not that the chili's weren't tasty.....cause they were.   They were just too much-too soon.  Also, contrary to popular belief (and what your idiot grade 11/12 biology teacher taught you) that different tastes map to different areas of the tongue, taste qualities are found in all areas of the tongue. The original "tongue map" was based on a mistranslation of a German paper that was written in 1901. Sensitivity to all tastes occurs across the whole tongue and indeed to other regions of the mouth where there are taste buds (epiglottis, soft palate).  So next time you see your bio teacher, go up to him with this review in your hand and kick him in the shins for leading you down the road to ignorance.  (ren)

My sister has this random Hindi letter from India that I wanted to get translated by the staff. Little did I know at the time that “Nawab” is an Urdu (Pakistani) word and there wasn’t a chance in hell that anyone would be willing to read it for me. For background on the principle religious and cultural relationships between the people of India (Hindustan) and Pakistan, rent a movie called “Gandhi”. (matt) 

There’s really nothing terribly wrong with this restaurant. It just isn’t that impressive. I’m of the opinion that we hand out too many easy 7s so Nawab gets a 6 for being mediocre. (matt) 

Also...the poster ads in the bathroom were badly out of date....Any of you heading out to The Telus Whistler 2005 ski party, or catching the April 1st opening of Sin City?  I'll see you there!!! (ren)

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