Ren and I have started a new tradition of gorging ourselves with Lebanese food after our evening shifts. If we ever run out of  Indian restaurants to review (very unlikely – we need a third writer just to keep up with the current demand – send us your bio, a 8x10 glossy and a sample of your work and we might consider it), we will no doubt start a weekly podcast called ‘Post Midnight Kebab’ live from Shawarma King. We will have special guests (taxi drivers) on to discuss falafel. (matt)

Of course...we're always happy to bring people along as guest reviewers.  Or if you're into midnight shawarma we always like company for that too.  ShawarmaKing is the place to go...open from 10am to 4am, they keep even stranger hours than me.  And thats saying something.  It is currently 3:10am where I'm writing this....and I could still go get a shawarma....except I've just eaten one and that would be silly to go back.  (ren)

On a Sunday night at the ‘the King’, as the last stampede goers were drunkenly rolling in after 1 AM and we were finishing our shawarmas, we discussed where we could get a curry in the morning. It was then that we remembered Essence of India. (matt)

Essence of India....following one of my favourite naming conventions for Indian restaurants.  There's the spirtual ... karma, nirvana, mantra..... then theres the random city in india plus “Sweethouse” or restaurant.  Then there's the easy to pronounce hindi/punjabi word ones.... Anything-mahal, kohi noor, rajdoot....you may not know what it means...but at least you can say it.  Then there's the bizarre....Greenchili.ca??? DJ's Pizza and Curry HotPot.... And finally...pick a random word...and then add “of India”.  Touch, Taste, Glory, and now ESSENCE.  (ren)

On a recent trip to the Uptown Theatre to watch Eagle vs Shark, we discovered an all day breakfast and curry diner. Essence of India. While I wondered if Emeril Legasse had some input into the menu, Ren was probably just debating which curry he could get at 6 in the morning. Either way, we knew we would have to investigate. (matt)

Nothing starts your day off right like 6 am curry.  Luckily for me I pretty much only see 6am from the wrong side,  probably like the proprietor at Shawarma King and Keith Richards so I don't think i'll ever try it out. (ren)

As it turned out, 6 AM turned into 11:45 or maybe noon. I lugged my butt into the shower and threw on a t-shirt and jeans. Scratch that. That last sentence should read “I showered then toweled myself off, then threw on a T-Shirt and jeans.”  Either way, I was over dressed. It’s been freakin’ hot in Calgary this week. With temperatures getting close to 40 degrees, shorts were the way to go. Ren and Ang were both appropriately dressed. I was not. At least I could take solace from only paying $5.50 for C train tickets vs. their $16 dollar parkade debacle. If you’re wondering what that mystery noise is downtown, its the sound of ImPark and the Calgary Parking Authority ripping people’s sacks off.  (matt)

Yeah...$16 for parking jacks up the expense of eating downtown in a hurry.  But I didn't want to have to commute back to the car so I decided to suck it up.  Next time I'll try wearing a cup. At least I didn't have to rent a towel from a street vendor to de-sweat my over-dressed ass like someone I know, who was also wearing a fleece vest, just in case the mountain breeze got a bit chilly. (ren)

Essence of India goes by two names. It’s also called Dixi’s Choices. (I also go by two names. In some circle of friends, mostly my friends who speak ancient Gaelic, I am known as Toirdhealbhach Ua Briain.) I think they have two names so as not to scare people away from the All Day breakfast and burger component of their menu. We walked in and found two types of people in the diner. Construction workers wearing Carhartts and Oil and Gas Employees wearing shirts and ties. The cafeteria style line was quite long and a little chaotic but it seemed that more people were ordering curry than burgers and omelettes. (matt)

It was very bizarrely organized.  We weren't really sure if we were to pay first then order, or vice versa....and when we did order we were simply told to sit down, with no actual confirmation that we were actually going to get food.  We debated on going to pay to see if that would speed things up....but then decided that it would be kinda funny to give out our first “0” if they in fact did not bring us any food. (ren)
       
Our curry arrived and discussion turned to food. We decided that our chicken curry was a decent “office curry” (ie. something that you could maybe have every now and then because its located in your office building and is easy to get to, but not something that you’re gonna drive across town to get). There were lots of cilantro trees which I like. The rice was decent and the naan was essentially pita bread. Ang seemed content with her butter chicken. We washed our meals down with Diet Dr. Pepper and Green Tea Iced Tea. A discussion of caffiene content ensued.  (matt)

I was a little unhappy that matty's plate of chicken curry had at least 1/3 more food than mine.  I'm way bigger than him.....give me the full plate if you're gonna stiff one of us.  The curry itself was functional....in no way wonderful, but not horrible.  The naan was, i think, the stuff that you can buy at Sobey's that isn't really naan at all.  I stole a bit of Ang's butter chicken to make up for my shortchanging.  It was ok.  A fair bit of creamy taste....but maybe a bit heavy on the tomato soup flavour.  The diet Dr. Pepper was fantastic but it was not served in a giant brandy snifter so I can't really credit them points for it.  (ren)

As we made our way to the till to pay, we noticed a previously unseen upselling technique. At least at curry establishments. Next to the till, there was a giant tray of samosas. It was like they had stole Safeway’s strategy of making you line up next to gum, candy bars and tabloids so that you make an impulse buy. It worked. We got 2 samosa to go. They were horrible.  (matt)

Well...they weren't that bad...but the meat kinda tasted like it was scooped out of a frozen ground beef meat pie....not really spicy, and the meat was more baby-food in consistency than I really like.  However I guess it was better than the usual stack of jalebi's (those crazy sugar pretzels) that I'm always tempted by despite the fact that I have never actually enjoyed one.  Eaten plenty, enjoyed zero.  (ren)

Although I was debating giving these guys a weak 7, the samosa solidified their score. Essence of India or Dixi’s Choice gets a 6.

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