Disappointed and still hungry from our experience at Mirchi, we walked 5-6 blocks east of that establishment, past the Sheldon Chumir Center and an old bum park to Raja Foods. We nearly missed it as there were giant metal construction fences around the building. We walked in to find a lonely man in his late 30s killing the final hours of his day at grungy pick up counter.  The half dimmed lighting in the restaurant/convenience store eerily shone over his decrepit kitchen.  He greeted us with a smile but you could tell he was depressed. (matt)

Raja Foods is one-half restaurant and one-half convenience food store.  There was an oversized baby-gate pulled across between the two sections forcing us to purchase indian tandoori delicacies rather than Tandoori Sizzler doritos.  Having to hit two restaurants in one night is not unheard of for us food-reviewing type peoples.  However usually this is because the first place was closed, either permanently or temporarily.  Only on one previous occasion have we had to actually get two meals in one night to satisfy our curry jones.  See Anapura Curry Pot/YYC curry.  (ren)

We glanced at the chalk board menu. I chose the 2 dollar veg samosas, which were sitting under a greasy heat lamp (possibly at half voltage), while Ren got a Chicken Biryani. As tempted as we were to order the Goat Liver Curry (previously unseen anywhere), we just didn’t have enough room in our bellies. (matt)

We made a pact, that should we ever return to Raja Foods that we would share a goat liver curry in addition to our full meals.  However this will probably end up like the pact we made back in college to get matching tattoos if they ever made a sequel to the greatest movie ever, Dumb and Dumber.  Matt wussed out and I have to live the rest of my life with the shaggy-dogmobile on my chest.  (ren)

My samosas were served with a peri-periesque sauce and were very clearly homemade. They lacked the crispy exoskeleton so common to overly deep fried samosas and that made it a little different. Not horrible just different.  Ren’s Biryani was very much a Biryani. Lots and lots of Rice with some spice and a small amount of meat thrown in. But mostly rice, of course.  We never order Biryanis because it’s impossible to grade a restaurant on rice dishes alone. It’s part of the reason this website doesn’t review Japanese food. (matt)

The biryani was a good choice.  It had a couple very large chunks of meat in it (bone-in), probably at least a quarterchicken, and was very tasty.  It also came with a side salad that I wasted.  They never advertise the salad so I never think to preemptively refuse it, and then it shows up and I look like the ungrateful jerk.  Damn salad, the bane of my existence.  I only ate about half of my biryani before deciding to save the rest for the next day's lunch but it was fantastic, on both its first and second heatings.  Like matty said, you can't really judge a restaurant on biryani, (i guess if they completely bungle it you could give them a 2) since it's a pretty staple dish, but I was still pretty happy with it. (ren)

We struck up a conversation with the owner. The reason for his depression became clear. The landlord had forced all the tenants out of the building and was undoubtedly selling the building to developers who would turn it into condos or office space.  When asked if he would relocate, the owner stated that his business partner, who was older, had no desire to do so. We were essentially eating in death row. (matt)

We finished our meals quickly and wished the owner best of luck knowing that unless we were in the area in the next month to try goat liver, we would never eat his food again. It made the whole experience quite sad. And somewhat pointless.

Scoring Raja foods is a futile exercise and so we will give you, the reader, the chore of selecting its score from the following options: