First off, a big hello to our friend Jason Howorko’s mate Cara who I had the opportunity to talk into attending a C-Train Pub Crawl. Cara’s an avid reader of this site and understands that our blog is often less about eating curry and more about talking the piss out of each other. Thanks for reading Cara and spread the word. Also, look for a dodgy curry crawl in the future.

While we’re thanking our readers, it’s a good time to point out that our site has been going for over a year now and we’re still finding new and dodgier places to eat. Last year we had 3000 hits on the site, so if you’re one of those people – Thank you. Keep reading and please send us more comments. Ren has set up an email for the site. PLEASE USE IT!!!! - dodgycurrycalgary@yahoo.com We’d love to hear about your experiences eating curry and will eat anywhere you want us to review, be it in Calgary, Bangalore or even Balzac.

Ang’s pharmacy technician Mariette wanted to spend Friday night eating curry with us. I can’t really say I blame her. It’s probably a lot easier of a task then having to tech for Ang. I can say that cause I have a zillion years experience working in community pharmacy. Okay, maybe more like a three-week studentship. Nonetheless, we brought her with us.

We chose Tiffen Roti and Curry House as place to initiate Mariette to eating curry. Ren game us a 10 minute dissertation on the term “Tiffen” as we sped off towards the NE. For a guy as ugly as he is, his knowledge of lexicon is pretty impressive. (matty)

So, basically tiffen is used in a couple ways, basically all referring in one way or another to a smallish, mid-day meal. The meal itself or the containers used to carry the meal are called a tiffen. I know...very exciting. Basically tiffen can mean...curry tupperware. (ren)

Unfortunately TRCH was closed for a private function. Too bad. It looked decent. Memories of the all the times we’ve tried to eat at Clay Oven.

So we pulled into an adjacent strip mall called Short Pants Plaza. I didn’t really understand the reference but felt it was too much like Short Bus Plaza or worse, Hot Pants Plaza, which conjures up memories a bad episode in Bangkok (All I can say, is that gender reassignment is much more fashionable in Thailand then I had ever thought). I ran into Subway and commandeered their yellow pages. Plan B stared me in the face on the second restaurant page. Nirvana Indian Restaurant and Hall in Falcon/Castleridge. I think what attracted me to this place was that it claimed to have an onsite DJ. Awesome.(matty)

The Nirvana place also seemed like a good plan cause i know exactly how to get there, which sometimes when you get to plan B is half the battle. In a bizarre twist however, Plan B was "opening soon". Not really sure about the wisdom of having a yellow pages ad for a business that doesn't exist yet. But, what do I know....(ren)

We needed a Plan C. Luckily across the street from Nirvana was Apna Punjab restaurant. Unluckily, it was also close to the Village Restaurant (see previous review). We decided to try it after we saw they had changed the prices on their wooden sign by covering them up with paper and using felt maker for the new prices. Classy. (matty)

Apna Punjab used to be the Sweethouse Cafe and Grill, which i'd visited a couple times previously, and reviewed once with chelsea. Don't really know what happened to the old owners, but once again the place had been reno'ed. I've seen their sweets counter in 3 different places over the years. Very strange. (ren)

The atmosphere is clean and the stainless steel tables give you the feeling you are eating in a freshly sterilized operating room. Not too many ORs have sweet counters for their patients. This one does. And a buffet table. Ren and Mariette glanced at the buffet but realized it mostly just had salad. You don’t make friends with salad, so we ordered off the menu.

The beverage menu has a Traditional Punjab Lassi. Unlike most places that tag the term “traditional” on their menu, this place delivers. This is as close to a traditionally tasting lassi as I’ve had in a long time. I first started drinking lassis while in India, not for the taste but rather to recolonize my colon with sour milk bacteria after a serious 12 hour bout of “Delhi belly”. The lassis in India taste a lot sourer then anything I’ve had here. Until this one. Props for doing things old school. Too bad I was expecting the ultra sweet lassi; it caught me so off guard. (matty)

The prices here are quite reasonable, and each dish comes with your choice of rice or naan included. I like to have rice and naan with my meals, so i decided to order two meals. I figured I'd eat a bit of both and then take the rest home. Boy was I wrong. The food was so good that even though i was getting to be uncomfortably full, i forced myself to eat it all. FOOL. Oh yeah....I had the Shahi Paneer which was creamy and delicious with just the right amount of spice, and the fish curry which was awesome. Not too "fishy" but lots of meat in there, and really tasty. Probably healthy too, cause its fish. (and its not in a cream sauce...thats gotta help right???). (ren)

The mystery of the meat Popsicle from our Village Restaurant episode was solved. Chicken Lollipop appears on the appetizer menu here. We decided to pass again. For main course, I had ordered Shrimp Butter Masala. Probably closer to Butter Chicken then I’m willing to admit in public. Too bad my meal arrived after everyone else’s but hey, that’s par for eating curry. The succulent sauced prawn dish was delish. (Note: that last sentence can be used as annunciation exercise ala Ron Burgundy. Here’s another one: The human torch was denied a bank loan.) I would easily order it again. The naan was excellent and I was stuffed by the time Ren ate his 2nd entrée. Piggy. (matty)

Mariette had the butter chicken and the malai kofta. The butter chicken wasn't the best I've had, but it was decent. The malai kofta was brilliant. I would suggest it to anyone wanting to try something a little out of the ordinary, without actually going too far out on a limb. Basically its little cheezy, doughy dumplings in a tomato-curry/cream sauce. (ren)

Perhaps the most bizarre thing about the restaurant are the sinks in the bathroom. Basically, the water flows onto a backwards and upside-down sneeze guard. No basin whatsoever. Bizarre. As I was exiting the washroom, our server was entering one of the stalls to take a dump. So glad we didn’t get dessert. Instead we opted for the gum ball machine near the door – If you get the black gum ball you get 2 free samosas!

Overall, a good adventurous night out. Ren wants to give this place a 9. He cries when I don’t listen to him, so I guess its one off of a perfect score for Apna Punjab. Gentlemen, display the diseased feet!!!!

Mariettes guest review:

It is a family based restaurant that is located in Falcon Ridge. The place was pretty clean and you have to check out the bathroom sinks. They offer buffet or you may choose from a menu. I would recommend the Masal Kofta, the sauce was nicely bleanded and not too spicy. Everything tastes like it was homemade, which is the best kind!! This is a nice family restaurant but the service could be better. I would rate this first time adventure in Indian Food as a 7. Over all I hope you will decide to try out this restaurant, just to have an adventure.

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