Alright, first off lets get the most obvious joke out of the way: We were scared to eat here based on the name. Mysore Palace, more like Mysore Ass the next day. Despite concerns over jalaproctitis, we decided to give it a go anyways. (matt)

Despite our initial concern about the name, you have to admit that at least its not named like an oil-change joint....Apparently Mysore is known as the city of palaces back in india.(ren)

Mysore Palace is located on the NW corner of the downtown core. It’s on your left hand side as you make your way towards west-bound Bow Trail. What really caught my eye was that it was reportedly south Indian cuisine, some what of a rarity here in Calgary. The three of us (including Ang) decided based on location, the C-Train would be a good option. After a partial disagreement about which station would be closer, Ren veto’d me and we ended up having to backtrack. Some much for his internal GPS. (matt)

Whatever. Matty didn't even bother to find out the address and had to ask me on the train. I could have sent him anywhere As for Ang....don't even get me started on her abilities to find places....(ren)

Upon arrival at the restaurant we found it to be completely empty, even though they'd been open for dinner for over 1/2 an hour. The atmosphere seemed to be a mix of 50's diner and typical sweethouse. Big glass display case, checkerboard floor tiles, buffet line full of curry, black vinyl stools at a low eating bar. (ren)

Unfortunately there is no Jukebox, nor is there a guy named Biff picking on an undersized McFly. The owners were watching ZTV (the Indian equivalent to CTV) but turned it to a bad episode of America’s Funniest Home Videos (circa 1994) when we walked in. (matt)

Apparently the only thing they serve on Tuesday nights is buffet. They have a large selection of items. Most of them I could recognize and all of them were appropriately labeled if I couldn’t. Some surprises included the minature rice filled masala dosa patties and the keema (beef). These I would assume are the south Indian items. About the only place you can find beef on a menu in India is in the highly westernized region of Goa, a former Portuguese stronghold. That being said, it was agreed that this beef was more likely to be goat meat. I think the best items were the crunchy veggie pakora and the peppered potato dish. The sauced dishes were decent but not amazing. Mango lassi, of course, is always a strong choice. (matty)

The veg pakora were kinda strange...seemed kinda like they were just the bits of batter that fell off of the real pakora with no actual veggie content. They had a paneer masala that was really good....I actually preferred it to the chicken masala (their butter chicken). The beef curry was pretty good but matts suspicions about the "beef" are echoed by myself. Matt always avoids the tandoori chicken but here it was done perfectly. Especially on the buffet this dish tends to be dried out and flavourless...no such problem here. There was also a lamb curry that matt didn't have that was very tasty. (ren)

As usual, I succumb to the temptation to fill up on every item at the buffet (minus tandoori chicken and Indian desert), and left feeling insanely bloated. For what its worth, Indian buffet is clearly not a good idea if you plan on running a marathon that same day. All I wanted to do is lie down. Mysore Stomach. (matty)

I overstuffed myself as well, I couldn't resist the urge to go back for an entire plate of the butter chicken and its paneer equivalent. Foolish move, about halfway into that plate I was ready to be rolled out but I forced myself to finish. Then just for a laugh I had one of each of the indian sweets just to prove how hardcore I am. I can never remember what they're called but the brown one was completely saturated with syrup and tasted mildly like burnt sugar and milk (probably because those are the main ingredients), and the white one tasted like soap....(hopefully NOT because that is the main ingredient). (ren)

My personal impression was fairly good. I was fairly disappointed that there were no fish or prawn dishes in the buffet since those are generally popular south indian dishes. However if I'm ever feeling hungry and I'm wandering around downtown I'd be back. I noticed in the phonebook that there is another Mysore Palace listed in the NE....may have to check it out. (ren)

Overall, this place is probably a safe bet if you don’t mind eating goat and are with people who hate dodgy environments found in the NE. It might be appropriate for a lunch meeting with that business client that you want to impress with your knowledge of foreign cuisine without actually having to eat at Moti Mahal or the Taj. We give it no more then a generous 7 elephantitis feet/10.

Not at the Restaurant

1. Bob Sagat
2. Gino Vinnelli
3. Brian Wilson

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