Curry on the Road – Getting out of Calgary and eating Indian

There comes a time when every great duo needs a little break from each other. Here are some examples: Gretzky and Kurri. I doubt if Wayne hung out in Finland in the off-season. Hall n Oats. Sure neither of their solo stuff was as good as “Maneater” but I’m sure they were better off for it. Kris and Kross. Uhm, okay, maybe not such a good example. Nonetheless, we decided that we’d try and do some reviews on our own in hopes that when we did review our next restaurant together, that our food critiquing powers would result in universe shattering cosmic phenomena not seen since The Big Bang.

Actually, that’s not true at all. Ren just refuses to invite me to dinner anymore. He thinks I smell like old people.

And so it was that I made my way out on the road to review some India restaurants solo.

India Palace – Saskatoon

First stop: The Metropolis of Saskatoon. Yup. ToonTown. Paris of the Prairies. The YXE, for you airport code junkies. My dad’s been leaving threatening messages on my machine in Calgary pleading me to come home and review one of 2 Indian restaurants in Saskatoon (that and take out the garbage/mow the lawn/shovel the snow). Although, I was reluctant at first, I relented and on a Friday night, me and my dad, sat down at the India Palace in the Cumberland Mall.

I can’t say I was expecting much. It’s been 15 years since Saskatoon’s Taj Mahal won Western Canadian restaurant of the year. Saskatoon isn’t exactly a cosmopolitan culinary adventure. But I was actually pleasantly surprised by India Palace. Formerly known as “Chickpeas”, India Palace has recently move from an anemic downtown location to the affluent east side. We had the buffet so “the old man” could sample a little of everything. They had a bit of everything too: pakoras, Keema mattar, butter chicken, aloo gobhi and a lamb dish. I think we both enjoyed and it’s a good place to try curry if you’re a curry virgin.

A sour note: Midway through the meal I asked for some naan for take out. They agreed but when it was time to leave, they were scrambling to whip off a batch of naan as they forgot. (Yes, that’s right, I wrote “whip off a batch”.)

7 Elephantitis Feet of 10.

Not at the Restaurant:

1.  The Crazy Can Man from the U of S
2. Nelson Beaver
3. David Milgaard

The Cock and Bull Pub in Ellerslie – Auckland, New Zealand.

Ren doesn’t know it yet but I drained our Dodgycurry.com bank account and booked a flight to the Southern Hemisphere. He’s gonna be pissed. Oh well. That’ll teach him to insult my “Eau de Old People” cologne.
I had the Rogan Josh. It was the special of the day. And a beer. Actually, 8 beers, but who’s counting. Pub curry is always a different story. It’s never really that good. You’re almost better off eating at Curry n’ Hurry. Almost.
I scarfed my Rogan Josh down like a maniac. I pretty much had to, cause it didn’t really resemble Rogan Josh. The lack of tomatoes in a tomatocentric dish is always a put off.
While me and my host Ben enjoyed the quiz night at this traditional English style pub, I didn’t really appreciate the pool of blood deposited in Ben’s toilet the next day.

Really, any meal that makes you consider a trip to a foreign emergency department doesn’t deserve more then:
 
3 elephantitis feet/10. (All three points for the beer).

The Take-out Curry Place in Ballarat, Australia

Okay that’s not actually what this place is called. But I was still so drunk from the wedding the night before, I forgot to write down the restaurant name. Ballarat is about the size of Moose Jaw or Red Deer. That being said, they sure know how to party. Thanks again to regular reader Renae and Kurt for inviting Dodgycurry.com to attend the wedding.  I was personally force fed 3 bottles of Victoria and South Australia’s best red wines. Tasty. But not as tasty as the Chicken Madras from this place. Unbelievable.

Score: 8 Kangarootitis Feet/10

9 Tastes of India – Brisbane Australia

Kurt and Renae, who I traveled with in India, wanted to participate in the restaurant rating process, so we had a night out amongst the fruit bats and humidity of Brisbane Located on the south banks of the Brisbane River on the site of Brisbane’s World’s Fair, 9 Tastes of India provides about 6 tastes of India. Missing were the tastes of pollution, being ripped off and everyone’s favorite: the taste of leprosy.
Our waiter was quite upfront with respect to his Indianism, claiming that since he was only half Indian he wouldn’t know what’s good for food. We were a bit confused by this (seeing as he worked there and all) but more then willing to take advise from another waiter.
 We started with some Kingfishers. I didn’t really need any more beer (we had been sitting at a pub all day waiting out what Queenslanders call, “The Wet” and what Indians call “monsoon”) but ordered one anyways. We ordered a combination plate of appetizers. The samosas were substandard but pakoras were probably as good if not better to what we ate at the YYC. 
I was too drunk to remember what Renae and Kurt ordered (maybe they’ll send us their reviews) but I remember it being average. I ordered Paneer do Piazza. It was disappointing. I vowed never to order it, or anything similar, again (see next week’s review).
Our waiter was intrigued by the intense discussion of the dishes and asked the dumbass with the accent (me) what I was doing there. I told him that I had come from Canada to review Indian restaurants. Shortly later, a complimentary Kingfisher arrived from myself and Kurt. I’ll have to remember this strategy for the future.

Not at the restaurant:

1. John Howard (Prime Minister of Australia)
2. Bernard Fanning (Lead Singer of Powderfinger and Brisbanite)
3. Steve Irwin (The Crocodile Hunter)

7 “BrisVegas” Feet out of 10.