The “fasten seat belt” tone was going haywire inside Ren’s Subaru while he fiddled with the stereo as we prepared to take off for a Wednesday lunch curry. He acknowledged his reckless behavior and buckled up.  In the year 2008, I really can’t believe that we still need reminders to wear seat belts. Are there really people out there who don’t believe in them? (matt)

I don't know why the chime in my car is so pushy.  Even when you've just started it up with the e-brake still on it goes off every 10 seconds for about 3-4 seconds.  Even when you're not in the seat.  Pretty in your face.  Especially for your poor passengers who are just waiting for you to scrape the windows, or put in a CD.  (ren) 

We drove into a busy and industrious Forest Lawn and found Samosa Express near the end of International Avenue (17th Ave).  We’ve mocked the rougher edges of this community in previous reviews so we won’t do it here. In truth, on a Wednesday afternoon, I felt safer in Forest Lawn then in many other areas of the city. So, go on, get in touch with your inner Forest Lawn. (matt)

We decided to go in the mid afternoon so it was a pretty relaxed drive.  Much better than when we're usually trying to find an address right in the middle of rush hour.  Which later in the year is also completely in the dark.  Nope...finding Samosa Express was uneventfully easy.  (ren)

As we pulled into the parking lot we passed a former 7-11, now locally owned with the name Convenience 777.  This should not be confused with Ortho 7/7/7.  Next to the proverbial Kwik-e-Mart, we found numerous auto repair shops with mechanics busily inspecting vehicles up on hoists. Next door to Samosa Express , was a sketchy pizza place with rather vicarious hours, operating only around the midnight hours. Ren and I made a pact to never to be in Forest Lawn during their hours of operation. As we stood in the parking lot trying to get our heads around the motley crew of shops, we were nearly run over by an overzealous “Mr Snack” Mini-Van. “Mr. Snack”, that’s their name. That name again is “Mr.Snack”. (matt)

I just don't get it.  It seems like waaaaay too niche a market to be only going for the 11-midnight forest lawn pizza craving crowd.  I will admit to desiring a pizza at those hours, but it's pretty rare. And what if the craving hit me at 10pm?  Now what do I do.  Oh yeah...call any of the 100's of other pizza places in this town that are open till midnight/1am but have more than a 1-2 hour work-day.  What is that?  Why do I have a feeling this is not a real pizza business but is in fact a front for some sort of dodgy enterprise? (ren)

Inside we were greeted by probably the friendliest curry shoppe owner we’ve ever met. He welcomed us with some spicy complimentary masala chips, which we devoured. The owner explained that Samosa Express is take-out only, and they only really do samosas (in addition to these masala chips). They used to be called Sheesh Mahal with a larger curry menu but have recently done an overhaul to focus solely on their samosa sales, which many restaurants in town use on their menus. Fair enough, I guess. He took our order of 1 beef and 1 veg samosa each and invited us to sit down in the waiting area. This provided me another opportunity to discuss seat belt safety with my reckless friend as the waiting area couch consisted of the back seat from a 1995 Dodge Caravan. Comfortable and Safe. That’s pretty much what I’m looking for in a waiting room. (matt)

It's too bad they have such a limited menu.  I know it's never a good idea to over diversify but there's such a thing as being too specialized as well.  I think they may have crossed that line.  They've also made the cardinal error of naming their place after a Kwik-Lube oil-change shop.  This was especially puzzling when we actually had to wait for quite a while as the owner explained they don't prepare the samosas until they are ordered.  The name would lead one to expect a giant mountain of samosas under a heat-lamp of doom but the fresh preparation is appreciated. (ren)

As we waited, the owner brought out some free Beef Palau for us to try. It became obvious at this point that this was a sales technique. The palau was decent but we had already signed up for a giant bag of masala chips in addition to our samosas. (matt)

The masala chips were good.  I took it home with me and stormed through them a few days later.  Just spicy enough and very tasty.  The beef pulao was quite good.  Rice, beef and some pickled-tasting carrots, I was nearly convinced to grab a take-out order.  However we had decided that we would just try the name-sake samosas and leave room for a full meal elsewhere. (ren)

The total for 4 samosa and the chips was 5 dollars. In retrospect, the owner cut us a deal on the price since each samosa was supposed to be $1.75. We appreciated his laissez faire economics. Bravo Adam Smith! (matt)

Since the samosas and chips were not enough to eat as a meal, we packaged them up and ventured onward to find a full-on curry house. I reheated my samosas in my microwave the next day and found them to be decent. The vegetable samosas had corn, potato, onion and oddly, green bean. When served with the complimentary chili sauce, it provides a nice snack. Maybe not as good as Mr. Snack, but I would venture to say the owner of Samosa Express is a better driver than Mr. Snack. The beef samosas were also decent. 
(matt)

I tried my samosas later that evening.  I quite enjoyed the veg one, the variety of flavours was really nice.  They could have been a bit bigger....but that's just nitpicking, they were a decent size.  I wasn't too impressed with the beef one.  Too much onion for my tastes.  The beef was nicely cooked and spiced, and not too greasy.....I'm just not a big fan of onion.  I won't hold that against them, but I definitely preferred the veg. (ren)

We’d like to throw our support behind Samosa Express. Too often we see curry houses with an 80 dish menu, which is clearly inappropriate. This friendly business man has perhaps gone to the other extreme,  focusing on doing only one thing and doing it well. Don’t be afraid of the location. It’s well worth a go. We’re sure you’ll enjoy the experience. 

Samosa Express: 8 for Samosas. 

Not at the Restaurant:

1. Noam Chomsky (of MIT)
2. Virgil Exner (Designer of 1961 Dodge Dart)
3. Brad Roberts (Crash Test Dummies)

Rating: