Ren
was lazy so he made me go and get takeout and bring it to him. Apparently,
I’m his curry bitch. After debating
about what to get from the Tandoori Hut in Kensington, we decided against
reviewing it this week. The Tandoori Hut has no website, making it
tough to peruse the menu from the comfort of your living room, office
or bathroom (if that’s where you keep your PC). Luckily, Namskar
has a wonderful website.
We were almost put off ordering from here because of the professionalism
of the site. (MM)
I said...."bitch, bring me a curry!!!"....and
a curry was delivered. Gotta love it. (Ren)
I phoned in our order and was told to pick
up the meal in 30 minutes. I set off soon after and had no problem finding
the restaurant. For Calgarians, Namskar is convientiently located near
the corner of 16th Ave NW and Center Street. Driving instructions for
residents of St. John’s, Nfld are equally simplistic: Locate
Mile One of the TransCanada Highway. Drive West for a while. It’s
on your right when you reach Calgary. There’s a reasonable sized
parking lot around back, although if the owner of a blue Toyota Tercel
(Plate # EDR 496), happens to be occupying 2 spots like he/she was
tonight, parking may be a challenge. (MM)
(for people coming from Vancouver, BC....its on
the LEFT) (ren)
Inside the restaurant is posh. I was greeted
by a Maitre’D and a large ceramic elephant. On one side of the restaurant
was an Indian family. On the other, dozens of students from SAIT. An
odd mix for sure. Of note, a sign informing patrons of the 15% gratuity
added to the bill of groups of 8 or more was on prominent display.
Within 4 minutes, I had the food and was ready to foul my car’s
upholstery with stench of butter chicken. I wonder how that will go
over on the next date. Who my kidding? If she doesn’t like curry,
she’s hardly worth the effort anyway. (MM)
So
matty brings the food to my house....and once we unpack everything....and
wipe off the mess that one of the leaky containers caused we dished
up. I had a chicken Madras and saffron
rice (with a side of butter chicken stolen from ang's dish since she
was at work). Matty had some tomato soup and the Paneer
de Piazzo....which sounded kinda italian to me. (ren)
Food: The most underrated item in Indian cuisine
is Tomato Soup. Curry virgins take note: If your dining out and you
see this on the menu, don’t be afraid to order it. Sure, your
white friends will think you’re wussing out, but you’ll
have the last laugh. They often use jeera and real cream to make their
soups. Beats Campbells hands down. Had I not spilled half of the soup
while avoiding construction on Crowchild Trail, I wouldn’t have
had room for the Paneer de Piazzo. At first, I thought this dish was
some type of Indian cheese pizza. But actually the dish is quite tasty
with heaps of tomatoes, spicy pepper seeds and cilantro. It’ll
make your nose run but it certainly doesn’t lack in flavour.
The naan was among the best we’ve tried also. Ren’s madras
was done to perfection and curry aficionados would do well with either
of our entrees. Maybe next time Ren will be a man and try the vindaloo.
(MM)
My chicken madras was delish. Quite spicy
but also extremely flavourful. The rice earns mention for being
nicely multi-coloured (pink, orange, red, yellow) and tasty. The
naan was a good mix of fluffiness and crispyness....not a big gross
dough-ball and not a flat, pathetic tortilla thingy. Ang's butter
chicken was very tasty. Not best ever...but probably top 5. Matt's
dish, while too veggie for me...was nicely spicy with lots of flavour. Maybe
I will get a vindaloo next time....but maybe not. It would most
likely be a step up in spice without any increase in flavour...and
quite often a decrease so the madras is a good half-way point. (ren)
Overall, although pricey, Namskar is a fantastic
culinary experience. Thank you for restoring my faith in curry. 9 diseased
feet out of 10. (MM)
Agreed....way
too expensive to be "dodgy"....and
way too nice....Had a close call when cleaning up. There was
a fairly large amount of yellow-coloured greasy stuff on my counter
after we took away the dishes from the leaked container. I wiped
the crap out of it with a cloth and water and no luck. Matt and
I were both worried....partly because ang would probably kill me....and
if the Madras left this kind of stain on a pretty much unstainable
surface....what the hell is it doing to my insides. But then
we soaked it in dishsoap for 10 minutes and it was ok again. I
didn't try drinking any dishsoap to clean out my tummy however. (ren)
Three people not seen at the restaurant
- Ren
- Clive Beddoe (CEO of Westjet)
- Mr. Hooper (from Sesame Street)
(Next week: Ren reviews curry for NASA while
Matt investigates the curry scene in San Fransisco)
Rating:
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