Maurya or Tandoori Hut (Cgy)?

[John Manzo]

I'm taking a vegetarian (but lacto-ovo) job candidate out to dinner next Wednesday night. We've put him up at the KRI and he's expressed a willingness for Indian, and seeing as Maurya and TH are both a nice short walk, I'd like to try one, but have never been to either for dinner.

Bearing in mind that it's the veg that matters most, which would CHers recommend?

[wonderflosity]

I'm a vegetarian as well, and I would definitely go for the Tandoori Hut, although do think that it's gone somewhat downhill since moving from the smaller location a block south.

I have never tried Mysore Palace though, and I've been meaning too- Give us an update after your lunch and let us know how it went!

[John Manzo]

It's actually dinner, and we normally take job candidates to really nice places--for my own interview back in Feb 00 they took me to River Cafe-- but being veg does pose certain limits. I'd be happy to take him to, say, Chef's Table and ask Theo to whip up something veg, but I've already talked to the guy and he likes the sound of Indian, so here we are. The thing that is a little weird about going to Mysore (eg) is that it's so cheap, relative to the River/Muse/Capo sort of thing we usually shoot for- but got this candidate I think it sounds perfect, so yes, I will report back!

[fotze]

I would have liked to see what you would have said had he told you he really likes Montana's.

[raidar]

I would have loved to see this as well ;)

[John Manzo]

He was following my mention of Indian. Also, no Montana's where the candidate is from.

[seemac70]

Tandoori Hut?

The name says it all, mon ami... Keep looking! President's Choice serves up better Indian food.

Try Glory of India across the river by Caesar's. Full a la carte, and it isn't a diner like T.H.

[23skidoo]

Curious why you would say that. Did you find it too bland? How is it diner-like? Did you watch the staff heat up frozen curries?

You haven't tasted mass-quantity bland horrible Indian food until you've had Copper Chimney in the +15.

I usually order just veggie dishes when eating Indian. *For those dishes*, TH doesn't stand out to me as being better or worse than Rajdoot, Glory of India, Taj Mahal, Ganga, Royal India, or Namskar. Of course, I haven't been to TH in over a year, so maybe it really is bad now.

I'll have to try Mysore Palace soon...

[seemac70]

Fair enough...

Just very bland.

Not much depth of flavour, complexity, or anything else that makes a professionally prepared dish stand out as such.

"Tasty" Sure, but pretty run-o-the-mill. And really pretty expensive, too.

Many Calgarians, including me, just get used to the extrordinary pricing here in this city. A neccessity for the operators in all likelyhood, but often the quality just isn't there. However, there's plenty of attitude and airs and graces to go round, because what does the expense account crowd care?

A quick jaunt back east and I'm spoiled for months.

I guess I just get tired of people rationalizing the whole thing, and excusing crap food and service in sub par, pretentious joints that (mostly) wouldn't last five seconds in an eastern city.

Mr. Manzo, read the reviews of Rush... Come on!

As always, I enjoy the discussion.

[John Manzo]

I dunno, I've been encountering some superb value lately- have you been to Ali Baba yet?. And out east- the sushi (for example) and the coffee suck; I've also never had as bad service anywhere in the world as I do, and did, in Toronto, every. single. day. So I'm not complaining.

Anyway, all I asked about was where to take a vegetarian.

[raidar]

Can you let us all know where you go, and how it was John. As a neighbor from little ol' Edmonton, it's reviews like these that help out when I come to town.

[John Manzo]

Okay- was surprised to find that it's buffet at night (every night? not sure). So as candidate dinners go, this was pretty damn cheap- 4 dined for $80, incl one coke, one mango lassi (a REALLY nice mango lassi) and one Kingfisher. Idli were quite nice, moist, and sambar was decent. Dosas- not great, sad to say, but would almost certainly have been better ordered off the menu- we go a basket of pretty good naan and a plate of these little masala dosas that were less than crisp. Idli were at the buffet table- I also had two veg curries, one a cabbage one that was the high point for me, great deep flavour, could have eaten a plate of this with some very, very good rice too. Also a green bean curry (not long beans but fat green beans, almost like snap peas) was nice and something I've never seen before. Lots of chutneys. Not great were fish pakoras and aloo pakaoras- both were sort of cold and the aloo tasted of almost nothing but dough, cold dough at that, pass on that if you see it.

Fascinating desserts- a sort of rice pud but with vermicelli instead of rice, a thing that looked like a creme caramel but that I didn't get to taste, and a really killer carrot halwah that was, I must say, the best I've ever had, but I've never liked carrot halwah so YMMV.

I'd like to order off the menu some time, of course, but as dinner goes this was a very good deal and food that ranged from a bit disappointing to quite good. And it's nice to have a south Indian option downtown.

For a Weds night in a part of downtown- 6th Ave and 7 St SW- that is DEAD after work hours, business was quite good. Nice to see.

[alley]

Maurya and Tandoori Hut are both northern Indian / Punjabi style: standard fare, butter chicken and such, although Maurya has some dishes from other regions in India.. I find Tandoori Hut a bit dumbed-down, more Westernized. Maurya had a nice roasted cauliflower dish as well as the eggplant dish mentioned here: I haven't been there in a while, there's just too much choice in the city and I find both of them to be pleasant enough but nothing special. You probably won't disappoint your guest at either place (unless you are entertaining a true hound), and you should get decent service on a Wednesday night.

I know it's not what you asked but you could consider downtown Mysore Palace for south Indian: they offer more vegetarian selections, some of my vegetarian friends really like it. It's not an especially pleasant walk as you know but not terribly far if the weather is cooperating.

[John Manzo]

That's actually an excellent suggestion- from KRI seeing as Mysore is almost west end I'd think that's, what, a 10-minute walk? I'll seriously consider it.

[Hoj]

I have had, for the most part, excellent curries at Maurya. I went to Tandoori Hut to compare and was extremely dissapointed - the food was sub-par at best and very bland. Mostly we order meat curries at Maurya so I may not have a proper representation. As mentioned, Maurya does have a fantastic eggplant curry where they roast the eggplants till the natural caramelly taste comes out and then simmers it in a nice thick gravy. Maurya is definitely heavier. I can't remember how the other veg dishes were - the palak paneer was good but not outstanding. Their naan is excellent - crisp, bubbly and slightly chewy. For what it's worth, the butter chicken here is my favorite in the city. Very savoury, good syrupy sugar notes and nice, chunky texture. The chicken pieces seem to be roasted (perhaps with the masala) and then cooked in the curry.

[23skidoo]

For a veggie, go with Tandoori Hut. Maurya has a nice eggplant dish, but overall the vegetarian dishes (I also had channa, a dish with paneer, and a dish with gobi) are not the greatest IMO. Too heavy, creamy and muted.