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Indian Flavors – Calgary, Alberta

There seems to be a good handful of change around the area lately, and most recently I found Indian Flavors where Ricky’s used to be on 130th Ave SE. We entered this restaurant on a chilly afternoon when I wasn’t feeling the best and just wanted something to warm me up.

Unable to decided what I really wanted, I just opted for their buffet as it was there and the other table didn’t look disappointed as they were having a great time! What was neat was they had lamb option and fish in their buffet which isn’t something I normally see.

I just had a plate of sampler basically of the things I wanted to try with some rice. The food smelled amazing, but it was definitely much milder than I’d like to satisfy the general crowd. It was strange as there was spice, but it just seemed a bit watered down for me.

What I truly appreciated was them bringing a basket of fresh naan instead of just picking some out of the buffet area. It was delicious fresh and I was really glad they did that special touch!

Just as I was about to leave, the staff told me to go have some dessert. You tell me there’s dessert and tell me to have some, it’s a done deal! So, I tried both their mango mousse which was awesome with a bit of sour from lemons! It was a fresh an amazing twist on the normal light mousse!

It was a decent buffet, the service was fantastic and there was definitely parking! The buffet was just under $17 an adult and with the selection, it was pretty good!

Indian Flavors

4307 130 Ave SE #207
Calgary, Alberta
(403) 460-9700

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Raj Palace Midnapore – Calgary, Alberta

It was a cold evening and I really didn’t want to cook. All I wanted was a warm hug from the inside out. So, I requested to go eat out for dinner and the only thing I said was “I want to eat curry”. As a recommendation, Raj Palace came up and I have never been here before, so I figured it’s the perfect excuse! It’s not a big place and this particular evening, they had quite a few tables seated so we were seated by the door, which was extremely breezy when the door opened. Thankfully we weren’t there that long!

It seems to be a family ran location. I didn’t really talk to the waiter or anything as he seemed really busy with the orders in house and delivery service orders. It was a bit of hustle and bustle so I didn’t want to be bother. So, we just ordered our food and I decided I wouldn’t get my chai as I haven’t been sleeping well. We ordered more premium and got their Prawn Coconut Curry, and I can’t say I tasted the coconut, but it’s got a nice heat level to it. It’s a tomato based sauce with coconut cream which was perfect with the rice. The prawns were big, large portions, deveined and pretty amazing!

The other dish that we had was their Lamb Chettinadu and I got this because it was the only one under lamb/goat that was “boneless”! LOL! I was having one of those evenings. There’s not much to the description to the curry besides “chettinad spices in home style”, but it was tasty!

That’s all we ordered for curry, otherwise, it was our usual suspects of garlic Naan which was a nice treat because it wasn’t only smothered in butter with garlic powder on it. The texture of the naan here was one of the best we’ve had and I think they actually make their garlic butter! It was very tasty.

The other vehicle that I get with curry is Coconut Rice as I find it easier to eat my curry with and it absorbs the sauce, which means I wear less of the mess! The coconut rice was a large bowl and devoured in no time for me with that Prawn Coconut Curry sauce. It was my favourite!

Overall experience here was pretty amazing. It was a chill environment, no one was in a rush for anything, food and service was good. There wasn’t anything to complain about!

Raj Palace Midnapore

15425 Bannister Rd SE,
Calgary, AB
403-454-3345
Raj Palace Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Green Chilli Grill – Calgary, Alberta

We wanted a hot and spicy dinner on a cold wintery night and decided to go towards Mahogany and see what food outlets has opened in that area. We stumbled into Green Chilli Grill just off of 52nd Street. There are tons on parking in the parking lot, but there’s also lots of food options in the area so I can see it being busy especially during hot summers nights.

We went in and got seated right away. It wasn’t too busy, but there were tons of take away orders as we constantly saw people come in and grab food and leave (both delivery services and personal pickups)! So, it was a promising sign. I started with a nice hot Masala Chai which came in an individual pot and it was well spiced. It wasn’t as creamy and rich to my liking but I did enjoy it thoroughly!

Right away, they brought out the Papadum which was really nice! It didn’t have a burnt taste to it or anything. The sauce was really tasty as well! It was like a spicy plum sauce or some remake of it!

We decided to order 2 curry dishes with the sides to carry the curry and soak up the sauces. we decided to both pick a dish and I decided I wanted the Mango Chicken, where it had a generous portion of chicken in a sweet sauce. I normally don’t pick dishes with white meat, but I decided to go for this as they cooked in cashew based sauce with cream, butter and mango pulp.

The other curry dish we had was more “typical” and was their Chicken Tikka Masala, also with chicken as the name suggests, but cooked in a sauce that’s both creamy and delicious. It wasn’t too spicy but it was just right. The waiter did ask us for our spice level and we said medium. So, it was perfect.

Along with the curries, I love eating Garlic Naan so we had an order of that. I love scooping up the curry as it saturates itself in the rich sauce. I believe it’s the perfect vehicle to eating my East Indian curries.. but, my other half likes to be different!

To satisfy him, we also had an order of coconut rice. He likes that the curry sauce gets absorbed into each grain of rice and swells up in flavour. I do like it as well, I can’t lie!

Overall, we had a fantastic time here and it’s nice to have another East Indian option that isn’t too far from home. The service was great, the food was excellent and the prices was fair! There’s no complaints at all. I know we’ll be back in the future!

Green Chilli Grill

1460-7 Mahogany Plaza SE,
Calgary, AB
403-457-0313

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Spice Hut East Indian Cuisine – Canmore, Alberta

We made it to the top of Sulphur Mountain yet another time, and this time it got cold as we got to the top, and figured some nice curry would really warm us up. We went to Canmore, Alberta, where we stopped into Spice Hut East Indian Cuisine which is located right on Bow Valley Trail in Canmore, and there’s tons of parking in front of the restaurant.

Once we got in, we ordered some Indian Chai Tea which is one of my favourite teas and I love how everyone has their own special blend, and it make it fun to taste!

We eat Indian curries family style so we order a bunch of food and put it in the center of the table to share. We started with their Mango chicken Curry which was amazing! I really like the taste with the mango paste, with the ginger! It was something I don’t get to taste often that I love!

The other dish of curry that we enjoyed was their Beef Korma and it was also very tasty! Fragrant with a hint of spice, we really enjoyed this! This dish has boneless beef cooked in a whipped cream sauce with their spice. Not too spicy but full of flavour.

We ate these 2 curries with some stuffed naan, were we ordered their Beef Keema Naan which essentially is ground beef cooked in a tandor stuffed naan. It was really amazing to eat on it’s own, or with curry!

Our overall experience here was very satisfactory! It really hit the spot, warmed us up, filled us up! It was delightful!

Spice Hut East Indian Cuisine

1310 Bow Valley Trail
Canmore, AB
(403) 609-9997

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Mango Shiva – Calgary, Alberta

I’ve been meaning to try Mango Shiva for a few years now… but usually when I’m downtown on Stephens Avenue, it’s normally during a Saturday afternoon, when they’re not opened. This one weekday, we were downtown and decided to finally make our stop in!

This visit was during a cold spell, so we quickly went in and ordered some Chai Tea and it came out on a tray with lovely presentation! The tea was quite alright, even though I preferred it a little more flavourful with spices! But, I guess there are different types of chai!

We knew we were going to order some curries and split them over rice and naan, and this naan selection is fantastic, I’ve never tried Honey Coconut Naan which I knew I was going to get immediately! I didn’t care what curries we get, it was the naan I wanted to try! I’m so glad I did, it was a subtle sweet with shredded coconut inside. The best part was, I watched the cook make the naan which must’ve made it a few notches better!

Like everyone else in the world, I do like Butter Chicken so I got an order of that! It was creamy and smooth and just as a butter chicken sauce should be. There wasn’t a ton of pieces of chicken, but what we had was extremely delicious and flavourful. Their tomato sauce was the perfect sauce to go with my rice!

My husband appreciates spicier food, and he loves vindaloo, so we also ordered the Vindaloo Pork which does sound a little funny, but it was a wonderful balance of sweet and spice! They described it as braised pork shoulder and belly in spicy potato vegetable curry with pineapple salsa! I don’t usually eat that spicy, but it was manageable and quite fragrant and flavourful – especially with the sweet naan!

I love this place, even though it’s out of my way and a bit pricy for what we got, I still really enjoyed it. I like that it’s not the typical East Indian restaurant and that the menu items aren’t the same stuff! So, overall I was really happy and we left with a warm and full belly! The service was top notch and it was just a warm and inviting environment!

Mango Shiva on Urbanspoon

Mango Shiva

218 8 Ave SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 532-8980