Category Archives: Indian

Curry Express in Metrotown

Curry Express on Urbanspoon

I love Indian curry! and when I go to the mall, most often, I’d eat curry. Curry Express is located at many malls. The one at Metrotown is alright. Service is usually good. Portion is fair. Seats can be found most of the time, though depending on the cleaning rounds, you may find only dirty tables.

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There are a variety of choices, but I always go for my favourite – butter chicken with rice. $5.60 Sure, it’s obviously not the best curry – but for fast food, I think it’s pretty decent.

In comparison to other Curry Express:

  • Do not eat at the one in International Village Mall (also known as Tinseltown mall). The food there is old (doesn’t take good – blah), small portions and although the food court is empty, it’s a bit depressing there.
  • The Oakridge Mall one is the best for food. The older woman is rude and terrible, but the girl who serves the dishes usually gives a lot on the plate.

 Taste: carrotcarrotcarrot    Price for Value: carrotcarrotcarrot

Atmosphere:  carrotcarrot   Service:  carrotcarrotcarrot
Location: carrotcarrotcarrotcarrot

Atithi

Atithi on UrbanspoonSo my friend had a $32 Groupon for an All-You-Can-Eat dinner for 2 people. Regularly, the ACYE is $28 per person from Sunday to Thursday dinner only.

The restaurant was a good size, and we arrive there around 6:30pm on a weekday. It was empty for the most part except 2 ladies by the window, and a man at a table. The place looked clean and well maintained. The tables were already set. The friendly staff (though a bit too quiet to hear) greeted us and we told her about the Groupon AYCE.

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It turns out that it wasn’t like a buffet where you pick up food of what you want. Instead, they brought you the food, and you were able to get seconds (or more) of whichever you’d like.

We started off with some crispy roti with 2 sauces. I really like the green sauce with cilantro. Mmmm~
Then, Aloo paratha with raita.

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For the main, there was a bowl of rice and
•    Chilli fish indo-Chinese style: quite spicy. I quite enjoyed this dish.
•    Yam and chick peas curry: good
•    Beef Meat balls black pepper curry: reminded me of eating pasta with meatballs.
•    Butter chicken and cauliflower: my friend’s favourite. I usually like Butter Chicken the most, but this one tasted a bit different. However, I still ate the Butter chicken and fish one the most.

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nut_allery_allery_icon_smallFor dessert, there was rice pudding with almonds. I didn’t know it had almonds in it until much later when I looked at their website. I am allergic to some nuts, mostly peanuts and hazelnuts. I didn’t consume a lot of the dessert since I was so full. I didn’t know we were getting dessert, so I had stuffed myself with the main. But for those who are severely allergic, this should be noted. I always find Indian’s dinner to be way too sweet for me, and I never am able to eat much of it.

Because it’s AYCE like at a sushi place, you have to tell the server what you want refilled. I guess this is ok since it’s more of a fine dining than your usual get-up and fill your own plate buffet style.
The website states that the mango lemonade or spiced chai is included. However, our server never mentioned (not that I can recall anyways) that these drinks were included. We had no idea, so we only had water. I would have liked to try the spiced chai. Too bad…

Overall, the service was good. The food is average. I would definitely not pay $28 for the buffet. There are much cheaper places for AYCE, with a lot more variety and choices. The quality is not up to par with some of the other Indian restaurants that charge the same price. I am willing to go back to eat a la carte and give them another try, but not for the AYCE.

 Taste: carrotcarrotcarrot    Price for Value: carrotcarrot (the regular price for AYCE)

Atmosphere:  carrotcarrotcarrotcarrot   Service:  carrotcarrotcarrot
Location: carrotcarrotcarrot

Judge’s Indian Cuisine

Judge's Indian Cusine on UrbanspoonI had been here years ago with a friend, and remembered it being pretty decent, so I got at $15 SocialShopper voucher worth $30 at the Judge’s Indian Cuisine. I ordered the Prawn Curry $15 and my friend asked for a recommendation. The server suggested Malabar Chicken $13. We also ordered Garlic Naan $2.50 and Steam Rice $4.

We sat by the window in a cosy corner. The restaurant was clean and quite comfortable, quite empty, though it was a weekday evening. The servers were professional and very courteous.

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Steam Rice $4idearabbit-judges2

Garlic Naan $2.50idearabbit-judges3

Malabar Chicken Curry $13idearabbit-judges4

Prawn Curry $15 lots of juicy big prawns!idearabbit-judges5

The two curries arrived with candles underneath them to keep them warm. The Malabar was super delicious! We hinted at the coconut flavour and my friend just kept complimenting it. The Prawn was still good, but no match for the outstanding Malabar. However, it was full with large and plumpy prawns! Delicious! Both the rice and naan was great – of course especially with the curry.

We were both really stuffed at the end, even though we thought it wouldn’t be enough since it looked as though it wouldn’t fill us up. We were wrong! Regular prices are a bit on the higher side, but then again, you’re getting really good food, excellent service and nice atmosphere. I would definitely return again :)

 Taste: carrotcarrotcarrotcarrot    Price for Value: carrotcarrotcarrot

Atmosphere:  carrotcarrotcarrotcarrot   Service:  carrotcarrotcarrotcarrot
Location: carrotcarrotcarrotcarrot