Good "Karma"!

Eversince we moved south of the city, we felt a certain disconnect with the latest restaurants or places to be. Perhaps because we have always lived within the downtown core periphery that we felt that we are able to explore more foodie places and get home with plenty of time still. However, since one news network showcased our quadrant and the neighborhood east of us as the best and neighbour-friendly community, I felt that there has been a resurgence of interest in our little area and so you can just see the commerce here is really bustling. It might be the suburb but apparently, the place to be in the south is close to where we live. Isn't that neat?? :)

In our community exploration, we found that our little suburban neighborhood actually have great amenities and yes, restaurants too! As hubby is not much of an adventurous eater (unlike me) I was able to sell to him the idea of eating Indian food. We do have curries in the house occasionally and since he likes spicy food anyway - why not try something totally out of his league?

Enter Karma. (www.karmacalgary.com) The place is dubbed as fine indian cuisine and many critics (who write in the big dailies) agreed that it is indeed, a great place for Indian food! The exterior is minimalist at best - not gloating that it's Indian cuisine at all (no Taj Mahal designs here!) and the interior is classy. It's dark (red-orange paints on the wall, classic India-inspired artwork) and dark furnitures. The place is small (max of about 50 give or take) so it's pretty cozy. If you like Joey Tomatoes' ambiance, this has a similar vibe to it.

We started with a chicken pakora for appies. Hubby loved it as it has a mild spice to it and it is tender to the bite too. The appetizer comes with three (3) types of chutneys - the first is a green mint and yoghurt chutney, the second one is a tamari (sweet and sour) sauce and the final one is a red chili sauce (ooohhh - it's hot!!) My favourite is the mint/yoghurt but when B mixed all three - it did make a great combination of a sauce!

For our main dish, we decided we'll try meat stuff that are prepared in different fashion too. B chose chili chicken - hakka style (mix of chinese and indian style) while I had the lamb korma. It's too bad we did not bring our camera - the presentation was awesome! ;) Our food was put over a stainless steel burning plate and the little dishes were made from gold-coloured little deep bowls (think of miniature woks but with gold handles).

B's chili chicken was great and my lamb order was really tender. The curry has a nice blend of the saffron, almonds and cardamom and that's probably the reason why I liked it - it does taste very Indian yet different. And whoa - we love, love, love the garlic naan bread! It is soft and light and the spice is just right.

Another plus - it is very reasonably priced! So, to some of you who are always ordering Chinese takeout by default - take heed, Karma is so good, you might get something nice in return for ordering healthy, organic food for your body too! ;) Good karma, I tell ya! :)

Our verdict? 8/10 and a repeat business for sure!