| Puspa is about as small as a restaurant can be without being a café. There are only about 40 seats, and it's festooned with Indian art and populated by some unlikely but excellent waiters – men in early to late middle age, dressed like civil servants. These fellows provided excellent advice on the varied menu, and as we were the only diners, we got the help of all three servers. The level of heat particular to the dishes is clearly indicated on the menu, which was also useful.
But before we get to the food, a word on directions to Puspa, which is located in Capitol Hill (1051 - 40 Ave. N.W., phone 282-6444): do not, as I did, assume that this area of Calgary is at all intuitive. From downtown, go north on 14th Street N.W. to Northmount Drive, turn right, and keep going through two sets of lights. It will be on the right. I know this because we spent at least 15 minutes driving down John Laurie Boulevard and 4th Street N.W., quietly cursing.
We began with the chicken vindaloo ($10.50), which was as hot as blazes without the deep, nose-killing heat of some curries I've had. The spice was more forward, and disappeared after a couple of pieces of nan bread, some of the wonderful basmati rice ($2.25) or a mouthful of tangy yogurt raita.
As appealing, and even richer, was the lamb pasanda ($10.50) – braised lamb with homemade cheese, which seemed to have lots of cumin and coriander. This is the sort of Indian food I really like because it takes over your mouth with abandon.
There are also numerous appetizing vegetarian options. We settled on the aloo gobi ($6.99) – potatoes and cauliflower, fried then steamed with lots of spices. There's also dal, motor paneer (peas with cheese), mixed vegetable curry and more. Vegetarians should be able to gorge happily at Puspa.
The unifying theme of this quiet little restaurant’s food is this: at dinner, the flavours of the dishes didn't seem as rich or as intense as they did the next day as leftovers. I put this down to the standard rule of cooking that soups, stews and braises always taste better after they've had a chance to sit for a little while. So while the food at Puspa was very good, we wished we'd bought a couple of extra dishes to take home and devour for the next day's lunch.
RANDOM NOTES
If you've ever wondered what the Bay is doing in its basement Market Square area, it's based on London's Selfridge's department store, which has, among other things, an oyster bar, a fully functioning bakery and one of the best cheese selections I have ever seen. It's worth a pilgrimage to Selfridge's just to drool....
The peaches this year are wonderful. We seem to be taking twice-daily trips on the weekend to the Blackfoot Farmers' Market because we've eaten all the peaches we bought at the market by the time we arrive home. Walker's, one of the oldest stalls in the market, had fantastic pesticide-free peaches last week, with an intoxicating scent and no woodiness at all. Keep them for a day or so in a paper bag, and then devour them immediately. It's one of the early fall's great delights. |
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