| It’s that flavour you either love or hate. In North America, it’s referred to as cilantro, the small, leafy green that brings a distinctive fresh flavour to every dish it touches. But to the rest of the world it’s known as coriander, both the spicy seed and the fresh herb. So you’d be better off loving it if you visit Coriander restaurant, because it’s infused throughout the menu in almost every dish.
Formerly Latin Corner in Mission, its owners wanted to try something new and fresh while creating a brand new taste. They hired two chefs, one specializing in Latin cooking and another in East Indian cooking. They sent them to Kenya to train with their family, which owns two restaurants in Nairobi. The result is a menu that is inspired by both cuisines, sharing spices and innovative new ideas.
It’s the same beautiful space on 4th Street S.W., with a warm palette of juicy orange and sunny yellow colours that evokes warmer destinations. The exposed brick walls, wrought iron furniture and rugged tile floors fit the restaurant’s new identity. Vases on the tables alternate with basmati rice and black beans as a nod to the fusion.
Only the house wine from Spain was available by the glass ($7) so we each enjoyed a glass of red. A small wine list offered more selections by the bottle and there were plenty of cocktails and martini flavours to choose from.
If the wine menu is small, the restaurant more than makes up for it with the food. Pages and pages of selections are divided by lunch offerings, soups, salads, vegetarian, chicken and ocean tapas and entrées. There were too many choices to get through while also trying to catch up with my girlfriend, so we finally asked our server for some recommendations. He pointed out the Coriander signature dishes and we followed his lead.
For starters, we ordered the naan quesadilla ($6). It was a hit, with all the stringy cheese and hot onions of a regular quesadilla and the thick, slightly sweet taste of the naan bread. We also shared the chilpotles mejilones ($12), mussels served in the chef’s special sauce, a smoky chipotle cream sauce. It was also tasty and we sopped up the leftover sauce with our quesadillas.
I selected the Coriander special ginger chicken ($19) for my entrée and it was so good that my girlfriend spent most of the meal leaning over dipping into it. It came with fluffy naan bread, slightly greasy from the tandoor oven and basmati jeera rice. The ultra-thick ginger sauce was mouth-watering.
Despite enjoying most of my chicken, my friend’s goan prawn curry ($21) did not get neglected. There was a generous serving of prawns in the coconut sauce, with cumin basmati rice and more delicious naan. We ate both our plates clean. There were still plenty of dishes on the menu worth coming back to try since we didn’t even make a dent in the available choices.
Even the dessert menu was overwhelmingly extensive. After all that naan, however, we were too full for anything else and had to pass on dessert.
As we were leaving we noticed advertisements for a variety of theme nights, including evenings for Coriander’s Pair and Compare Wine Club menu, wine tastings and paella night, featuring the restaurant’s signature dish. Coriander is making a real effort for Calgary diners, and it’s worth checking out its new flavours.
Coriander is located at 2116 4th Street S.W.; phone, 228-5377. |
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