I’ve been wanting to try more Indian food recently, and after looking at Follow Me Foodie’s post, I decided to check out Taste of Punjab with my friends last week. It’s really accessible and close to the King George skytrain station.

I pretty much copied Mijune’s recommend list, and hardly looked at the menu. We ordered the Chicken Jalfrzie, Turka Dal, Lamb Curry, Butter Chicken, and some Paneer Pakora. We also added some roti, and garlic nan. I also ordered the spinach nan but it never came, which sucked but was also a good thing because we were stuffed and unable to finish our food. We ordered everything hot, which was surprisingly very tolerable. Definitely not hot enough to make you sweat, but the perfect amount of spice for me.

The paneer pakora is kinda like an Indian fried cheese stick. It’s like an Indian cheese battered a bit, and deep fried. It was stuffed with a mint sauce inside. It was kind of crispy, and the paneer had a slightly firm texture. It was really good, though I think I prefer the one at Asian Spice more, since it came with a really good sauce. This one came sauceless, and I actually put it in the excess butter chicken sauce to make my own Butter Paneer. I enjoyed the other dishes too. They kind of all had the same spicy flavour, with slightly different spices and ingredients. My favourite was the Butter Chicken. The others had some vegetables mixed in too. I don’t think I’ve had enough Indian food to really pick out the differences in spices, I just know that the food was very tasty though and I liked it.

The Turka Dal isn’t my thing. My friend said he usually eats that with lots of roti, but I’m just not really big on that kind of lentil dish. The garlic naan was very garlicky. We were also able to ask for extra basmati rice for free. The service was pretty good (besides missing the spinach nan), and refilled our waters often.

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Taste of Punjab
10009 Whalley Blvd
Surrey, BC

(604) 588-7700

tasteofpunjab.ca

We went to Asian Spice for our dinner before our Portland Surfing Trip. It was in the Entertainment Book, which we really want to make use of. Asian Spice is on Scott Rd (120th St) and 94 Ave right beside Mahek. We were excited to try some Indian style Chinese & Szechuan food.

We started off with the Paneer Pakora. It was really good. We loved the green sauce that it came with. It was fried to a nice golden brown, and the paneer inside was still a bit stiff. By itself, the paneer was pretty bland, but it was really good with the sauce. I ordered the Ma Po Tofu because our friend said it was her favourite dish. I haven’t had it in a while, so I gave it a try here. Sadly, although there were two peppers by it on the menu, it wasn’t as spicy at all, the sauce didn’t have much flavour. They also didn’t have a version with pork. I think the tofu should be a bit softer too, and definitely a lot more flavourful and spicy. The Chicken Hot Garlic Noodles was probably my favourite of the bunch. It wasn’t too spicy (although it has 2 chili symbols by it on the menu), but it was spicier than the ma po tofu. The noodles weren’t your normal chow mein noodles, and it had plenty of chicken and garlic mixed in. Manchurian Eggplant was an eggplant dish in a brown spicy sauce. All we can remember is that it had a ton of sauce for the amount of eggplant in there. Beef Hotpot was good too. It had plenty of tender meat and lots of vegetables like celery, carrots and different bell peppers.

Hmm.. the hottest things on the menu had two chili symbols, and we tried a couple but nothing was too spicy. They did have some hot chili oil, and other hot pepper condiments which you can add, but I didn’t. Our waitress noticed that we ordered a lot of saucy dishes, so she gave us some white rice. They also applied the coupon to two dishes on our bill totalling $13, rather than just our most expensive dish ($8). Normally the coupon just works for one entree up to $13. I’d come back here.

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Asian Spice
9436 120th Street
Surrey, BC

(604) 582-8388

After hearing mixed reviews of this place, my friends and I decided to dine in at Mahek anyway since it was the closest to home compared to other places. Upon arrival we were greeted with a banner that hung outside the restaurant above the entrance that read “voted #1 in surrey”, yet the parking lot seemed quite empty. In addition, the windows were dark so we couldn’t see if there were a lot of people dining in or if it was even open, which made me hesitant to enter. Thankfully though, it was open, and the restaurant was nearly full.

We ordered the Mixed Snack Platter for appetizer, which had samosa, paneer pakora (cottage cheese fried with flour and traditional spices), chicken pakora and fish. For $9.95, it is too expensive because it’s such a small platter! It only came with 1 samosa, 2 pieces of paneer pakora, 2 pieces of chicken, and 2 pieces of fish. Only the paneer pakora stood out for me – this is definitely not enough to share with 4 or more people. After we cleaned our appetizer clean, the waiter took away our plates, and replaced with one big plate … why? It was definitely awkward to have all of our cutlery resting on that one plate while we waited for our entrees.

For entree, we had the Mahek Mini Meal, which is two pieces of tandoori chicken, you get a choice of Lamb Curry or Butter Chicken, rice, Nan and Vegetable of the day (cooks choice). We also ordered the Fish Bengli, which was fish with coconut gravy and spices. The waiter asked how spicy we wanted our curries – my friend asked for mild Lamb Curry while I opted for medium spicy Butter Chicken.

There must have been a mix up on our order as the Lamb Curry turned out to be spicy and the Butter Chicken not at all spicy. Even so, they were both delicious. The tandoori chicken I thought was too dry; I had trouble swallowing it. The vegetable of the day I assumed was the bowl of chick peas or else it had to be the two thin pieces of onion on the rice. However, for a mini meal, it was a good amount to satisfy hunger.

I thought the Fish Bengli was delicious as well, it had a good mix of spices incorporated together. It has a distinct ginger taste and it matched with the coconut flavor well, surprisingly. But it’s expensive in my opinion. For $11.95, it does not come with rice nor nan – just a bowl of fish in gravy, so it would be necessary to order a side of rice for $2.95.

Overall it wasn’t bad but wasn’t excellent either. Though the servers were very friendly and checked on us often. If their prices were more reasonable, I would consider a second visit.

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Mahek Restaurant and Lounge
9470 120 St
Surrey, BC V3V
(604) 585-3331
www.mahek.ca