Right across 103 street from the hotel (or at least the City Centre, in which the mall and hotel are located) is the Haweli Restaurant. I found it by Googling food, and it is probably in the Edmonton magazine also.
I like Indian food — Thangam at work made wonderful Tandoori chicken for the office, so it was either that or a curry. So I ordered a glass of generic red wine (6 CAD) and the Chicken Tikka; “Boneless pieces of chicken marinated in homemade yogurt, ginger, garlic and tandoori sauce. Grilled in the clay oven.”
The waitress stood there, pad in hand, staring at me with a smile. “Am I missing something?” She asked if I had had Indian food before. “Yes, once or twice. At work.” I had had it several other times too, so I was puzzled. She explained it was just the meat on the first page. She had me order the Tikka, plus a vegetable off the vegetable page (Daal Makhni: Lentils and kidney beans cooked with ginger and garlic in a creamy sauce–looked good to me), and basic buttered naan off of the bread page (Naan Makhni: Bread baked in the tandoor and brushed with butter.)
The word: Excellent. The Chicken Tikka sizzled with some cabbage(?) and lemon wedge on a metal hotplate from the tandoor, just like Carne Asada in a Mexican joint. The chicken was red, tender and juicy. Actually, I could have just had the Daal Makhni – as a big chili and bread fan, that and three naan would be perfect. The three items were a lot of food but I ate them anyway. Mmmmm. With the chai tea — super hot (ow!), not too syrupy or sweet and poured with a flourish by my cute waitress, who nicely told me to go away for 1/2 hour when I first arrived at 4:30P; an excellent dinner.
The bad news. 12 CAD for Tikka, 10 CAD for a nice pot of Daal Makhni, and 2.50 CAD for the naan — $30 for one person. Ala carte is the expense account’s mortal enemy. We’ll see if she approves it in accounting.
The good news — they serve a lunch buffet for $11.95 CAD. I am so there. I hope Eric goes for it.
Haweli Fine East Indian Cuisine
10220 – 103 Street
780-421-8100
Website: http://www.haweli.ca/