Curry Original

Hello readers! Well, this was week #20 of our adventure - THE HALF WAY POINT! I can't believe that we have been at this for 20 weeks already... and part of me can't believe that we are still lucky enough to have 20 weeks worth of what will (hopefully) be great food left. Cheers to all of you who have been along for the ride so far. Hopefully you'll tag along for the rest of the journey.

When you Google search "Curry Original", the first link listed states "Best Indian Restaurant in Kingston, Ontario". Click on it, and you're directed straight to the official website of Curry Original, which you can check out here. Had I not visited Curry Original this week, I probably would have thought that that was quite a bold statement. Now that I have been to Curry Original (shockingly, for the first time since I've come to Kingston...), I don't believe that the statement is bold so much as it is just plain honest. 

I started this adventure having been to Indian restaurants only a handful of times. Until I got to know Tonia and Todd, I was convinced that I wouldn't like the flavours of Indian food; that it was probably "too spicy". But in time, we visited a few places, and sure enough, I realized that I was wrong. Really wrong. Not only could I find things that I liked at Indian restaurants, I could find things that I would want to go back for.

I'm not sure how, exactly, it turned out that in all of this time, none of my restaurant visits have included Curry Original... Let's just say that that is a mistake I'm glad to have corrected. 

Curry Original sits on Ontario Street in downtown Kingston - beside the Lone Star and close to pretty much everything: Market Square, the K-Rock Centre, shops, other restaurants. The door to the restaurant is tucked away a little bit off of the street, but the sign is easily recognizable from the sidewalk, and, like the inside of the restaurant, is absolutely beautiful to look at. When you enter the front door, you walk down a short hallway that is accented by a limestone wall that extends into the restaurant. Once inside, gorgeous wood beams line the ceiling and accents created by pieces of art, woodwork and lighting highlight the restaurant's heritage. It is absolutely stunning (so much so that I would be quite happy to go and just sit... and stare...), and then the food comes. That, my friends, just adds to the beauty.

We were down to our original four adventurers this week, but we still seemed to have enough food to feed a large group. What did we order? Delicious food. You're probably looking for more information, so here it is: 

Carrie & Tonia: Onion Bhaji, Naan, Garlic Naan, Bhoona Chicken, Chicken Curry, Palao Rice.

Todd & Samer: Onion Bhaji, Garlic Naan, Saag Chicken, Vegetable Curry, Palao Rice.

From what I hear, the traditions behind Indian food involve having plates and platters to share at the table, and we certainly weren't shy. In no time at all, servers were politely filling our glasses and setting beautiful and aromatic dishes in front of us. I looked around the restaurant a number of times to notice people of a wide variety of ages (my guess would be 5 to 50+ years old) filling the tables, and, no matter the age, everyone seemed to have the same sentiment that we did: smiles galore after each bite. Offering "creative dishes from various regions of India" for the last 25 years (again, check out their website... or better yet, just visit!), owners Weais and Ali Afzal are definitely doing a lot of things right.

So right, in fact, that we gave the following scores:

Carrie: 5 forks. Call me officially converted. For every time that I told myself that I wouldn't like Indian food, I am now officially kicking myself. I have enjoyed other Indian restaurants, but nothing has been this satisfying. Curry Original was absolutely fantastic. I LOVED every bite. Oh - and the cool thing here for me: the Bhoona Chicken was probably spicier than I would have ever ventured to try in the past, and I still loved it. Seriously loved. Did I say loved?

Tonia: 5 forks. Tonia stated very clearly that "everything was super flavourful and delicious". She thought that the spices were perfect and shared that she enjoyed the Bhoona Chicken the most because of the additional vegetables. Tonia also thought that the garlic was a nice addition to the traditional naan that she has had many times before.

Samer: 4.5 forks. Another week where Samer was happy! The only thing that dropped this score for Samer was the chicken - he wasn't a huge fan of the flavour; but he admitted that it was most likely because it is something that he isn't familiar with. Other than that, Samer thought that the food was all absolutely amazing!

Todd: 4.5 forks. For Todd, it was all very good. Todd's score suffered more due to the fact that he was second-guessing himself since he couldn't decide what to get, ordered the Saag and then thought maybe he would have enjoyed something else a little more. My suggestion in the future will probably be to order it all. Problem solved.

Overall Score: 4.75 forks! 

Absolutely amazing. 

Final words? You should go. 

Oh - and for the nights you want the joys of Curry Original at home? You can buy a "Curry Original Cookbook". Check it out on their website. 

Thanks to my Coun'y ladies for another gift card! Also... I feel like I was less verbose this time...? This is for no reason other than I was absolutely impressed. Nothing more to say! :)