A bowl of Matar Paneer with chutney, naan bread and saffron rice at Guru in west Edmonton. The restaurant serves fine Indian cuisine.
EDMONTON — Like all delicious meals, dinner at Guru begins with the nose, an enticing aroma of spice and flavour that greets you at the door, surrounds you, and beckons you warmly inside.
“It smells delicious in here,” I said to no one in particular, as my husband and I walked into the west Edmonton restaurant on a cool fall night last week.
The waiter standing by the door flashed us a bright smile.
“It will taste even better,” he promised.
Opened in 2009, Guru proclaims itself “a different kind of Indian restaurant that Edmonton has ever experienced” and “the finest Indian restaurant in Edmonton.” Indeed, from the moment you walk through the door, Guru somehow whisks you away from one of the business intersections in the city, and into a lovely and relaxed dining room where the only thing you need to think about it what to order.
But don’t be fooled. Ordering is not as easy as it sounds.
The west-end eatery boasts an extensive menu with all the classic curries and khormas, as well as more unusual fare and house specialties that mix traditional cooking with local ingredients and new flavours. A note in the menu from executive chef Deependra Singh says he is enthusiastic about preparing traditional dishes in a unique way, and that is clear from the sheer breadth of dishes available.
Further complicating your dinner choices are all those dishes being carried past to other tables, intriguing-looking bowls and platters that leave trails of sizzling garlic and fragrant spice lingering in the room. It was a bit difficult for us to resist ordering perennial favourites like butter chicken, but, if Chef Singh likes to experiment, presumably his diners should, too.
Our waitress recommended the Shami lamb kebabs ($14) as an appetizer, and when she told us the kebabs were the chef’s mom’s recipe, we were sold.
The dish arrived a short time later, not really kebabs, per se, but soft perfectly cooked patties with a fresh lamb taste and a bit of heat, with the subtle tastes of coriander, ginger and other spices. The dish was served with a fresh mint chutney that was light and bursting with flavour, and a delicious homemade tamarind sauce miles away from the sticky, sweet pre-made sauces that are the norm in lesser locales.
For our main dishes, we ordered another of the house specialties, the Guru chicken lababdar ($19). We also ordered the shrimp butter masala ($21), and the matar paneer with green peas and homestyle cheese cubes ($15). We topped off the meal with plain basmati rice and an order of garlic naan.
Other house specialties, like the Guru Fish Moyali (halibut cooked in herb and coconut milk) and the Guru Rajasthani curry with Alberta lamb would have to wait for another day.
I ordered a glass of Emiliana Syrah, one of the wines specially chosen for the restaurant by wine connoisseur Gurvinder Bhatia. My husband opted for an Indian beer, Cobra. We sat and sipped our drinks, enjoying the sleek decor and comfortable ambience, and watching naan dough being stretched and thrown through the window of the kitchen.
Our meal arrived quickly, each dish coming to the table steaming hot, followed by our generous platter of naan.
From our first bites, my husband and I were immediately struck by the exquisite spicing of the dishes, and by how the ingredients and spices combined to create deep, rich tastes, without one flavour becoming too prominent or overwhelming.
The chicken was peppery and creamy, with a rich, tomato sauce, the chicken meat fresh and tender. The shrimp butter masala was smooth and rich, as good a masala as I have ever tasted, and the matar paneer had hints of ginger and garlic, the sauce bursting with firm green peas, and dotted with cubes of soft and buttery cheese.
The fluffy, doughy, naan was loaded with little pieces of garlic, perfect for dragging through the flavourful sauces.
The meal was filling and ample, and we had the leftovers packed up after leaving just enough room for dessert. I had been eyeing up a grated carrot dessert, but after chatting with one of the waiters, we decided to order the cottage cheese dumplings rasmalai. I’m glad we did. Cooked in reduced milk and served floating inside a small cup, the dumpling was a sweet end to a delicious meal that left us sated and satisfied, yet still wanting more.
Guru Fine Indian Cuisine
Address: 17021 100 Ave.
Phone:
Dinner for two, with wine and beer: about $120
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