I checked out the new Indian restaurant open in the Village named Rasooee. According to their nicely printed full-colour glossy take-out menu, they're a chain with several locations across Canada. This one is where DVD Zone used to be, in between the bakery and the Bank of Montreal. They opened yesterday (on Hallowe'en!) and are still celebrating their grand opening tonight.

I asked the lady at the counter to recommend something and she gave me a sample of their beef curry. The meat was tender, surprising after years of eating the rock-hard stringy beef curry from Curry Point, and the sauce was mild and smooth and tasty. Then I ordered 12 oz. of saag beef for $11.00 after tax, which she explained is beef curry mixed with spicy spinach curry. Given a choice of naan or rice, I took the naan, which her assistant quickly warmed up in what looked like a salamander; sadly, it's not baked fresh in a tandoor. It also came with a small salad.

Yeah, it's blurry. Want to buy me a studio and nice gear?

The lady at the counter did warn me that the spinach was spicy, and so it was. It actually overwhelmed the taste of the beef sauce which I thought was quite tasty on its own, and the beef ended up tasting a little stringy because it wasn't as well complemented by the sauce. The resulting dish tasted quite greasy as well (you can see how shiny it is in the photo) likely because I ate most of it with a spoon since I had no rice. The 12 oz. curry was plenty for one meal (maybe a hair more than you'd get at Curry Point on a bad day) but the lack of rice was exceptionally irritating; on the other hand, the naan was not spectacular so I might get rice instead next time.

The salad was an amusing eighth slice of red onion, a slice of cucumber, and four or five small pieces of lettuce. It was about a forkful of greens with no dressing. I'd say it was a waste of styrofoam. Really, I'd rather they just gave me some rice instead, even if they put a scoop of it at the bottom of the main bowl. Yes, I mentioned the rice again. It's a major detraction.

The friend who went in with me pointed out later that they had better stop lining their serving pans with plastic bags. That stuff is going to melt right into the food. We guessed that they haven't had a chance to get their dishwasher running yet and hoped that they would stop doing this soon. Seeing as their overhead signage still says "DVD Zone" I wouldn't be surprised if they did open in a hurry.

Overall, given the quantity of curry I eat and the convenience of the location for me, Rasoee is a welcome change of pace in the Village. The quality of the meat is good; the sauce (when not mixed) is also good and at least offers something new. On the other hand, their competition offers a better deal for 35% less money. I might drop by Rasooee if I'm too lazy or tired to walk downstairs to Curry Point, or if I want to eat a slightly different recipe, but their skimping on sides and much higher price are going to prevent them from being a staple in my diet.

Two more photos below.

A UBC aa UBC aa UBC a of mindb f mindo f mind?

Whoa! That's heavy, man!

...

Who comes up with this stuff?

Here is the Westin Bayshore sign, prominently displayed, as seen from the corner of W. Georgia and Cardero (a busy intersection served by numerous bus routes) in downtown Vancouver. Which of these buildings is part of the Westin Bayshore?

If you said it's the building directly behind the sign, you'd be wrong.

If you said it's the building behind the building behind the sign, you'd be wrong.

If you said it's the building across the street to the right of the sign, you'd be wrong.

In fact, if you said that any part of the Westin Bayshore is even visible from the corner of W. Georgia and Cardero, where this sign is placed, you'd be wrong.

As clearly indicated by the sign, the Westin Bayshore can be found by taking the path down to the street to the right of the sign, walking down an entire block past zero signs giving directions to the hotel, crossing a street, then walking through a parking lot containing zero signs indicating the purpose of the lot. The small L-shaped building found there, with no signs apart from the one mounted by the entrance door, is the hotel. But that was surely obvious from the prominent sign displayed on the main street an entire block away.

This year's Best Rider Award goes to Hoot-Hoot Flap-Flap — at least, that's the response he gave when asked for his name. For heading straight to the back of the bus and being calm and well-behaved in transit, something many human riders cannot do, I am proud to present this award.

Oh! The garbage I have in my hand is not recyclable or compostable, so I'll stop from putting it into this garbage bin.

Now what do I do? Maybe I'd better find those multi-coloured bins and put garbage in them, instead.