Monday, October 24, 2016

CRIME FICTION SET IN RUSSIA

I am a voracious crime fiction reader and have read several books, thanks to the Toronto Public Library.
Since the last 3-4 years, I started looking out for crime fiction from various countries; Learning about a country and it's culture is most enjoyable if I learn by absorbing  it from  crime fiction books set in that country! Also I don't ever forget when my learning is so full of thrills and excitement.
I have made lists of books from various countries in my blog. This article has a list of crime fiction books set in Russia which I have read and enjoyed.

 Stuart Kaminsky : He is one of my favorite authors. The 16 books below are by him.
I adore the characters in this series especially Rostnikov.  I admire the fact that the inspector is so honest, though he's living such a difficult life and surrounded by corruption. He is living just above poverty level, yet has no anger about his lot. I always think of India and Indian police, who are such a contrast to him. In India, the people I have come across are ashamed of shabbiness and poverty; yet they are not ashamed of corruption!A person who is earning little through honest hard work and cannot afford smart clothes in India feels ashamed of his shabby clothes; the guy who takes hefty bribes and can afford a lavish lifestyle is not ashamed of his corruption but proud of 'looking great'! This drives me insane with anger but all I can do is swallow my anger and shut up!
Rostnikov's lack of anger and his calmness in the face of frustrating circumstances; his absolute disinterest in accolades, his dealings with his boss, the space he gives the people working under him and the fact that he took in the two little girls and their grandmother into his home, despite his limited means are his many admirable features. I know he's a fictional character  but I also have had the privilege of knowing people like him! 
I had placed 3 fictional characters on thrones in the past but now I am considering adding him to the throne!( The 3 are Atticus Finch, James Green (Sudden series of westerns) and Modesty Blaise) 

Inspector Rostnikov series

  1. Rostnikov's Corpse (1981)
    (also published as Death of a Dissident)
  2. Black Knight in Red Square (1983)
  3. Red Chameleon (1985)
  4. A Fine Red Rain (1987)
  5. A Cold Red Sunrise (1988)
  6. The Man Who Walked Like a Bear (1990)
  7. Rostnikov's Vacation (1991)
  8. Death of a Russian Priest (1992)
  9. Hard Currency (1995)
  10. Blood and Rubles (1996)
  11. Tarnished Icons (1997)
  12. The Dog Who Bit a Policeman (1998)
  13. Fall of a Cosmonaut (2000)
  14. Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express (2001)
  15. People Who Walk in Darkness (2008)
  16. A Whisper to the Living (2010)   
I have all of these books (the Rostnikov series) and bought most of them  on Amazon. com. I was sad to see that some books were stamped with a seal stating,'discarded from library due to poor circulation'. I was appalled that people did not read this wonderful series and the libraries were discarding them! I reread these books once in a while as they are so good!

Martin Cruz Smith is another favorite of mine. However his first book is the best and the last two are not really so great. They seem a bit shallow but I read them anyway as I am a fan. I think he developed a neurological problem while writing the last book and I really admire him for finishing the book in spite of his problems!

Arkady Renko series

  • Gorky Park 1981
  • Polar Star 1989
  • Red Square 1992
  • Havana Bay 1999
  • Wolves eat Dogs 2004
  • Stalin's Ghost 2007
  • Three Stations 2010
  • Tatiana 2013
  • The Siberian dilemma (Nov 2019)
  • Independence square (2023)
Tom Rob Smith is another favorite and he has written three books set in Russia which is a trilogy.
The books are 
Child 44
The secret speech
Agent 6


I finished reading "Agent 6", the  last book  of the triology authored by Tom Rob Smith today. It was fast paced and I read it till one am i.e. until I finished it. This is  the most exciting book I read recently and I had waited for this book (on a waitlist  at Toronto Public Library) for almost 6 months!

I recommend this trilogy to anyone interested in  fast paced, well written set of three books, set in Stalin Russia, communist Russia in later times and in Soviet occupied  Afghanistan.

Reading this book, I started thinking about China, the last of the communist countries left in the world today. I wonder, when China's communist party will be toppled...if it is ever going to be toppled at all.
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I discovered on July 1, 2021, a new author, writing a detective novel set in time of Stalin that is Ben Creed. It's apparently two authors that is Chris Rickaby and Barney Thompson whose pseudonym is Ben Creed. They have written City of ghosts, set in Leningrad of 1951.
This is supposed to be the first of a trilogy and published in Oct 2020. The second book is A traitor's heart to be published on October 28, 2021 This is unfortunately not in the Toronto public library. I am looking forward to getting my hands on this book and reading. 
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IN TPL AND TO READ BEFORE 2021
Discovered that Toronto Public Library has two books with a female police officer in Russia as the chief protagonist in Russia! (this is the first book ever I will be reading with a female lead in Russian crime fiction!)
The author is Abson G.D.
The two books are
Motherland
Black Wolf

Another author I discovered is Sam Eastland and his books (in TPL) are
The red coffin 2011
Eye of the red tsar 2012
The red moth 2013
Siberian red 2012
The beast in the red forest 2013
Beast in the red forest 2014
Red icon 2015
Berlin Red 2016
The elegant lie 2019

Dan Smith's Red winter (NOT in TPL)
The distinguished assassin by Nick Taussig
Kolymsky heights by Lionel Davidson (can get at TPL)
Knight without armour by James Hilton (1933!)
The Yermakov transfer by Derek Lambert(1974)
Icon by Fredrick Forsyth in 1997
An involuntary spy by Kenneth G Eade in 2013
Sad detective by Viktor Astafyev in 1986 (published in a magazine)
Skeleton key by Anthony Horowitz (book for teens maybe)
Archangel by Sharon Shinn in 1998
Moscow rules by Daniel Silva in 2008
Snow wolf by Glenn Meade in 1996








I don't know why the word red is preponderant in the above list of books!
Looking forward to getting my hands on these books asap!





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Red sparrow by Jason Mathews published in 2013 is a book which has received rave reviews and also been made into a movie. It's the first in a trilogy.

 Palace of treason is the second in the trilogy published in 2015

The Kremlin's candidate is the third in the trilogy published in 2018
 Alex Dryden has written these books set in Russia or related to Russia
Red to Black
Moscow Sting
The blind spy


 Michael Hetzer is another author whose book  The Forbidden Zone  I read.
Set in the USSR, 1983. It is set mostly in Siberia and is about the search for his twin brother by a Russian scientist, who is loved and aided by an American woman and pursued by the ruthless Russian KGB. The story ranges from time of the World War to the times of the cold war between the USSR & USA.
Hope this author writes more books set in Russia. His readers will love them.

I hope there are more such books, set in Siberia. Vicarious chills are better than actual chills dont you think !

Reading in September 2020, a crime novel, 'Madness treads lightly' set in Russia (and Siberia figures in it) by Polina Dashkova. I think this is the first female writer of crime fiction from Russia that I am reading. When reading this book, I was struck by a thought: the Russian fictional  characters by one of my favorite authors,  the American, Stuart M Kaminsky are so different from the characters in this book created by a Russian author. I now believe these differences are because the characters created by the American author are great but maybe the author, who has never lived in Russia, missed the negative effects of growing up in the  communist, authoritarian and corrupt Russian  towns and so his characters are 'more positive' or 'less negative' than they should be. Of course, I love his books and adore his characters but now after reading  Dashkova's book, I wonder if Kaminsky's characters are too good to be true and  their personalities are not the byproducts of growing up in  Russia. Kaminsky could not figure out, how personalities would be if they had been exposed to the Russian culture, politics, corruption as he has never been to Russia. 
I still love Kaminsky's books as they give me immense joy. However, after reading Dashkova's book, I feel, one cannot turn out to be as good as the characters in Kaminsky's books, if one grew up in Russia. 

The last red August by Alexi Malashenko

This book was okay. It could have been much more gripping. The style of writing is not to my liking but I did finish it...I would not have finished if it was really bad.

Petrovka 38 by Julian Semyonov :Bought this book at Value village in Feb 2016 for 4.00$. It's available in TPL but not for issue. The blurb on the cover says  'the first thriller out of Russia', meaning that no other thrillers were written before this...I wonder if this is really true. I am enjoying it but not as much as the Kaminsky series. This author has written other books too but they are not available in the TPL.
Another crime fiction, a collection of stories edited by Otto Penzler is 'The greatest Russian stories of crime and suspense' published in 2010 but has stories ranging from those written in 1872. Some of the stories in this book are by Leo Tolstoy, Gogol, Maxim Gorky and Chekov.
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Below are crime fiction from Russia which I  bought on Amazon and enjoyed reading.
Alexei Bayer's 
1)Murder at the dacha 
2)The latchkey murders
 3)Murder and the muse 
4)The samovar murders  I was shocked to see that these also not in the New York city public library...and the author lives in New York City...I know that just because he lives there, the books should be in the library, but still...
Elleston Trevor AKA Adam Hall's books...oops sorry..in 2018 april, I am discovering that the books are not based in Russia. I will remove them from this later.






  • The Berlin Memorandum AKA The Quiller memorandum(1965)
  • The 9th Directive (1966)
  • The Striker Portfolio (1968)
  • The Warsaw Document (1971)
  • The Tango Briefing (1973)
  • The Mandarin Cypher (1975)
  • The Kobra Manifesto (1976)
  • The Sinkiang Executive (1978)
  • The Scorpion Signal (1979)
  • The Peking Target (1981)
  • Quiller/Northlight (1985)
  • Quiller's Run (1988)
  • Quiller KGB (1989)
  • Quiller Barracuda (1990)
  • Quiller Bamboo (1991)
  • Quiller Solitaire (1992)
  • Quiller Meridian (1993)
  • Quiller Salamander (1994)
  • Quiller Balalaika (1996)

  •   Julian Semyonov's Tass Is Authorized to Announce (Avon, N.Y., 1988)  
    Alexander Tarasov-Rodionov's Chocolate, ( London, 1933).
    Mikhail. Chernyonok's, Losing Bet, (Dial Press,N.Y., 1984)
    V.V. Lipatov's set of short stories entitled, A Village Detective (Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1970).
     Nikolai Aleksandrov's Two Leaps Across a Chasm: A Russian Mystery (S & S Trade, 1992)
      Alexei. Malashenko's  The Last Red August (Scribner's Sons, N.Y., 1993) (Anthony Alcott translator)
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    Crime fiction from totalitarian countries-fictional countries and real:
    I came across a highly rated set of books by Olen Steinhauer which are set in a 'east European' country; I believe that it means a communist or totalitarian country. That's why I am putting it in this list/article I am planning to read these books as they are highly praised in several reviews. The books are:
    The bridge of sighs 2003
    The confession 2004
    36  Yalta boulevard 2005
    Liberation Movements 2006
    Victory Square 2007

    Other books by Olen Steinhauer but not necessarily of communist countries include The tourist 2009
    The nearest exit 2010
    An American spy 2012
    The Cairo affair 2014
    All the old knives 2015
    ..........
    Per Wahoo's Murder on the 31st floor is another crime fiction in totalitarian country


    Sunday, October 23, 2016

    The lobster...Movie ...Dystopian...weird....different....

    Saw the movie The lobster just now (Sunday morning, 23 Oct 2016)

    I have never seen anything like this...It's definitely not a movie for those who enjoy mainstream Bollywood and Hollywood  movies or comedies.

    It's for people who enjoy Dystopian, weird, movies.

    I don't want to give away the plotline.

    The acting and screenplay is great. The script is good. For some reason, it strongly suggested me of life under  communist regimes...I think the extreme lack of freedom and the artificiality of the poor souls who are too afraid to be true to their feelings put communism in my mind when I saw this.


    As usual, I am stymied by the reviews which describe this movie as a comedy. I simply cannot find it funny though it did hold my attention and I saw it till the end! A friend of mine had recommended another movie describing it as a comedy i.e. Fargo and that's another movie which did not strike me as a comedy at all. Maybe be my Indian upbringing or my inability to appreciate satire and dark comedies is the root of my inability to see these movies as comedies. It's impossible for me to see comedy in  Dystopia.


    Friday, October 21, 2016

    October 21st 2016

    I woke up today to a cloudy, rainy, coldish morning in Toronto. Today was one of the rare mornings when things went well and I was good tempered for more than 6 hours at a stretch! I hope I don't  to jinx it by saying that things are going well!

    I woke up and read a few pages of pleasant, funny crime fiction book Inspector Singh investigates The Singapore School of Villany. Then, my husband, got me a cup of  Cothas 'filter' coffee in bed...something he rarely does. It's me who goes down to the kitchen, 360 mornings a year to   brew coffee and bring it up to him and my ma-in-law.
     Still in bed, I saw an episode of 'Haters back off' which I loved!

    Then got ready to go to work...breakfast, packing lunches, bath, etc.  
    Three whole hours, awake and  'with' my husband , yet not one single argument, comment or sarcasm from either of us! That is rare and an amazing happening though neither of us made any effort to 'not argue'!

    On way to work, traffic was not bad. Work was not bad. I also got my family in India on the phone and enjoyed a pleasant chat.

    I hope I have more such days...coffee in bed, good shows on Netflix, good books from the library, a husband who 'zips' it and not comment or argue, interesting clients and friendly colleagues at work.

    Thank you God for making today a nice day for me!

    Thursday, October 20, 2016

    CRIME FICTION FROM KAZAKHSTAN

    Anthony Alcott-Rough beast-(an Ivan Duvakin novel)-1992
    Hunter Blacke-Kazakhstan Radioactive Jane:Operatives, spies and Terrorists(Hunter Black Chronicles Book4)
    Peter Cave-Invisible enemy in Kazakhstan(SAS operation)-2016
    Peter Cave-Soldier M_SAS-Invisible enemy in Kaz..n-1994
    Yury Dombrovsky-(not crime fiction but a classic)The keeper of antiquities-1969
    Alexander M Grace-Sky Blue-1995
    Ervin Allen Hill -Kazakhstan: A story of mystery and intrigue set in the oil-rich former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan-2016
    Nathan Huffaker-Stranded-2015
    S.M.A.Jano-From England to Kazakhstan-Loneliness, love and crime-2015
    Andrei Kurkov-The good angel of death
    Victor Robert Lee-Performance Anomalies-2012
    Varda Leymore-To the four winds-(Not crime fiction)-2014
    Kyla Maessen-Saqastan-2015
    Abdi-Jamil Nurpeisov-one of the best authors of Kazakhstan.(1)Blood and sweat.(2)Twilight.1961(3)Ordeal.1964(4)Fall1970 His books are NOT crime fiction, but he is
    Russell R Miller and Dr.Robert J Banis-Death on the silk road-2011
    Doung & Linda Raber-Eastern colonies-2015
    Joe Reidhead-Hero of the Steppe-2015
    Allan Spencer -Raiding the Stans(A Central Asian Argosy)(Saga of the Woden born book 17)




    While compiling crime fiction from countries of the previous USSR, for the ten articles in this blog (the articles are titled as crime fiction from  Ukraine, Moldova, etc) I discovered three  themes repeating themselves in the books.
    The most frequently appearing theme is the harassment and murder of Jews in these countries in the recent past. The second is about the World Wars, Stalin's and Hitler's atrocities. The third and more recent themes are about human trafficking for sex ; the race for oil and rare minerals in these countries between the governments of countries (the index country, USA, Russia, Iran, China, etc), corporations and others and terrorism.

    It was heart breaking to read about the killing of Jews from all these countries. The saddest part for me is that people all over the world, outside of this part of the world of course, have either forgotten or are unaware of the events in these parts of the world.

    When I read the news daily, there is virtually no news from these countries! Being a realist, a cynic and maybe paranoid, I strongly suspect that things are probably more rotten here than in the countries which keep figuring in the news all the time.  Tell me , how often do you read about Moldova, Kazakhstan, Estonia, Latvia or Kyrgyzstan in the news? I did not even know there was a country called Moldova or Estonia until recently!
     "No news is definitely not good news" from these countries. I believe that the governments are extremely repressive here and maybe the news does not come out. I also have not bumped into  'immigrants' from these countries in Canada though I have come across a lot of people from other countries such as China, Bangladesh, Greece, Germany, England, Spain, the south American countries, etc.

    To me, crime fiction is the most entertaining  way of getting to know about a country, it's people and culture. The crimes written in the stories, lets me understand the culture and behaviour of the people of the country. Authors are the best people to get to know places, you have never been to!




















                                                                                                                                           

    CRIME FICTION OF MOLDOVA

    Chris Allen-Bibles and Ball bats-2016
    Stela Brinzeanu-Bessarabian nights-2014
    Kim Purcell-Trafficed-2013

    NOT read these books...I came across these googling for crime fiction set in Moldova

    CRIME FICTION FROM LITHUANIA




    Stephen Collishaw-Amber -2005
    Barry Flanagan-The undeclared war-2012
    Barry Flanagan-Across the green border-2012
    Barry Flanagan-The invisible front
    Ricardas Gavelis-Vilnius poker 2009
    Cule Hinder-The night doctor-2014
    Icchokas Meras & Jonas Zdanys-Stalemate-2005
    Trevor Scott-Gates of dawn-2016
    Ruta Septeys-Between shades of grey-2012 (highly recommended book) about the evil of stalin's oppression
    Ruta Septeys-Salt to the sea(not crime fiction exactly)
    Antanas Sileika-underground-a novel-
    K.T.Tomb-The ivory bow-2014
    Ursula Wong-Amber wolf-2016

    NOT read these books but Googled for crime fiction set in Lithuania and these showed up.

    CRIME FICTION BELARUS

    Ales Adamovich-Khatyn-2012

    Theodore Odrach-Wave of terror-2008

    Victor Martinovich-Paranoia

    I have NOT read these. Found them when I searched for crime fiction in Belarus. Honestly, I did not even know there's a country called Belarus!

    CRIME FICTION FROM AZERBAIJAN

    Richard Marcinko-Echo platoon-2000
    Dan Mayland-The colonel's mistake-2012
    Dan Mayland-The levelling-2013
    Daniel Perry-Field Pi9ece-book 2-Azerbaijan

    Not read these books but found them on google

    CRIME FICTION FROM TAJIKISTAN


    Jane Haddam- Fighting chance - A Gregor Demarkian novel-2014 (crime fiction set in USA but Armenian characters)
    Jane Haddam-Flowering Judas-A Gregor Demarkian novel-2012 (crime fiction set in USA but Armenian characters)

    Jenny Barbara White-The winter thief-2010
     

    CRIME FICTION FROM TURKMENISTAN

    Dale Brown-Air Battle Force-2003

    Not read this book but found it when I searched for 'crime fiction from Turkmenistan

    CRIME FICTION FROM KYRGYZSTAN

    Tom Callaghan- A killing winter-2015
    Tom Callaghan-A spring betrayal-2016

    I have not read these two books but found them online when searching for crime fiction from Kyrgyzstan.

    CRIME FICTION FROM UZBEKISTAN

    Greg Rucka- Private wars: a queen and country novel -2005
    Not read this but found it on Google when I searched for crime fiction from this country.

    CRIME FICTION FROM LATVIA


    Sidney Iwens-How dark the heavens-1400 days of Nazi terror-(not fiction)
    Boris Kacel-Hell to redemption-a memoir of the Holocaust
    R.Magnusholm-House of Cain- 2015
    Henning Mankell-The dogs of Riga-2001
    Gertrude Schneider-journey into terror-story of the Riga ghetto-1979 (not fiction)

    The above are crime fiction from Latvia and the only one I have read is Henning Mankell's the dogs of Riga which I liked as I like the protagonist i.e. Kurt Wallander.


    Jewish people's suffering seems to be the  theme in majority of the Latvian books... that is what I inferred when I read the synopsis and reviews of Latvian books on the net. The Russian and German atrocities against Latvians and Jews in particular are a theme in majority of the books.

    Wednesday, October 19, 2016

    CRIME FICTION FROM UKRAINE

    Alex Dryden-The blind spy-2012
    Alan Furst-The Polish officer a novel-2001
    Lene Kaaberbol-Death of a nightingale-2013
    Garry Douglas Kilworth-The devil's own-1997
    Marek Krajewski-The Minotaur's head-2012
    Andrey Kurkov -The good angel of death-2009
    Andrey Kurkov-Penguin lost-2004, 2011
    Andrey Kurkov-The president's love -2008(NOT crime fiction)
    Andrei Kurkov-The milkman in the night(more science fiction than crime I think)
    Nikolia Lilin-Siberian education:Growing up in a criminal underworld-2011
    Adrian Magson-Close Quarters-2015
    Bernard Malamud -The fixer-1966(award winning book)
    Aleksei Nikitin-Y.T-2016
    Aleksei Nikitin-Istemi-2013
    Herta Muller-The hunger angel-2012
    Ben Pastor -Tin sky-2012
    Martin Cruz Smith-Wolves eat dogs-2004

    I found these books  in the Toronto Public library  and look forward to reading them. The only books I have read of these are Wolves eat dogs and the blind spy. .
     I was amazed at the number of 'great books' from Ukraine. They are not crime fiction which is what I was searching for but classics which have received rave reviews. I have not listed those books here but look forward to reading those books someday!
     I seek out crime fiction and books from communist countries. Coming from India, a truly corrupt country, there is some part of me which is curious about life is in other corrupt and 'poor' countries. I believe that life of the common man  in India is similar to life of the common man in communist countries where there's equally high amount of suppression and corruption. But, reading crime fiction from India disturbs me as it's too close home. A morbid part of my brain, craves to search and understand life of people in other equally corrupt countries. I suppose that's why I want to read these books.

    Tuesday, October 18, 2016

    CRIME FICTION FROM ESTONIA


    I am compiling list of crime fiction books from various countries.
    The Toronto Public Library has these 3 crime fiction books set in Estonia. 
    I have NOT yet read these.


    Andy Mcnab- Firewall -2000
    Sofi Oksanen- Purge -2010
    Peter Robinson -Watching the dark-2013

    Saturday, October 15, 2016

    TAMARIND RICE RECIPE...my mom's recipe

    I love eating hot rice with  'Hu-ni-sae-kai' 'Go-jju' especially the gojju made from newly harvested tamarind. Here is the recipe from my mom.

    Ingredients:
    Tamarind-about 40grams
    Salt
    Green chillis-4

    Cooking oil: two to three table spoons
    Mustard:quarter teaspoon
    Peanuts: about a tablespoon(or more)
    Split channa dhal- one teaspoon i.e. Split Bengal grams(drier and nuttier than the chickpeas)
    Urud dhal:one teaspoon i.e. split black gram
    Jeera:quarter teaspoon i.e. cumin
    Turmeric powder: quarter tea spoon
    Curry leaves:One sprig
    Onion:One small onion or half medium size
    Coriander leaves: two sprigs
    Coconut:(preferably fresh ) quarter cup

    Roast and grind the three i.e. (1)Black pepper:one tea spoon,(2)
    Jeera: Half tea spoon and (3)Fenugreek:Quarter tea spoon

    Method: 
    Wash and soak the tamarind in half cup of water for about 10 minutes and squeeze out the tamarind water and save it in a bowl; or  microwave/heat  the tamarind and water for a minute and squeeze out the tamarind water into a bowl. Throw the tamarind.

    Heat cooking oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, peanuts, urud dhal, split channa dhal, jeera, curry leaves, chillis, onions, turmeric powder. Then add the three roasted and ground ingredients. When the onion has changed colour, add the coconut, tamarind water, salt and take off the heat when it simmers for 5 -10 minutes. Add coriander leaves when it has cooled. 

    Mix this with cooked rice and eat hot. Adding a tea spoon of ghee or butter to the rice and tamarind gojju makes it tastier. Some enjoy eating tamarind rice with a spoonful of curds. 
    If the tamarind Gojju is too sour, you can fix it by adding roasted and ground peanuts or shredded coconut or a bit of jaggery.


    zxzxzxzxzxzxzx


    There is a noticible difference in taste between fresh tamarind and tamarind which is more than a year old. For people outside India, such as those in Canada and USA, you may get fresh tamarind(still in green-brown husk) in east Asian stores such as Chinese stores in some seasons, These are labelled as sweet tamarind(I don't know why they are called sweet!) and often imported from far east Asian countries. If it is dehusked, then look for tan or light brown tamarind as that is likely to be new. If the tamarind is chocolate brown or nearly black, then it's old tamarind. You can make gojju with even old tamarind but the taste is different. 

    Note: All the quantities given above are approximations and you can change it.




    I will never go to Bombey Bhel at Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada ever again! It's an expensive rip off, serving sub-par tasting food!

     Today, October 14, 2023 I got chicken vindaloo paying 22$...All I got was 2 small pieces of chicken, 3 pieces of potato....and. very averag...