Vij’s Vancouver

Posted on | November 27, 2008 | 12 Comments |

I have so many restaurants reviews in draft, I am using the Thanksgiving holidays to get as many of these reviews out before I completely forget about the experience, so this is going to be a restaurant review week here. We are going away on a short trip for a couple of days, so I won’t be able to reply to your comments, but I will be back with a recipe next week.

The reason why you haven’t seen many Indian restaurant reviews in this space is very simple – we haven’t been to many that are worthy. I am not bragging by any means when I say I can cook much better Indian food than most of the Indian restaurants around here. There is nothing to brag about there, the bar is set so low! But there sure are exceptions; Vij’s being a clear one.

Some of you might already be familiar with Vij’s through the cookbook Vij’s: Elegant and Inspired Indian Cuisine by owners Vikram Vij and Meeru Dhalwala. Vij’s is advertised as an Indian fusion restaurant, the fusion is mainly between the different regional cuisines of India. Common Indian spices are used very creatively to make up some innovative dishes like Jackfruit in Black cardamom and cumin masala, Dungeness crab in coconut and cilantro with candied beets served in individual spoons.

One fact to know before going is that Vij’s doesn’t take reservations and it is quite popular so the wait can be very long. But they have the best lounge ever to wait for your table, where not only can you order drinks, but they serve a variety of complementary appetizers! Vij himself walks around with a tray of some very innovative Indian finger food (I’ve had tapioca fries, aloo paratha bites, channa masala filled in ice cream cones etc) This is not gourmet fare, but the hot-off-the-stove bites sure make the 2 hour wait very enjoyable! Yep, you read that right, be prepared to wait for anywhere from 1 to 2 hrs before getting a table. The lounge is very lively, you won’t get bored and the waiting is part of the dining experience here! If you want to get seated right away, either get there at 5:30 when they open or around 9pm when most everyone is already seated.

Another notable aspect about Vij’s is the service. This last trip we actually waited the whole two hours at the lounge before finally sitting down. In these two hours we really stuffed ourselves on the complementary appetizers, so we decided to just order a couple of items from the menu. We got a pork dish and a lamb dish, but when the order came around we were served a prawn dish! Normally when a restaurant gets your order wrong, some of them apologize and take the wrong dish away, some make a face, check their notes, sigh a bit and THEN take it away, there are many ways they handle it depending on the individual server. But here, it was different. As soon as we said we didn’t order it, the first thing she asked was, do you eat prawns? When we said, yes, she asked us to have that dish on the house while she go and place the order for the right dish! She said this without missing a beat and with the friendliest smile ever, we were so impressed!

We’ve been there so many times, I think we’ve had everything in the menu. I can’t say everything is great, but most of the fare is pretty good. This time we went for Mutton Kebobs with Bengali style curry ($12.75), which is good but not a great example of the innovative fusion I just talked about.

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Our main dish was Grilled Pork Tenderloin and back ribs in fennel seed, ginger and coconut curry with roasted cashews ($27). Now, this was a great dish portraying the theme of the restaurant. Meat was grilled to perfection and the gravy was to die for! This was served with the softest rotis!

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Finally, the mistake that was on the house - BC spot prawns with semolina noodle and lentil pilaf ($13). This was a pretty good dish as well, quite filling for an appetizer though.

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Our favorite dish in the house is the Wine marinated lamb popsicles in fenugreek cream curry on turmeric spinach potatoes. The Jackfruit curry I mentioned before is also really really good. Menu is seasonal, but it doesn’t change all that much. We didn’t order dessert this time, but I remember some really nice Gulab Jamuns and Garam masala flavored chocolate from a previous trip. They have a nice selection of wines and a few beers on tap, but the non-alcoholic ginger-lemon drink is one of the best!

http://www.vijs.ca

Category: Vancouver BC

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Comments

12 Responses to “Vij’s Vancouver”

varsha
November 27th, 2008 @ 5:00 am
Reply

Will try this one on our next trip Sig..thanx. .
nags
November 27th, 2008 @ 5:34 am
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oh the kabab definitely looks delish! But seems a bit expensive, doesn’t it?
- Happy Cook
  November 27th, 2008 @ 5:36 am
  Reply
  
  Nags this you call expensive, you should go to the places here then you get a real shock.
Happy Cook
November 27th, 2008 @ 5:35 am
Reply

You gone again for a short trip
It is not braging sig, even i don’t go to any Indian places simply because i just think it is not worth the money you spend there.Especially here.
If i had a place like this here i sure would go. But we are not so lucky to have such good Indian places here.
sra
November 27th, 2008 @ 5:37 am
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Hey Sig, that pork sounds interesting, tho’ I don’t eat it. Have fun on your trip!
Raaga
November 28th, 2008 @ 7:54 am
Reply

I saw a show where this restaurant featured… Anthony Bourdain I think… the starters are very interesting… aloo paratha bites seem perfect!
Asha
November 28th, 2008 @ 8:39 am
Reply

Happy Thanksgiving!

I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful mini-break.

The skewers look amazing!

Ciao
Asha
Cynthia
November 28th, 2008 @ 10:44 am
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I am not bragging by any means when I say I can cook much better Indian food than most of the Indian restaurants around here. There is nothing to brag about there, the bar is set so low! – this is exactly how I feel about Caribbean restaurants when I travel and even some of them right here that cater to tourists!
Jyothsna
November 28th, 2008 @ 1:48 pm
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Well, the title reminded me of Vig’s restaurant in Mumbai which serves the best dal pakwan and patties-chole ever!! The kebabs look oh-so-good! Have a nice holiday!
Mamatha
December 2nd, 2008 @ 7:54 am
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My reasons exactly for not going to Indian restaurants! We have a plethora of ingredients and regional varieties to play with but is the greasy ‘curries’ that get passed of as Indian cuisine. Unless Indian restaurateurs strive to improve their image and put Indian cuisine on par with other world-class cuisines, we’ll be stuck with ‘Star/Taste/Palace of India’ with eat-all-you-can buffets.

Thanks for this review Sig. We definitely need more restaurants like this one.
stuffed toys
August 21st, 2010 @ 6:24 am
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Thank you very much. Sunny article