All Entries in the "Indian" Category
Mezbaan Fine Indian Fusion on Kingsway and Melbourne, Vancouver
To tell the truth, I had been barely able to hold things together the past two weeks. I had been juggling way too many balls at the same time that it is only a matter of time it is all going to come crashing down on me. Already I had been dropping a few balls here and there.
So last Friday, Suanne was asking me if I had decided where to go for our Friday night out. I told her I’ll figure out something during the day. I didn’t.
I completely forgot about it. I did not realize it was already past 4PM when Suanne called me on my cell telling me she’s waiting for me to meet up for dinner. That was when I decided enough is enough. I just shoot off the last email. Work can wait till next Monday.
My mind was scrambling on where to go. Suanne leaves the choice of the places to me — all the time. She had always done that ever since we met. It is like my responsibility to bring her to new places to eat. She likes that and I like my role too.
Do you feel this way I feel? When I am not looking for a place to eat, I could spot a million places while driving. I would tell Suanne “let’s go there next time. let’s go here next time”. But when I actually needed to find a place to eat, I can’t seems to see any at all.
So without a place in mind, I decided to drive along Kingsway in the direction to downtown. I did not have to drive far. It was just right after Boundary that I spotted one of the “let’s go there next time” places. Frankly, I had not even remembered the name of the restaurant … but I did remember that they have a “Fine Indian Fusion” words on the signboard.
I had been thinking a lot of what Michelle was saying during the 12B dinner that there is no really great Indian restaurants in Vancouver. Based on what she said, I was intent on finding out more about Indian food. No, I really did not think that such an unknown restaurant like Mezbaan would fit the bill of a great Indian restaurant at all. But we did find something new … something unique in this restaurant that makes me want to come back again.
There was no customer in Mezbaan when we walked in shortly after 5PM. As a matter of fact, there was only one other customer the whole night we were there.
The decor was painted in warm orange color. Suanne said she noticed a lot of Indian restaurants are painted in this color. Well, I thought it is because it is the colour of the national flag on India. I made that answer up but I do sound convincing, don’t I? :-)
The Chef served us. I know he is the chef because I had just read on the newspaper reviews by the entrance about the restaurant. The Chef’s name is TJ and the newspaper clipping said that Mezbaan is North Indian and that Chef TJ grinds his own masala spice. They don’t use branded, pre-made spices in their cooking. I thought it was a good thing to call out.
Chef TJ was an obliging man but I think he was kind of suspicious and uncomfortable with us. We were asking way too many questions and I had a big camera in my hands and Suanne has a pen in hers, catching every word he was saying onto her notebook. Chef TJ did not ask what we were doing but am sure that was the question in his mind.
Apparently, Mezbaan has been in operation for 11 months already. The word Mezbaan means “unique host” in the Urdu language.
We were served Papadams. It was small and rolled into a cone. I wished it is of the larger pieces that we find else where. I could eat tons of this. Too little here.
Are these expensive? If not, they should serve this in stacks for the customer like restaurants do with bread.
The papadams were served with the usual tamarind sauce as a dip. Sour and spicy is how the sauce tasted. I prefer eating this plain sans sauce.
We started with Prawn Pakoras ($9) as appetizers. This was nice. The prawns were a bit on the small side.
It was cooked in a crispy seasoned batter. The batter is very thin, not as crispy as we expected. Pakoras usually are heavy in batter but not this one. Even though we did not expect it to look like this, we like it.
Despite the size of the prawns, the deshelled prawn was springy. It tasted good.
We did not know what to get for the mains and asked Chef TJ what he thinks is the best in the kitchen today. Without hesitation, he said we should try his … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Akbar’s Own on Broadway and Cypress, Vancouver
It is so coincidental. This year, three Vancouver area food blogger vacationed in Barcelona, Spain.
Mel of GourmetFury.com went to France and Spain and dined at the Alkimia in Barcelona. Coincidentally, when Suanne and I went on a gastronomic tour of Spain this summer we also dined at the Alkimia (see post here).
ET and Christina (Doesn’t Tazte Like Chicken) also visited Barcelona as part of their round the world trip (!) this year. If you are a foodies, you should check their website where they had dined in some of the best restaurants in legendary culinary cities in the world.
We arranged to meet up. I suggested to meet up at the new Cafe Barcelona. While it would have been fun to eat at Vancouver’s Cafe Barcelona and compare their tapas with what we had in Spain, I kiboshed the idea after some research of that place because the venue would not have been good for long conversations.
We ended up at Akbar’s Own.
Akbar’s Own is recommended by none other than the owner of Salam Bombay. So we thought it would be a great place to meet over a slow dinner.
Akbar’s Own is a Khasmiri/Muglai North Indian restaurant located on West Broadway at the intersection of Cypress. This stretch of West Broadway is rather quiet as far as restaurants are concerned, very unlike West 4th, just 1 block north. But Akbar’s Own had been operating in this location for over 12 years now.
The ambiance in Akbar’s Own is pleasant and conducive for a nice dinner. It is also dark and extremely hard to take pictures but at least I managed to correct most of them.
Service wise, they were attentive and came by with right timings. A good service is when you cannot remember all the times that they are at your table but yet you know that you had nothing lacking. The glasses were filled unaware to us.
For drinks, we ordered the Kingfisher Premium Lager. This is the most recognized beer and is very common in India. It has a light sweetish taste. It also looked very carbonated like some fizzy drink if you ask me. At just 4% alcohol content, this is served cold and resfreshing … just sounded right with spicy curries.
We got a couple of finger food to get the taste bud going. The Finger Paneer ($6.50) is house made cream cheese marinated with yogurt, ginger, garlic, spices and deep fried. Paneer is Indian cheese which doesn’t melt like the western ones.
Despite all the ingredients, it has a mild taste. It is the sauce that gives a little tanginess to it.
The other appetizer is the Chili Pakora ($5). It has jalapeno pepper and onions marinated in a tangy batter and deep fried. This has a little spiciness to it and tasted better than the paneer fingers to tell the truth.
We decided to get four mains to share and to go along with naan and rice.
The first is Lamb Bhoona ($13). For Suanne and I, we noticed that we had been gravitating towards lamb and pork as our choice of meat over chicken and beef these days. So we wanted to check this lamb dish out.
The lamb is cooked in a thick and spicy gravy with browned onions. This dish reminded us a lot of the … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
$2.95 Breakfast at Samosa Garden on Kingsway, Vancouver
We don’t normally eat out for breakfast. Breakfast at home is usually a simple affair of coffee and toast. Sometimes when Suanne feels like it, she will make a couple of sunny side up eggs. That’s all there is to our breakfasts.
However, earlier this month we went to Bon’s off Broadway for their $2.95 breakfast. At that time, we thought that they have the cheapest breakfast other than the IKEA $1 Breakfast. We were so wrong.
Since then we discovered that there are more places where they have $2.95 breakfasts. Tana of the Cheap Appetite blog reported that Yummy Sushi in Vancouver also have a $2.99 breakfast. That one looked very good.
Last week, I also found another place which is serving $2.95 breakfasts. Samosa Garden, located on Kingsway just west of Boundary, is more known for their buffet lunches has recently started to offer breakfasts too.
They open for breakfast early at 7AM. I was the only customer the whole time I was there.
Samosa Garden used to be a very popular Indian buffet restaurant many years ago. In my previous company, we often chose to go to Samosa Garden when we have a team lunch or something like that. These days, I have not heard of anyone going there anymore. Instead, I know people are going to Saffron which is a couple of blocks away.
I remember that almost ten years ago Samosa Garden were so popular that the Malaysian Prime Minister actually ate here when he was in Vancouver.
The setting was good. It was dark, cold and raining outside the morning I was there. It sure felt like Fall these days.
With being the only customer, I felt unrushed. It is just the way I love to start the day — slow and unrushed.
By the way, the $1.69 coffee was just OK — not great but just OK.
Samosa Garden have a lot more breakfast options. Besides a few choices of omelettes, they even have traditional Indian breakfasts. I was there to check out their $2.95 breakfast … so yeah, I got that even though the traditional Indian breakfasts looked more interesting.
The breakfast consists of scrambled eggs, two sausages, hash browns, toasts and interestingly, sweet grapes too. The breakfast was quite good. The two sausages is small More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Vij’s at West 11th and Granville, Vancouver
It was a special occasion. Suanne and I thought we can allow ourselves to splurge a bit. We’ve been told that Vij’s is expensive and probably the most upscale Indian restaurants in Metro Vancouver.
Vij’s is not operated like a restaurant you would expect. Firstly, Vij’s does not open for lunch and they only open for dinner. Then, they do NOT accept reservation at all. If you want a table, you are made to wait in line outside the restaurant for them to open at 5:30PM. I really don’t understand why Vij’s would do that to their customers.
We went on a weekday. Arrive at the restaurant at 5:00PM, a good 30 minutes before they open. Even then there were people there staking their spot in the self-organized line. I have heard that people actually wait for 2 hours for a table even.
By the time they were opened, there was a long line. Actually everyone got in that evening and only just. So technically speaking, we could have showed up at 5 minutes before and we would have gotten a table too. But really, if you could not get a table, the wait will be up to the next table is freed up. Assuming that the diners will take at least 1 hour for their dinner, you can imagine how long it could be. Suanne and I took 1.5 hours for this dinner.
Vij’s is supposed to be fine dining but I really think it resembles more of a cafe than anything — very basic. The tables were so close to one another too. And it was really warm inside too. Some of the customers were dressed up but there are also a number of people in T-shirt, sandals and shorts. The whole restaurant is very noisy too — very much like a bazaar. Never been to Vij’s before and I certainly was surprised how it looked.
Looks and being forced to wait apart, Vij’s sure is popular … both with locals and with tourists.
It took a while before they gotten to us for our orders. Not surprising given that they had just filled the restaurants with hungry customers (we were!). It is tradition here that they come around serving hot chai and snacks. These are complimentary.
We had hot chai which is not sweetened. It was just a half cup. The tapioca fries was a little spicy with a texture coarser than potato. The snacks were alright, nothing to shout about really.
Vij’s had quite a wine list. I bet it is great with curries but then we don’t drink. Instead we ordered the Ginger Lemon drink which we thought sounded interested. It sure was. The ginger syrup and soda was served separately along with a chilled glass.
It was good. It is more like a ginger flavoured soda, that’s what it is … nothing more. $5.
We thought we share an appetizer and have a main each. The appetizer we ordered was the Chickpeas with Star Anise and Date Curry on Grilled Kale. $12.
It was a large plate and is meant for sharing. Interesting dish too. The hot chickpeas contrasted well with the cold yogurty topping. The Kale was leafy which soaks up well the curry. The curry wasn’t particularly spicy hot, it was just right.
We like it a lot.
I had the Wine Marinated Lamb Popsciles. The mains in Vij’s is between $25 and $30. This is one $26.50.
The mains are served with naan and rice. They asked is we wanted the naan & rice together or separate with the mains. Not really understanding what that means, we said separate. What do they mean anyway, anyone knows?
This seems to be a very popular dish here because we saw a lot of tables having this. More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Ashiana Tandoori Restaurant on Kingsway (and Knight), Vancouver
Suanne and I first came across Ashiana Tandoori Restaurant during our visit to EAT! Vancouver. When we blogged about the event, it just so happened that the picture we selected for our front page was two action pictures of them making fresh roti on site. It was Sonia who requested that we email them the pictures we took. So, one thing led to another, we were invited to Ashiana to check out their restaurant.
Suanne and I like invitations like this not because it was a free meal but that we get to speak to the people behind the restaurant and learn more about the restaurant, the food and the people. We realize that we appreciate the food we eat the more we know about it. We wanted to also learn more about Tandoori and see it in action for ourselves.
Ashiana Tandoori Restaurant is located at the intersection of Kingsway and Knight. It was in a bad location just a few years ago when the Vancouver flea market was just around the corner. However, in the past couple of year the neighborhood had undergone a major rejuvenation when the new King Edward Village was completed. It is amazing how just one carefully planned development project changes the face of the neighborhood just like that.
Ashiana is celebrating their 26th Anniversary this year. Having first opened in 1983, Ashiana is one of the first authentic Tandoori restaurant in Vancouver. The people behind Ashiana is Rick and Sonia. It was a pleasure meeting them and having them telling us their story.
Sonia told us the story how they got their first major exposure during the Expo 86 when they took their clay Tandoori oven. At that time, the Tandoori oven was quite a novelty and his clay Tandoori oven was the first in Canada. It just happen that Rick fell ill on the day and Sonia, even though a few months pregnant, had to stand in to do the demo.
They came across to us as a very hard working husband and wife team. Over the years, they had built a name for Ashiana and had won so many awards year in and year out.
You know, speaking to restaurant owners, Suanne and I had new respect for them. Like many restaurant owners, Sonia and Rick put in 14 hours a day, 364 days a year — closing only on Christmas. In all these years, they had only gone on a vacation once together! They had to take turns to manage the fledging restaurants. Even though, Ashiana had made a name in the restaurant business, Sonia and Rick said they do not encourage their children to take over their business. We were quite impressed by what we learned.
Ashiana has a banquet room that can easily cater for up to 150 people. They told us that it is rare that restaurants can get to their size these days. Ashiana first small restaurant is located on Victoria Drive. In 1992, they put in all they had and re-opened in this new location. Since then they had never looked back.
First thing we were served were Papadums. We learn now that is is made of lentil and is sundried. The ones Ashiana serve here are made in India. They could have microwaved this to provide a more uniformed charness. Instead they make it in the tandoori clay oven. Love the charred sides! He he he … is that carcinogenic?
We see the same type of dips that we had in La Tandoor a few weeks ago. The tamarind chutney and hot mint chutney are better than those we had then — particularly the hot mint chutney.
We told Sonia before the visit we would like to learn more about the Tandoori oven and to see for ourselves how they make our dinner. So, the first thing we did was to have a tour of their kitchen. We saw how our naan bread was made in the Tandoori oven — man, I had no idea how fast it was made. It was almost instantly we saw the air bubbles popping through the skin. I never quite figure out how the bread sticks to the side without falling off.
The fresh hot Naan out of the oven was fantastic! It was fluffy and soft … and particularly great with … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
La Tandoor Restaurant in Steveston, Richmond
Suanne and I think we need to discover more about the restaurant scene at the Steveston area. Located at the south western end of Richmond, we don’t normally drive there. Wendy of Eat-n-About had done a number of good restaurant reviews in the area. I like Wendy’s and her boyfriend reviews. They like the same type of food Suanne and I like … so, every post of theirs are of interest to us and we make it a point to check out some of the restaurants they had reviewed on their site. We like their style of writing too … very smooth easy reading. Check their site out.
We thought we should have a closer look at Stevestone Village ourselves since we had already covered a lot of the restaurants in the Richmond City Center. We were surprised how rich the area is in the variety of restaurants here.
La Tandoor is located on Moncton Street. It is the main tourist stretch … so if you walk down that short stretch of road, you will not miss it. Even when we were one street away, we could actually catch a heavenly waft of cooking curries. It was without doubt where the smell came from. Suanne and I found this amusing and was wondering if there were any complains from the neighboring restaurants.
La Tandoor had won numerous City awards over the years. They proudly display them on their windows with the awards won for Readers Choice award for 2006 and 2007. From the outside they do seem like they had seen better years. It somewhat bothers me when characters are missing from the signage and not replaced because it could reflect on how they care for their business. I really hope they will replace the missing alphabets quickly.
As always, we were at dinner early at 5PM. There were only a couple of tables taken. Not so evident from the outside, the restaurant could fit … oh … fifty people or so. So it is quite large. I like the earthy tone of their decor and it is well lighted with a skylight in the middle of the restaurant. It is clean, no doubt about that.
We were attended by a man who looks like he own the place. He greeted us and asked if we would like to check out their $17 buffet dinner. Although the choices he described seems like a great deal but we declined. We were not very hungry and we wanted to check out their real dishes.
La Tandoor served us water in these traditional water vessels. They were quite heavy. What are these made of, do you know? Brass? Copper? I am sure there is a little story that can be told of these traditional water vessels.
We all like these cups (goblets?) because it came so cold which is so perfect for a hot day.
We were given two dips together with the water. We were told that the dips were meant for the papadams. One of them has a mild spiciness in it and is made from mint (the green one). The other one is sweet and is made of tamarind.
Their thin papadam was awesome. I wish they gave us more than just three. They were large but we like it so much we wanted more. Are papadams generally free in East Indian restaurants and people can ask for more (without extra charge) if they wanted? More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Simply Curries on Kingsway, Vancouver
This is a complementary meal from Simply Curries.
There is something about Simply Curries that catches my attention. I still remember the first time we had lunch there when they first opened about six years ago. It was brand new then. I think it was the striking yellow-orange color of the place.
A few weeks back, some of you recalled that I blogged about Popular Chinese Cuisine. Walking back to our car from the dinner, we walked passed Simply Curries and remarked that we had been to this place before.
Coincidentally, a week later, a friend sent us an email to check out Simply Curries and said that the owner wanted to invite us to do a review on the place.
Simply Curries is very much a hole in the wall kind serving South Indian food. It is located along Kingsway in Vancouver, between Joyce and Tyne. You will not miss spotting Simply Curries — just look for the large yellow-orange signboard.
Vishy is the man behind this place and I must add, very chatty too.
The interior is very simple but it is painted in bright yellow-orange. I asked if he is a NDP supporter (since he proudly showed me a video of Jack Layton’s visit on his computer). He vehemently said, “No, No, No!” … and then proudly added that it’s painted in the colors of the Indian national flag, pointing to the green on the ceiling.
Vishy said that the theme he wanted for Simply Curries is “keep it simple”. He does not believe in very fancy menus with hard to picture Indian names. He has this 3-step ordering system posted on the wall prominently.
Since we were there on Vishy’s invitation, I asked that he surprise us … just serve us what he wants.
Surprise us he did. He made Curry on Fries for Nanzaro. Hmmm … why have anyone not really thought of this? This was great. I personally prefer curries over gravy with fries anytime. You might want to try this. At Simply Curries, this is $4.75.
The other surprise he gave us was these colorful and marvelous Mini Samosas. You will love this. They came color coded so that you know what it is in them. Green is spinach, yellow is lamb, white is chicken and red is beef. Yeah, I know. I had the same question too about the beef samosa.
We absolutely love this. They are plump, well-formed and made in bite sizes. The skin was crispy with a little spiciness in the skin even. Vishy serves this with tamarind sauce as the dip. We dipped it both in the tamarind sauce and the curries he gave us … they are great. Simply Curries sells this for $5.75 a plate which includes a dozen pieces.
Here is the beauty. You will get this for free if you …
