Saturday, November 21, 2009

Vij's Indian fusion lives up to all the hype...

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My little family headed to Vancouver, B.C. for the weekend and one of our priorities was to hit the famous Indian restaurant Vij's. We heard there's always a painfully long wait so we planned to get there before doors opened at 5:30. Well apparently that's everyone's trick because we got there at 5:15 and there was already a line of people out the door, standing in the freezing cold and pouring rain. I jumped in line and as my toes turned numb I wondered how great this place could really be. The Indian food I've had in Seattle is all pretty much the same. Well much to our surprise and excitement, it was well worth the wait (and the frozen toes).

When we were first seated the waitstaff brought some delicious chai tea (recipe featured on their website) and various little snacks to munch on while we looked over the menu. We ordered the pork tenderloin, chicken with chantrelle mushrooms, a chickpea and kale appetizer, and their signature dish - the lamb popsicles. It was all fantastic and nothing like the basic Indian dishes we're used to (chicken tikka masala, butter chicken, etc). The sauces were much more complex and flavorful.

If you ever venture to Vancouver, I highly recommend stopping in to Vij's for some sophisticated Indian fare. And if you love it, you can always buy their cookbook here.

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