Gustatelo!

I am Canadian. Did you know that? I don’t think I’ve ever talked about it before, but my whole mother’s side of the family is from Vancouver, British Columbia. Lucky me! During my childhood I got a taste of east coast AND west coast, America and Canada from only one side of the family. I’m pretty darn lucky! So another lucky strike for me, the Olympics are being held in Vancouver Canada this year! So naturally during the Olympics I went “home” (or “to the homeland” as my friend Tanya would say) to partake in the festivities, and food of course.


One restaurant that was a must visit for me is Vij’s, a modern Indian restaurant that has become an institution in Vancouver. During my venture in India this past November, I happened to meet the chef from Vij’s. A very nice Indian man originally from Mumbai, who has lived in Canada for about 13 years now. My aunt, who has lived in Vancouver all her life, was traveling with me at the time and immediately recognized the restaurant. That night we spent a delightful evening chatting with Vikram Vij, who was traveling in India to rediscover his roots, how romantic. I passed along my blog address and promised to come and visit the restaurant next time I was in Vancouver. So here I am, and I’ve kept my promise.

I’ve never been so content waiting an hour for a table in my life. What’s with that? We went into the evening knowing if we weren’t there right at 5pm, then we were going to have to wait for a table, since Vij’s does not take reservations. For the Olympics they had a tent set up in the front of the restaurant with two standing heaters. It was perfect. We sat under the heaters, had a drink. A nice hostess came out periodically to make sure we had enough to drink and to pass around little snacks like cassava root fries, vegetable pakora and small potato pancakes. It was a pleasant wait (something I never thought I would say). When we did sit, we were very well taken care of. The staff was extremely helpful and pleasant. What else would you expect of west coast Canadians?

For dinner the waiter recommended that we all get a different dish and share, family style. He then proceeded to recommend the exact two dishes that had caught my eye: Lamb Popsicles and the marinated grilled sablefish in a mango reduction. Our dinner was wonderful; both recommended dishes were fantastic! We also ordered vegetables with red bean and curry leaf and the spot prawns and halibut with lemon curry. My only disappointment was the halibut; the fish was overcooked and didn’t absorb the flavor of the sauce. The sablefish, on the other hand, was well crisped, rich and oddly balanced with the sweet mango reduction.

Lamb Popsicles were my favorite by far, and I think that the words our waiter used to recommend them to us are completely appropriate: “The lamb Popsicles are great I like them, well because I am a human being.” The simple truth, yummy little morsels of meat on a frenched rib with a fenugreek cream curry and turmeric spinach potatoes.  All the complexities of Indian spicing I remember from my trip, but with a refined finish so the whole dinner did not feel so heavy in my stomach.

For dessert, Vikram’s famous rice pudding and kulfi, a frozen Indian dessert a bit like ice cream usually made with milk, cardamom, pistachio, and saffron. Both were topped with an edible silver leaf and simply presented.
Unfortunately the owner/chef Vikram was not in the kitchen that night, probably due to the Olympics, but we did leave him a note thanking him for the pleasant meal and experience. Hopefully we’ll return on my next trip “home” to Vancouver. Gustatelo!