Vij's Restaurant

After three years in Vancouver, we finally made it to Vij’s (www.vijs.ca/index_in.htm) last weekend! It’s been on our list of places to try forever, but the famed wait has always seemed a little too much for us. But we decided to brave it – we were going out to dinner with some vegetarian friends, and Indian is always a good option for veggies and non-veggies to eat together. Chris and I were the ‘advance party’ and got there just after the first sitting had been seated, put our name on the list, got some drinks, and settled in for the wait. As promised in every review, complimentary appetizers quickly appeared. I must admit to being a little star-struck when Vij himself came outside to serve some! (Many of the reviews I’ve read of Vij’s talk about ‘free’ appetizers, but nothing is ever really free. The cost is in the time you spend waiting for your table – which hopefully is with company you like and so not really much of a cost – and it necessarily adds to the prices on the dishes on the menu.) You’d think that ‘complementary’ might be shorthand for so-so, but they were all very very tasty, which was good, because we were getting pretty hungry by the time we got our table 2 hours later. They certainly left us wanting to taste more.

One of the reasons the wait was so long was a table of 8 that was sitting and sitting, and sitting some more. But once we were seated we were very glad that they had! It was Daniel Boulud, Tojo, and two other chefs who we think were Frederic Haut-Labourdette (Bistro Pastis) and Posteraro (chef/owner at Cioppino’s). What a table! And despite the presence of the celebrity guests, Vij made us feel like we were the special guests in his restaurant. We were seated next to the door and he noticed that one of our friends was a little cold. He came by to see if she’d like the door closed, and although she said she’d be fine, he had it closed anyway. It was opened again later, and he went and quickly sorted that out for us (to be truthful, before we had even noticed it was open again). And he checked on us personally several times after we were served, asking about the food, getting us more naan, etc. However, we weren’t alone in this treatment. He was all over the restaurant making sure all his guests were having a good experience.

We started with the jackfruit in black cardamom and cumin masala to share. It was mentioned in many reviews (that and the crab, but we wanted something that was veggie-friendly). The texture was interesting (we eat sweet jackfruit often, which has a different texture), and the sauce was delicious. We sopped up every bit with the naan. For dinner our companions had two of the three vegetarian options, and seemed to enjoy their mains. I was waffling between the grilled port tenderloin and back ribs in fennel seed, ginger, and coconut curry with roasted cashews and the beef shortribs in cinnamon and red wine curry with warm greens. When Chris ordered the pork, I went for the beef. It was fantastic. Melt in your mouth, incredible flavour. Slight heat, and a magical combination of spices. I am a Vij’s convert. The pork was quite tasty and a big hit with Chris, but we both thought that the shortribs were magic.

In sum, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Vij’s and will definitely go back. The numerous reviewers who are less then enthusiastic about the restaurant just don’t get it. They want traditional Indian dishes, which this place doesn’t deliver. What they do do is wonderful things with traditional ingredients and techniques combined in novel ways, alongside terrific service. I finally understand what all the hoopla is about.

4 thumbs!!!