Many of our friends in Vancouver are Indian and of course they all LOVE this restaurant and not just one family said so, EVERYONE said so. So one night after a cocktail party, we decided to go to Vij’s.

I have to excuse myself about the names of the dishes and the quality of the pictures. Like I said, we went after a cocktail party, hence some alcohol influenced my ability to remember, and the inside of the restaurant was as dim as my memory.

Vij’s is an extremely well-known restaurant in Vancouver. It is small, and doesn’t take reservations, and has been “first-come, first-served” since their opening in 1994. Our friends told us this: “You get there, get your name on the list and order a glass of wine. You wait an hour or hour an a half, and they keep bringing round after round of appetizers out. You sit there by the fire drinking and have a good time.”

Hmmm…everything is fine except that hour to hour and a half wait! Well, we arrived at 9 pm there. We told them we were a party of 8. The hostess said it might be, yes, an hour to an hour and a half wait. Yikes! I was already really hungry. Next to the restaurant is another restaurant with the same owner and the same chef, called “Rangoli”. We thought about going there, since they had open tables, but decided to wait. They have their own take on the food style. From Vij’s website:

“Our Vij’s menu is based on the premise that we are having a fancy dinner party and we’ve cooked all day for it, whereas at Rangoli, it’s more like we’re cooking dinner for our family, and you happen to drop by.”

We ordered wines and beverages, and while we were waiting our party grew from 8 to 13 people and we thought, “If a  party of 8 would take them an hour to an hour and a half to seat us, how long would it take to get a table for thirteen?”   Some of our party hadn’t even arrived yet, but within 30 minutes everyone was there. Amazingly, at that moment the hostess told us that they’ve got the table ready for us!

By the time I sat down on my chair, I was sort of tipsy. You shouldn’t drink on an empty stomach, you know. One of our Indian friends who is a regular customer there did the ordering and the dishes quickly started to arrive.

I was drunk, but that wasn’t going to prevent me from eating. Here are the pictures from a drunk High Heel Gourmet! I can take pictures drunk as well as I can walk on my 6” heels drunk, but I can’t remember the name of each dish! And don’t bother shooting drunk people (me). You know why?  You will miss the target. They can’t stand still, can’t sit still, can’t walk straight, and they move unpredictably!

WHERE: Vij’s
1480 W 11th Ave
Vancouver
BC V6H 1L1
Canada
Phone: +1 604-736-6664

HOW: Walk in only no reservation taken

WHO: Vikram Vij and Meeru Dhalwala

WHAT: 

The next day we went back to the area we had driven through on our way from the airport into town. The freeway 99, which has it all: a traffic light at every intersection, sidewalks and stores. It’s still a freeway, you know. On the way into town I saw a store posting a sign that they have all-butter croissants. I remember from last time I was in Quebec and had the best butter also the best croissant, so I want to try it.

We went to the croissant place. It’s alright but not worth mentioning the name. I walked around that area and found a cool supermarket called Meinhardt. I brought a bucket of cherries where each cherry was as big as a crabapple! (Picture on my instagram)

Next, I was going to go back to Vij’s hoping to get a cookbook. So we did what people in 21st century would do, looked up the place on our iPhone map and guess what, we were only two blocks from the restaurant. We walked over and ended up at Rangoli, the sister restaurant of Vij’s, and had lunch. (Vij’s was closed.)

The place is quite lovely in the sunlight. We had Lentil, Paneer and Chickpea Samosas,

Spicy Pulled Pork on Sauteed Greens with sour cream chutney and naan,

Lamb, Chickpeas and Potatoes in Yoogurt-Date Curry.

All the links go to my instagram where I posted the pictures.