Hassan A.'s Profile

So i had Sunday off and decided to familiarize myself with the city and so my adventure began.  I got off the Waterfront train and cam out on Granville to see Trees Organic Coffee across the street.  Since it was raining I though I'd get some chai.  The atmosphere is really old school, makes you want to sit here and write a novel, don't expect to be Kafka, although Kafka never had the Jersey Shore for inpiration.  

The Chai latte and it was good,  I don't think it was as sweet as I usually have it, which is a good and a bad thing I guess.  I would prefer it a little bit sweeter but overall I liked it.  

I wish I didn't eat so much at Whole Foods or I would have definitely tried the award winning cheesecake.  I'll have to come back so expect an update.

I Love CBC Radio, although not as much as NPR, but the love is still pretty strong.  NPR is the CBC equivalent in the states and it has wonderful stories and when I moved up to Canada I went in to NPR withdrawal, until I found CBC Radio.  The have such amazing feature pieces and one thing I particularly about CBC is that it plays music I know, which I can't always say about NPR.

I grew up listening to Public Radio.  I was seven and my parents were driving me to school and I would hate it, but I would always get interested the stories that were discussed by the end of the ride.  I have learned more from Public Radio than any other news source.  It is an absolute gem in the world of sensationalized news.

So Public Radio, both CBC and NPR, is what made me want to be a journalist.  I wanted to explore the world as the correspondents did and I also wanted to discuss the people around the world that we rarely get to see in other news mediums.

I constantly donate to both companies because Public Radio is what keeps people informed about what is going on with no bias.  Their stories are compelling and their voices soothing.  

I am so happy the iPhone has a NPR app that I can even listen to in Canada, but I must say, I have started going toward the CBC app a little bit more lately.

After watching "Anthony Bourdain's: No Reservations," I was was very excited about going to Vij's when I visited Vancouver to tour my graduate school, The University of British Columbia.

I'm glad I yelped this restaurant because it helped to know that getting there at five to stand in line for the restaurant's 5:30 opening time was a good idea. However, I'm also disappointed that I yelped this place because the reviews on yelp do not seem accurate for this restaurant.

We were the second group to be seated upon the restaurant's opening.  All the people standing outside with us were also able to be seated, and luckily no one was left standing in outside waiting for a party to leave.  At this time I was still quite excited, as we were finally seated and waiting with much anticipation to order.  Most of the waitresses were very nice and I was particularly impressed with the small bite-sized appetizers the hostesses were bringing around to the tables waiting to order.  The bite-sized appetizers were very delicious and left me feeling even more excited about ordering the actual entées.

Finally it was time to order.  I ordered the Lamb Samosas as my appetizer and they were absolutely wonderful.  The samosas had a bone marrow-like taste (Find a Pakistani friend and ask him/her how the bone marrow tastes in a good curry) you often find in a bone-in goat curry in Pakistani food.  Thus far I had a great impression of Vij's, but I thought it odd that two small samosa's cost me $12.50, that is an exorbitant price for such a small dish, and while it was good, I don't know if I would be willing to spend that much again on such a small appetizer.

Then it came time to order the entrées, and I ordered the Goat Curry with Potatoes. It was the first entrée on the entrée section of the menu and I must say that it was terrible.  I didn't like it at all, I also didn't like the taste of the naan that came with the food, it tasted like it had been cooked with saffron or another herb that was too strong of a taste for the bread.  In my curry I could taste the guram masala and that is a sign that it wasn't cooked/seasoned properly.  Another dead giveaway was that the potatoes were still hard and didn't taste like they had been stewed long enough, so you could taste the uncooked flavor of the potato. Not to mention, the dish was way over priced at $27, I feel it should cost around $8 to $12, considering what you were getting.

My wife ordered the Veggies and Coconut Curry, and it too was not very good.  The curry was watered down as was the taste.  I usually like Indian vegetarian dishes, but this one really was quite bland and definitely not worth the $24 that it cost. I had one bite and I didn't want anymore.  My sister was also with us and she ordered the Prawn Curry dish, which was priced at $28 and the disappointment continued, but I feel that goes without saying when ordering seafood curry in a Pakistani/Indian restaurant. That is not a natural combination for South Asian food.  The dish was bland and watery as the other ones.

I was very disappointed with the restaurant, and though I took my food home, I had to throw it out when I tried it again.  This restaurant seems quite over rated.  Having been raised on good Pakistani food from childhood I know what it is supposed to taste like and this was truly disappointing.  I can honestly say that my mom and aunts can cook much better food, especially lamb curry, than anything I ate at this restaurant.  I would however also like to add that some South Asian restaurants water down flavor and tastes for their western patrons and maybe that is the case here.

Having lived in Atlanta and Chicago a lot of my life I know I can find restaurants in both cities that would blow this on out of the water for a fraction of the price.  Although these restaurants are not as nicely designed, nor do they have the greatest ambiance offered by Vij's, but the food is what gets me to go back over and over and I know I can't say that about Vij's.   There was also a photographer from Le Monde Magazine and he took pictures of us, so maybe we will see how the pictures turn out in May issue.

Maybe this was just a singular issue where the cooks weren't properly prepared or didn't cook that well, but whatever it was, I know now that I will not be going back.

Appetizers:    A
Food:             C-/D+
Ambiance:     A-
Location:        B
Staff:                B- (All of the staff was great except one waitress, who wasn't helpful)
Price:               F

Total Bill for two people including Drinks: $98.00 Plus 20 % tip = Aprox. $120