My Shanti

You'd think living in Surrey there would be a plethora of tasty and wonderful Indian cuisine.

Sadly no.

There definitely is a plethora of Indian restaurants, but would I consider them all tasty... No.
I like to consider all the Indian restaurants around me to be the equivalent of all those cheap Chinese restaurants that serve exactly the same thing. Sweet & Sour Pork, Chicken fried rice, and Chicken chow mein. Perfectly fine, but nothing to differentiate it from each other. All the Indian restaurants seem to serve the exact same thing.

Then I found out that Vikram Vij has opened up a new restaurant in Surrey! This really excites me as we love going to Vij's, and find his Indian food to be the best in town. Time for a happy dance!

Now I understand that Vij's food isn't traditional Indian cuisine, but boy is it tasty!

First thing we get once we sit down is some free deep fried things...

I'm going to assume these are chick pea flour chips, they look like prawn chips, but less tasty. But there free!

Onto the appetizer!

We ordered the Udiapuri Chaat

This is a salad consisting of fried eggplant, sweet potato, spinach, and many sauces. It's also vegan. Guess what? We loved this dish! This mix of flavours is amazing. We can't wait to order this again. Did I mention it's VEGAN!?!?!

Debbie ordered the Chicken Biryani

I like to think of Biryani as a Indian version of a casserole, filled with Rice, Chicken & sauce. Yum! The dish is very rich, and comes with an amazing Cashew cream sauce, the only issue I had is that it's just chicken breast in this dish, we need to move past boneless, skinless chicken breast.

I ordered the Calicut Beef Shortribs

What more can I ask for, Braised Shortribs in a Saffron, Coconut cream sauce. First and foremost they used proper shortrib cut, not the cheaper chuck cuts that they use at other restaurants, the sauce is rich and creamy with great flavour. Amazing!

An Indian dinner isn't complete without a nice piece of Naan bread

Just look at that bread! Perfect piece of Naan bread! The only issue here is that at Vij's the rice and naan are free with your meal and unlimited. Here the rice and naan are completely separate and costs extra. I'm not sure if they are unlimited, but probably not :-(

Here are some of the condiments that came with our meal. The cashew cream sauce, pickled veg, and a yogurt sauce

Almond Pistachio fudge in Coconut cream

Swing and a miss! This was just some coconut fudge in a bland sauce... Really underwhelming, bland, and not worth the $8!! it cost. Save your cash and get something else!

Overall this was another wonderful meal we've had at one of Vij's restaurant. The prices are slightly cheaper than Vij's, but once you add the rice and naan it will be about the same price, in fact probably a little more expensive! But the meal is totally worth it. As with his restaurants there are no reservations taken or accepted and it is on a first come, first serve basis. The place is very busy, so get there early!