I have a chef friend who is originally from Kolkata, a city I visited about a decade ago and one that I had the extraordinary privilege of exploring for a couple days in the company of a local, the cousin of my chef friend, who took time out of his busy schedule to ensure I was able to see the best of his city.
Bengali cuisine is very different than the primarily Punjabi fare we are accustomed to in Vancouver restaurants, but as Kolkata is a sprawling, vibrant megalopolis, it is possible to find regional fare from all of India there.
Food factored heavily during all of my Kolkata explorations. I remember very distinctly that my unofficial guide, Sunil, said to me at one point that the ubiquitous Butter Chicken, a staple of Western Indian restaurants, is like the macaroni and cheese of India, an international export with universal recognition, but a dish that is considered timid, even pedestrian, in its place of origin.
I have to admit, I avoid the dish for this reason. I pride myself on having an adventurous palate and I will often gravitate towards the rare and exotic by way of challenging myself to experience new flavours. However, I have found that butter chicken is an excellent dish to segue children into bolder and more complex Indian preparations. It’s like Indian Cuisine Light, an accessible and widely pleasing creation that packs just enough of the signature flavours and textures of curry to prepare budding palates for bolder fare.
Such has been the case with my kids, who cite butter chicken among their all-time favourites. Using it as a gateway dish, I have been able to introduce The Boy to lamb methi and Bengali fish curry, Blondie to Goan prawns and palak paneer, and my youngest, Little N, to channa masala (spicy chickpeas), a meal in which she recently delighted, exclaiming between mouthfuls: “It’s just like Corn Pops!” presumably referring to the shape of the chickpeas.
Most recently I added Butter Chicken to a hefty takeout order from Vaades, the last Indian restaurant on the North Shore that I had not tried. I am perplexed by this omission to my Dish lineup; how has it taken me more than three years to check this place out? With the benefit of now having tried Vaades’s unique, flavour-forward style of cuisine, I can say it was a miss on my part.
I try to avoid takeout as much as possible for these columns in order to report on the experience of dining in the space being reviewed, but in the case of Vaades I was too intrigued by their online ordering system to resist.
Diners can place their meal orders through Vaades.com, adding notes for special requests and modifications as required, choosing from value meal add-ons that ultimately make the meal cheaper than ordering each item a la carte, and taking advantage of promotional offers available for download from the site. Their ordering system is like the Amazon.ca of dining.
Perhaps the best feature of the automated system, however, is the ability to set a specific time for pickup, eliminating wait times altogether. I set my pickup time for 6:30 p.m. so I could grab the food on my way home from work and was pleased to find three bags of goodies waiting for me on arrival; I received 10 per cent off the order for my online efforts.
An appetizer of Crispy Prawns kicked off the meal, featuring spice-rolled jumbo prawns scented with curry leaves, garlic, and chilli paste, deep fried until crunchy and served with a bright and tangy mango chilli sauce and jalapeno cream sauce. This latter was effectively just spicy mayonnaise and felt superfluous given the relatively tame flavour of the prawns. The dish was generously portioned – 8 large prawns for $9.50 – but did not adequately foreshadow the bold and compelling flavours of the dishes to come.
Our tastebuds were properly roused when we tucked into the various curries, starting with Vaades’s signature eggplant preparation, Baigan Bartha. The dish was an astoundingly lush and deeply flavoured creation with heady notes of deeply browned garlic and onion married with fragrant spices; it was a surprisingly excellent expression of one of my least favourite vegetables.
Next up was Coastal Fish Curry, which included ample portions of tender and moist basa in thick and velvety gravy with cumin, chilli, cashew nuts, red onions, and curry leaves. I am pleased to report that Vaades does not hesitate to kick up the heat when asked; I ordered this fish curry “hot” and it delivered a potent, spicy punch.
I should point out that as basa is native to Southeast Asia, the “Coast” that is referenced on the menu is surely not that of the Pacific Northwest.
Channa Aloo followed, a solid interpretation of a classic vegetarian dish made with chickpeas and potatoes prepared with fragrant fenugreek leaves, shallots, spices and cilantro, while another veggie dish, Crunchy Okra, was unique, light and delicate, and included bite-sized morsels of deep fried okra and onions dredged in gram flour and spices and cooked with tomato, cilantro and tamarind.
Rice, naan, dense and chewy whole-wheat Roti, and raita (yogurt) accompanied the meal, which came to $80.
Vaades is located at 149 West 3rd Street in North Vancouver. vaades.com 604-973-0123
Chris Dagenais served as a manager for several restaurants downtown and on the North Shore. A self-described wine fanatic, he earned his sommelier diploma in 2001. He can be reached via email at hungryontheshore@gmail.com. North Shore News dining reviews are conducted anonymously and all meals are paid for by the newspaper.
