THE BLOCKS ON Main Street between 48th and 51st Avenues are known for their colourful fabric stores and bazaars as well as an abundance of Indian spice shops, grocery stores and authentic sweet shops and restaurants. This is Vancouver’s Little India.
Halal Meats and Poultry is a great place to buy very inexpensive meats, including hard-to-find cuts of goat and other less common animals. Peruse the Punjabi Food Market, which is well stocked with beans, lentils and spices, and bags of onions and garlic that lie at the front of the store. Fruiticana is a large supermarket chain that sells kitchen tools and cookware. With the smell of curry wafting down the street, and the aroma of oven-fresh samosas, it won’t take long to find somewhere to eat. All India Sweets is famous for its desserts: rows and rows of sticky, multicoloured barfi (fudge) and gulab jamen (dumplings in syrup). It also features an all-you-can-eat vegetarian buffet. Frequented by locals who live in the neighbourhood, this area remains busy with businesspeople and homemakers with their kids during the week and will always be the ultimate dining and shopping haven for families on the weekends.
Also popular and in the area are the two similarly named tandoori restaurants. Tandoori King is located on Fraser Street near Marine Drive, whereas Original Tandoori K. King is an unassuming place around the corner on East 65th. They are two of the oldest tandoori restaurants in the city, and one taste of the assorted tandoori platter or the oven-fresh naan will leave no doubt as to why.
Not in the area, but consistently ranked as the best contemporary Indian food in the city is Vij’s and its sister restaurant, Rangoli, located on 11th Avenue at Granville. Try the decadent Lamb Popsicles or the rich and delicious Portobello Mushrooms and Red Bell Peppers in Creamy Curry.