[mobike008]

Would you travel just for food? I know, not many do. But, I’m a self-confessed foodie and I can travel any distance for good food. Haha!

Some examples :

1. When I was in India, I have travelled to Bombay just to explore the Vada Pav, Missal Pav and best Pav Bhaji in India.
2. I used to ride on my motorcycle to Bangalore with friends just to explore the Bangalore Brewery Scene.
3. Visited many times Delhi and we did a “Food Walk” exploring the Old Delhi and other non-popular places
4. Visited Kolkata to enjoy the best Indo-Chinese cuisines in India and their other specialities.
5. In the US, have driven to Columbus, Ohio for Momos but, later found that Detroit has the best momos that I ever tasted in US.
6. Have visited all the major cities where Indian food is supposed to be the best (New Jersey, Dallas, Chicago and Bay Area) and enjoyed this cuisines in many popular places.

With above as a background, you can guess it’s not too hard for me to travel for best Indian food in entire North America (Not, just America or Canada)- Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada.

Ever since we moved to Seattle which is more than 1.5 years ago, we have been contemplating visiting Vancouver to enjoy the best Indian cuisine but, it never happened due to various reasons.

Last weekend, it was planned that we should do a day trip just to enjoy lunch and dinner and carry some goodies and be back home the same day.

Unfortunately, I had to make a trip to Bay Area on work and was there most part of the week and arrived back in Seattle on Friday late evening.

I didn’t let that mar the original plan we made and next day (Saturday- March 4th, 2023) we headed out at 11:00am in our Tesla Model 3 Performance. It was the first long trip for the M3P of 115 miles one-way which can be covered in 1:45 hours.

Well, I wouldn’t call this a long trip as we normally drive 60 miles whenever the car is taken out as the distances out here is just too much.

We reached the border little before 1:00pm and I was greeted by the officer (French Canadian) :

Officer : Bon Jour
Me : Bon Jour
Me : Here are my documents
Officer : What’s the purpose of your visit
Me : Just a day trip to eat good food
Officer : Grinned like crazy and said, can you recommend some nice Indian places
Me : Gave him a few options that I got from my friends as it was our first visit

We chit chatted for 5 mins and Voila, we were on other side of the border.

I have visited Toronto on work a couple of times in the past so it was technically not my first time in Canada.

It was a pleasant and amazing experience at the Land Border Crossing (LBC) as it was my first time using LBC to Canada.

As soon as we were on other side, the city of “Surrey” comes which is Punjab away from Punjab. No kidding, it’s exactly like that.

You will find young Punjabi dudes sporting beards, gold chain, earrings, tattoos, smoking, having chai on the sidewalk and talking about their PIND.

Man, it felt amazing to be in that environment.

First Pit-Stop- We went to a temple for darshan to take gods blessings.

Second Pit-Stop- We went to a place called Payal Business Center (It reminded me of Gaffer Market, Karol Bagh) and this place has plenty of Indian restaurants along with many other shops. We enjoyed one of the best chats and paranthas that we had in our US stint.

Food was unadulterated, non-customized and tasted just like how it would in Punjab/Delhi. We were literally in heaven and went berserk with our order. LOL!!

Post that amazing lunch, we drove 20kms further towards Vancouver downtown which was a major change from Punjabi Surrey…lol (Canada like most countries uses the metric system) so I had to recalibrate my speeds (Tesla did a great job by converting the speed limit into miles)

Example : 100kmph speed limit was shown as 62 MPH on the screen. It felt super slow compared to the speeds that we are used to in US. I had to really monitor my speeds to ensure I maintain the speed limits.

Vancouver is like any other global city. We spent a couple of hours in the downtown walking around and enjoying the beautiful city which like Seattle is nestled between mountains and the pacific ocean. In fact, I think Vancouver city s prettier than Seattle.

On the way back, we stopped at Costco in Surrey to check out stuff and were again greeted by hordes of Punjabi people who were either customers or employees.

Dinner was at a place called Chacha Tandoori and Grill. Kitchen was manned by a sardarji (similar to Akash chat) so you can imagine the quality of food unlike in US where you’ll find a Mexican or a Chinese making Indian curries..Haha!…

It was simply like eating in India.

We finished dinner at 10:30pm and were home at 12:15am (including a 5 mins at border check where the American guy asked what we were carrying, we said just food and he grinned and waved us on).

That’s how an interesting 13-hour trip to Canada ended.

Some pictures of this whirlwind trip.

Cheers to lovely Canada and Indian Food.

Approaching the border. Thankfully, no wait times despite being a weekend.



Splattered with signs so the commuters don't take the wrong exit if they have no intention of crossing the border.



Canada & USA Flag at the Border.



Signboards in French. British Columbia has a lot of French speaking population.



Spring is here. Trees are already changing color.



Totally Agree...



Surrey is the first city after crossing border. This is where the Indian/Punjabi population reside. A wealthy city as I spotted plenty of high end cars.



Rosso Diablo hits 3000 miles in 4.5 Months.



Beautiful Darshan of God.



The only picture I clicked of the car during this trip. It was cold and cloudy through out the day and I don't feel like taking pictures in these conditions.



Lunch at Akash Chaat- Recommendation by a lady whom we met in the Temple.



Pani Puri- After ages, it was like eating in Karol Bagh.



Though I am not a Punjabi/Sardarji (Wife is...), I couldn't find my PIND...LOL!



Yours truly posing in PUNJAB.



Beautiful Vancouver Downtown. It's almost like a twin sister of Seattle. Similar landscape and nestled between mountains and Pacific Ocean.





Bimmer Brothers at a traffic stop.



Hottest Tesla I ever saw. It was completely matted out including the wheels. Looked like a stealth machine.



This Naan was so good. I haven't had this good even in India.





Balle, Balle. Yummylicious



Most popular sweets store in Vancouver. We packed lot of goodies from here.



Kulche Chole dished out by a sardarji. Imagine the taste. Wadiyan Ji Wadiyaan.





Tikki Chole



Oi Hoi...



Tandoori Fish



Cute, eh?

[mobike008]

USA-Canada Land Border Crossing.

https://youtu.be/TGRrw55YZdk

Payal Business Center, Surrey. This is where the Indian action is. Tons of stores and restaurants and feels like you are in Gaffer Market, Delhi.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=wflWUwTB-Ak?feature=share

Approaching Vancouver Downtown. Beautiful Place. !!!

https://youtu.be/zfD5DdqzoFI

A quick 360 degree view of Vancouver Downtown from their Marina/Port.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=oopCFr2ppCw?feature=share

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[turbospooler]

Originally Posted by mobike008

...We enjoyed one of the best chats and piranhas that we had in our US stint.

You had what?!

I hope it is Parathas which got auto-corrected .

And yes, very nice write-up. As a fellow foodie, I too have taken the detours or even planned entire trips so that I can enjoy good food, so I can relate to your enthusiasm. Nothing like finding food which hits the spot and that is very difficult in the foreign lands.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by turbospooler

You had what?!

I hope it is Parathas which got auto-corrected

And yes, very nice write-up. As a fellow foodie, I too have taken the detours or even planned entire trips so that I can enjoy good food, so I can relate to your enthusiasm. Nothing like finding food which hits the spot and that is very difficult in the foreign lands.

Damn, I have to blame that one squarely on Tim Cook and his MacBook. It seems to be an adamant piece of device which has a mind of its own. I wonder if it's not thinking of itself as CHATGPT and preempting the words which it thinks is correct.

Jokes aside, yup there are a few spell errors which I requested mods to correct.

Thanks for the compliment. If you have ever visited America the Indian food scene here is rather pathetic (especially for a North Indian like me) as it's heavily concentrated for Telugu people and focused around Telugu Cuisine with loads of spice covering the real taste.

I enjoy that cuisine as well but, there is a limit to what a man can take. Lol!

Indian Food in Surrey tasted surreal and even prompted me to cancel my India trip.

Now it's decided. We will put a complete stop to wasting money (Eating out in Seattle is very expensive) on this cuisine in Seattle.

We would rather make a quick trip across the border and enjoy better taste at almost half the price.

[subramak]

Originally Posted by mobike008

If you have ever visited America the Indian food scene here is rather pathetic (especially for a North Indian like me) as it's heavily concentrated for Telugu people and focused around Telugu Cuisine with loads of spice covering the real taste.

The food in Surrey and Vancouver is too good. Seattle kind of sucks at Desi food unlike NYC, Dallas or Bay area.

My other recommendation for Surrey would be Dhaliwal Sweets, and Tatta chulha in Vancouver.

[lexusES350]

Great write up and amazing pics. Food looks outstanding and now can't wait to make plans to visit Vancouver in near future. Even in bay area, food scene is not that great though much better than some other US cities.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by subramak

The food in Surrey and Vancouver is too good. Seattle kind of sucks at Desi food unlike NYC, Dallas or Bay area.

Absolutely. I agree about Surrey and Vancouver. It's not good, it's surreal to get such quality away from home.

Seattle desi food scene is couple of notches below the places that you mentioned.

What places in Seattle do you recommend?

I would recommend :

Nirmals (Downtown Seattle)
Cricket Club (Seattle)
Aahar- Mallu food (Squolamie)
Thaal (Bellevue)
Bai Tong (Redmond)
Inchin Bamboo (Bellevue)

Originally Posted by subramak

My other recommendation for Surrey would be Dhaliwal Sweets, and Tatta chulha in Vancouver.

Thanks. Will check them out next time we go there. From June, I plan to go at least once a month to satiate our taste buds.

Originally Posted by lexusES350

Great write up and amazing pics. Food looks outstanding and now can't wait to make plans to visit Vancouver in near future. Even in bay area, food scene is not that great though much better than some other US cities.

Thanks bud. Well, Bay Area is still a lot better.

I was there last week and enjoyed the food in Sanjeev Kapoor's "Yellow Chili" in Santa Clara.

The food in "Rooh" in Palo Alto was also amazing. Stylish presentation and fusion food.

However, even they cannot hold a candle to Indian food in Surrey/Vancouver.

[subramak]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Absolutely. I agree about Surrey and Vancouver. It's not good, it's surreal to get such quality away from home.

Seattle desi food scene is couple of notches below the places that you mentioned.

What places in Seattle do you recommend?

I would recommend :

Nirmals (Downtown Seattle)
Cricket Club (Seattle)
Aahar- Mallu food (Squolamie)
Thaal (Bellevue)
Bai Tong (Redmond)
Inchin Bamboo (Bellevue)


Thanks. Will check them out next time we go there. From June, I plan to go at least once a month to satiate our taste buds.



Thanks bud. Well, Bay Area is still a lot better.

I was there last week and enjoyed the food in Sanjeev Kapoor's "Yellow Chili" in Santa Clara.

The food in "Rooh" in Palo Alto was also amazing. Stylish presentation and fusion food.

However, even they cannot hold a candle to Indian food in Surrey/Vancouver.

I would add the following

1. Rajdhani in Issaquah
2. Meesha's ( never been there myself, but it is the same chef as Kricket Club)
3. Just Tiffins for Tamil vegeterian food
4. chaat house Bothell, seems better than one in Bellevue
5. Kathakali - same ownership as Aahar

Also, Surrey has Dosa Bhavan which is pretty good too and do not miss Vij's in Vancouver. It is rated as best Indian Fusion food in North America, and kind of deserves that title. Though I would be more partial to Rasika's in DC

Best, Subramanian

[lexusES350]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Thanks bud. Well, Bay Area is still a lot better.

I was there last week and enjoyed the food in Sanjeev Kapoor's "Yellow Chili" in Santa Clara.

The food in "Rooh" in Palo Alto was also amazing. Stylish presentation and fusion food.

However, even they cannot hold a candle to Indian food in Surrey/Vancouver.

Personally I'm not a big fan of the fancy places which generally mean presentation is great but the food tastes average at best. I much rather stick to hole in the wall dingy places which have awesome food.

For Pakistani/North Indian Pakwan in Fremont/SF is great. For South Indian Chettinad style, Appakadai in Sunnyvale & Pleasanton is excellent (beware of the spice levels though) for Biryanis I like Paradise Biryani Pointe (Several branches all across bay area) while for Maharashtrian non-veg I like Swaraj. I've heard Mumbai Chowk/Annapurna are good but havent personally tried either of the two so can't comment.

Enjoy your bay area jaunts & do try out one of these places when you get a chance. Cheers!

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by subramak

I would add the following

1. Rajdhani in Issaquah
2. Meesha's ( never been there myself, but it is the same chef as Kricket Club)
3. Just Tiffins for Tamil vegeterian food
4. chaat house Bothell, seems better than one in Bellevue
5. Kathakali - same ownership as Aahar

Also, Surrey has Dosa Bhavan which is pretty good too and do not miss Vij's in Vancouver. It is rated as best Indian Fusion food in North America, and kind of deserves that title. Though I would be more partial to Rasika's in DC

Best, Subramanian

I happened to visit Meesha in January for a special occasion as it's a fancy and expensive restaurant. Place was rather small but, nicely decorated and the food was pretty good. Some nice Indian fusion. I especially loved their Kheema Pav and Goan Prawns Curry.





Been to every restuarant that you listed above except Rajdhani in Issaquah. Is it any good? What's their speciality?

Originally Posted by lexusES350

Personally I'm not a big fan of the fancy places which generally mean presentation is great but the food tastes average at best. I much rather stick to hole in the wall dingy places which have awesome food.

For Pakistani/North Indian Pakwan in Fremont/SF is great. For South Indian Chettinad style, Appakadai in Sunnyvale & Pleasanton is excellent (beware of the spice levels though) for Biryanis I like Paradise Biryani Pointe (Several branches all across bay area) while for Maharashtrian non-veg I like Swaraj. I've heard Mumbai Chowk/Annapurna are good but havent personally tried either of the two so can't comment.

Enjoy your bay area jaunts & do try out one of these places when you get a chance. Cheers!

Fancy places is usually for special occasions or client dinners.

I have been to a Pakistani restaurant in Fremont. It was pretty good and like you said "hole in the wall" place.

Will try the Maharastrian places that you mentioned when I am there next week.

[Ertigiat]

I would prefer to do that trip in my bmw rather than tesla((

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Ertigiat

I would prefer to do that trip in my bmw rather than tesla((

As an example, I visited Vancouver 7-times in last 15-months.

4-Times : BMW

3-Times : Tesla

So, I am sticking to your preference.

[subramak]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Been to every restuarant that you listed above except Rajdhani in Issaquah. Is it any good? What's their speciality?

Will try the Maharastrian places that you mentioned when I am there next week.

Rajdhani serves a mix of Punjabi/Rajasthani cuisine. It is vegetarian and weekend nights has soup and an additional dessert item