A Passage to India

I've been waiting a while to have dinner with two good friends whom I used to work with. Everyone's summer is so busy it can be difficult to hook up. The three of us met at work and two of us have since moved on. That was about 5 years ago; yet here we are still managing to stay connected.

We agreed upon Indian food tonight and met up at the Original Tandoori Kitchen restaurant (7215 Main Street, Vancouver). Indian food lends itself well to sharing plates and we settled in together to vegetable pakora as an appetizer. The veggies (mainly potato and cauliflower) were covered in a crispy batter and served with a dipping sauce that had some nice heat to it. Our main course consisted of chicken tandoori (chicken marinated in yoghurt, ginger, garlic, and mixed spices) served with a butter sauce; chicken tika masala (chicken cooked in onion sauce and fresh tomatoes); rounded out with rice pulao (basmati rice cooked in onion and spice); and nan bread (unleavened bread).

The food was enjoyable, but the service had much room for improvement. Still, when you're out with good friends none of the other stuff matters much.