Novocastrian

It's excellent (if a bit pricey) but don't go there looking for UK style curry.

stoobee1

I also worked my way through the Toronto restaurant scene on Tripadvisor and came to the conclusion the nicer the interior décor, the more dire the food.

Was not my experience in BC though, both Salam Bombay in Vancouver and Tandoori Grill in Whistler were streets ahead of any Toronto offering.

MarylandNed

I think there are good Indian restaurants in Canada including in Toronto. As I said before, I think the difference between Canada and the UK is that the good ones are in a small minority in Canada. When I lived in the UK, bad Indian restaurants were few and far between and didn't last very long.

magnumpi

It's funny how ex pats moan about the lack of curry but u never hear anyone saying "oh my why no Toby Cavery in Canada" and "we're can I find a good Sunday dinner restaraunt" Curry must be the English traditional dish (I admit to being a curry adict BTW)

Oakvillian

This. Very much this. Added to which, a significant proportion of Indian restaurants in the UK are staffed by Bengalis, so aside from the Anglo-Indian influence there is a tendency to incorporate culinary traditions from the north-east of the Subcontinent.

I used to work for an Indian company; our office moved from downtown Toronto (where there was general despair at the lack of good options for a quick lunch, although there was one buffet place on King West that we went to occasionally) to Mississauga, where even the most unpromising-looking establishments would tick the right boxes with colleagues. But then, there weren't a large number of Bengalis in the office. Probably more from south India (Tamil Nadyu, Kerala, Karnataka) and central (Maharashtra, AP, MP) whose tastes and cuisines are significantly different from the Anglo-influenced Bengali fare in the UK.

A proper Goan vindaloo, as an example, is a very different proposition to the one you'd get from the Star of India on your average UK high street... and yes, my colleagues used to wax lyrical over a good curd rice (the rice & yogurt thing) while I just couldn't bring myself to like it at all.

But even with all those reasons/excuses, there are certainly a large number of crappy, sloppy, bland Indian offerings around. Another vote for Bombay Bhel (I don't know the Markham venue, but the one on the border of Mississauga and Oakville is good), and Bombay's Chutney in Burlington is pretty good too.

Pizzawheel

My UK rule of thumb was the worse the name, the better the curry. I had a fabulous curry at The Standard (Indian) Restaurant in Oxford; has to be one of the worst names ever. The Eastern Curry House and Curry in a Hurry in Stratford and Romford respectively were both great.

As soon as you start getting fancy names in there....

Oh and yes, I think Chicken Tikka Masala officially became Britain's national dish in the 90s (overtaking fish and chips).

dbd33

Er, my wife in the 1980s was an immigrant to the UK, she thought the national dish was kebabs.

magnumpi

Lol yeh maybe one of the few things impossible to emulate in Canada, Jimmy the Greek is not ever ever going to taste like them midnight drunken yummy messes we used to woof down in the taxi line up on the prom in the pool

Lychee

Vancouver has had a significant Sikh Punjabi population in the city since it was founded in the 1860s, which could explain why Indian food is not such the feared exotic "weird" food here that it typically is elsewhere across Canada, or may explain why you'll find a decent curry here more frequently compared to Toronto, whose multiculturalism is much more of a recent phenomenon, relatively speaking.

Curries here, and Indian cuisine in general in Vancouver, are typically Punjabi influenced, made for the Canadian lowest common denominator ("nothing spicy please") palate. It's why Indian food exists but isn't spicy unless requested, and is not at all influenced by the UK English curry scene or Bengali immigrants, but by Punjabi Canadians who have been living here for generations who largely have to cater to a population who generally fears spicy food.

Also worth noting - the default ethnic cuisine out here is typically sushi - that's what the locals want when they want a cheap quick meal in Vancouver. Sushi completed dominates and people eat it here casually and in such quantity, it has become a normalized part of the local diet. Not Indian food.

Canada does not share the UK's demand for curry. It is not a part of mainstream Canadian food culture. Westernized Chinese food is typically the default ethnic cuisine across all of Canada otherwise, including the smallest of towns. That is Canada's mainstream ethnic food, as Chinese immigrants played a large role in building the country.

"Chinese and Canadian food" is a throwback to the early 20th century, when eating Chinese food was considered strange and exotic and possibly alienating to westernized palates, and means your lowest common denominator "nothing weird please" friend can eat a burger while you nosh on chicken chow mein. I still see those signs in small towns in the middle of nowhere BC, and most recently in Manitoba - usually a sign that the local population is fairly homogenous unadventurous when it comes to eating.

Oink

It doesn't make it right though.

dbd33

This sounds backwards to me. Surely people who've been in Canada for generations would have assimilated and newly arrived ones would make better food. I think Vij's is what you'd expect by way of an Indian restaurant run by the long assimilated; white customer facing staff serve only domestic beer with vaguely exotic food; it is to curry as the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company is to creole.

Pizzawheel

See, you're a wise man DBD. Best to keep the OH away from restaurants for as long as possible.

I can barely eat greek gyros. Much to close too food for my liking. The anglo-turkic doner kebab is an absolute zenith in street food, and the first thing I'll reach for when back in blighty- even ahead of a vindaloo.

You still see those signs in Toronto...

JonboyE

You can get a good curry in Newton. However, the staff have no sense of humour. They get all uppity if you turn up pissed and call them Gunga Din.

Pizzawheel

Sounds like they needs some cultural sensitivity training

Pizzawheel

And on that note: