I had dinner at Vij's. A line snaked out through the rain before they opened. The first seating was let in, which meant at least an hour wait for everyone else. A lot of people bailed, we opted to wait because if we're going to Vij's, we're going to Vij's. We got the last seats in the waiting area and ordered drinks. Mine was a strong mix of rum, mango, and spices called "The Dark Army". Trays of pakoras, pooris, cassava fries, and some kind of chutney-on-a-cracker made regular rounds. The waiting area continued to fill to standing-room only. We were seated about an hour after we arrived and ordered the "Punjabi Heart Atack"; a soup spoon filled with cashew nuts, paneer, chilies, raw sugar, and ghee. It was creamy, sweet, rich, chewy, and had a pleasant heat. The chaser was a salad of quinoa with celery, beans, and other goodies, comparatively bland and texturally hard after the indulgence of the spoonful.
I had the signature wine-marinated lamb popsicles in a cream sauce with spinach and potatoes. The meat was incredibly tender and the sauce rich and delicious. It was a conflict between wanting to stretch out the dish as long a possible and wanting to eat it all when it was hot and fresh. Rice and naan accompanied, the rice long-grained and fluffy, the naan more like pale roti, less leavened and more layered and buttery. The naan dish never went empty, the eagle-eyed staff coming by to refill it until we surrendered.
Dessert came with chai, served in a scalding hot handle-less ceramic cup with "Chai" written on the side. A non-functional unitasker, AB would not approve. When the chai cooled down to the point where we could pick it up, it was standard, not too sweet. The dessert itself was a mango kulfi, topped with pistachios and edible silver leaf. It was a rock hard plug in the bottom of a funnel-shaped bowl, thus requiring much mechanical effort in an unstable shape. Intense and fragrant mango flavour though.
Overall, was it good? Oh yes. Worth the hour wait? I've had less pleasant and longer waits for a lot worse food. Best Indian food in Vancouver? Likely, if you're craving upscale and interesting and not just a butter chicken fix. In any event, it's a landmark on the Vancouver food scene, and I'm glad it's there.