Darya Restaurant Persian & Mediterranean

Did Alexander the Great or Hammarbi eat like this - well not likely since Darya's only opened a couple weeks ago. This charming, family owned restaurant is just off of Denman, near Davie, and it is the latest in a string of Persian/ Middle Eastern restaurants to open in that area. They are all cafeteria style, where you order and pay up front and the food is brought out to you, or if it's busy I would suggest you wait impatiently by the steam trays for them to get it ready.

What made this one stand out for me? It wasn't busy, but I was pleasantly surprised. I ordered the lamb, which is a usual specialty for this style of cuisine, the dish is called Baghali Polo Mahiceh. This is Lamb shank with dill basmati rice and fave beans. The lamb was roasted just right and served with a sauce that accented the flavors perfectly.

As I said, this is a family run enterprise. Mom does the cooking, dad manages and promotes, and the kids help out at the till and as servers. Now, they do not serve beer or spirits, but I do suggest you try some of the imported drinks they have in the cooler. One is a carbonated drink made from yogurt, it it slightly salty, so what I did was share it with a friend. Apparently, the one with mint is the best.

All in all a nice little addition to the Persian / Middle East style eateries on this corner. Its clean, the owners are friendly, but like I said, they are a bit inexperienced in the service industry so be patient, the food is definitely worth the wait.




Bon Appite


Curry Bob

My Favourite Coffee Co Closes it's doors

My wife's family has its root in Malaysia, Pulau Penang, and for years her mother has been sending us a care package of spices and coffee from the Kim Guan Coffee Co. Since 1988 Mr Ong, the owner, has been making this wonderful product at 53 Stewart Lane in Georgetown the traditional way, using rubber wood fueled fire to heat his roasters and hard labour to stir the bean. Well, we found out that Mr Ong closed the Stewart Lane factory late last year. Don't know where they are making it now, but I have my people looking into it.

Here are two videos of Mr Ong making the coffee with his employees.

Roasting the Coffee
Cooling and mixing

I vow to find this place again, wherever they are hiding :)

Kim Guan Coffee Co

Bon Appitite

Curry Bob

Munching on a Japadog

Street food? Who would bother reviewing street food? After you have eaten Kway in a Malaysian street market a hot-dog cart in Vancouver seems a bit pedestrian. I have eaten street food in many parts of the world and I tell you this hot-dog stand allowed me to feel proud about street food in Canada, which up until now has been pretty poor IMHO.
If you have not had a Japadog, or even heard about this place, yikes! Where have you been? This is a thoroughly yummy concept.
The meat is fairly regular, beef, pork, turkey or veggie dogs, served in a bun, but if you go with the special dogs with the Japanese condiments, then you are in for a treat. Teriaki sauce, bonito flake, daikon radish, wasabi... so many choices, but I go with the creations that are posted on their menu board. I promise you a tasty lunch by the curb.

Bon Apetite

Curry Bob

Curry Bob's Pan (flat) Sweet Bread

Ingredients

3 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 Teaspoon Dry Yeast (Fast Rise)
1 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
5 Table Spoons Brown Sugar
3 Table Spoons Honey
1 1/2 Cup (warm) Water
5 Teaspoons Oil

Mix the yeast in a cup with the 1 Cup of (warm) water, brown sugar and honey, set this aside and check on it occasionally. In a large bowl mix 3 Cups of Four and the Salt, combine these ingredient and then set this aside until the yeast is ready; you will know it is ready for use when you see the foam (from the yeast) floating on the top of the water.
Have a 1/2 cup of water and a 1/2 cup of flour close by for use. Combine the yeast/water mixture and the flour and begin to kneed this together. Add additional water slowly to the mixture until the dough is soft in your hands. Form the dough into a ball, sprinkle additional flour over the dough as required to kneed it into a nice soft ball of dough. Once the dough is firm (but not too firm) sprinkle a little more four on the ball of dough, place it in the bowl, place a tea towel over the bowl and set this aside.
After about one hour the dough is ready for the pan. If you used regular yeast you will have to punch down the dough at this point, kneed it again and set it aside for another hour before you can proceed to pan frying. Be careful, with all that sugar the dough could rise very fast under some conditions, so check on it every 30 minutes. If the dough ball is about twice the size it was at start then you are ready to fry it.
When the dough is ready take a knife and cut the dough into smaller balls of about 5 cms (2 inches) in diameter. Heat your pan to about 200 Degrees F (this is about setting 7 or 8 on most electric range tops) and add about 1 tea spoon of oil (I like to use peanut oil). The pan is ready when the oil just begins to smoke, be careful you do not wait too long after it begins to smoke before using the pan. While you wait take the small dough-balls, a rolling-pin, and flatten the balls into disks of about 1/2 cm thick.
When the pan is ready, pan fry the bread dough disks for about 1 minute per side (parts of the bread will be golden to dark brown, do not let the bread burn). Add more oil (1 tea spoon at a time) as required to lubricate the bread on the pan. Remove the excess four that will accumulate in the pan; this will burn if you don't wipe it away.
This recipe should make about 15 pieces.

Bon Appetite.
Curry Bob

Swagat Tandoori Revisited

Since I wrote my last review on this place I have been back several times to sample the buffet and the Naan. The Naan is great, but I already said that, what I was sitting on the fence about was the buffet.
It is a small selection of items, with more veggie available than curry with meat, however that was not a negative for me. Even though I am not a vegetarian I usually go in for the veggie buffet selection, and the reason is because it is good and $2 cheaper than the non-veggie buffet. That is basically it.
I don't go to this place to enjoy the fine cuisine, or the attractive ambiance, I go to enjoy good, basic food at a reasonable price. The buffet includes regular items such as curry lentils, spinach and veggie tandoori, along with Jasmine rice. Also included in the buffet is complimentary naan, chai (tea brewed in milk with spices), papadums and chutneys (a sweet or savory compote) and a sweet bread in honey sauce for dessert. All for for $8.95! Good deal.
I think I need a new rating for places like Swagrat Tandoori, a value for money rating. On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give it a 9. I took off one point for one reason, they need to shampoo that carpet.

Bon appetite,

Curry Bob

Swagat Tandoori on Davie

This little family run place is just a couple of blocks from my apartment. I ate here one night, last month, and I have to say I was not impressed. As usual it was a night out with the wife and we were enticed by the smell of curry from this place.

Unfortunately, we had the buffet. Now, to be fair, this is a modest little restaurant, and I can see that they may not be able to stock the steam trays with fresh items at all times, but the food in the buffet did not pass muster. The tandoori items were dry, and the rice was hard and chewy by the time we got to it. However, I would still go back for one item: the naan.

Naan is actually the Indian word for flat bread made in a tandoori oven. The sticky dough is rolled out, similar to pita bead, and it is slapped against the inside of the oven, where it adheres itself. A tandoori oven is porous, which allows the bread to stick to it very nicely. When the bread is done it is popped off and served.

Now, the naan at Swagat is not done this way. They likely fry the bread on a flat grill, but it is really tasty. I have gone back many times to Swagat to order the naan, and at $2 per order I think it's a deal.

If you want to try the curry and tandoori at Swagat, then I suggest ordering a la cart, unless you actually saw them placing out the buffet items, cause they may not be that fresh.

Bon appetite,

Curry Bob

India Bistro, a good place for dinner.

I liked this place. But Gastro-Fanatics already know that. When I go to an Indian style restaurant I don't just concentrate on the curry, which is excellent here btw, I try to look at the whole package; as with any good review.

The wife and I took an unscheduled stop for dinner here, after a trip to the drug's store. We picked up our package of coffee sent from home. I think I mentioned that my wife is originally from Malaysia, the coffee is to die fo... but I digress. In any case we stopped for dinner at India Bistro.

There are basically three main elements to good Indian curry: butter (ghee), chillies (pepper), and cumin. The remaining spices round out the dish and are only limited by imagination. Chef Kamal Mroke serves up a great pot of curry. We had the lamb Karahi, fish goa and the basmati rice (rice pulao) with mixed veggies. We had enough left for breakfast the next day, aong with the naan we ordered to go, and it was great.

The fish was done with a coconut curry sauce. Now this is more usual in South East Asia dishes, but works very well in a curry. I am not a big fan of tomato based curries, great the next day too.

The atmosphere of this restaurant is tasteful, casual, with a hint of India. Some small Indian restaurants have a tendency to overdo the ciche, the decor will not distract from your meal or conversation. Definitely stop by this place on your way home from the pharmacy.

Bon appetite,

Curry Bob


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