Posted on 03/05/2011

Address: Corner of Main Street & E. 51st Avenue, Vancouver, BC

Going south along Main Street after 49th ave. can bee seen lots of Punjabi produce markets, clothing stores and restaurants. But you'll have to crane your neck while driving past 51st to notice Tandoori Delight. It sits obscurely around the corner from the main Indian-scene, next to a small phone card and betel-nut chewing leaf shop. (notice the green leaf in the awning next door?)

But it's cool that this place should be sort of hidden considering the many times the best foods in my viewing of SE Asia sit in small, nondescript food stalls.

I love how the proprietor is so proud of his spicy cuisine he takes pains to place signage proclaiming "Best Taste in Town". And surprisingly, the claim is not too far-fetched after discovering how tasty the tandoori chicken and lamb kababs were. The place has only 2 tables, which is sort of suitable considering take-out seems to be the major part of business here.

Online ordering is available at yummyweb.

Menus abound in the small room, so it can be confusing where to look for what to order. Thankfully, the sign directly in the middle of the front counter is sort of the default guide to the main dishes of this Indian kopitiam.

Taking a look at another menu-board is an interesting exercise in this gentleman's establishment. The photos of tandoori & masala paneer, tandoori & masala tikka and seekh & reshmi kababs are instructive and educational in their red, yellow and various shades of spice colouring. But what about the prices? The kababs are each $12.99. The tikka's remain blank, while the paneer's don't even have space for a price area?

However, the gentleman proprietor is always aware of the customer and propitiously pitches in to help the ordering process. He is actually a really nice guy, informative and passionate about his spices.

Tandoori Tikka $7.99.

Upon the first nibbles, I was blown away by the quality of this dish. The spices are so fragrant and abundant that I am immediately transported in my mind to Racecourse Road in Singapore to Banana Leaf Restaurant.

Blown away because it is so unusual in Vancouver to find a place that gives the effort in cookery to satisfy the cravings of the world-travelling, spice-seeking, food-adventure type such as myself. The chicken is dark meat, proper for the Asian palette and so tender, slathered in so much spiced sauce.

In my opinion, this joint has no line-ups because the proprietor feels his food is so valuable as to hold back on the portions -- a sure recipe for middling success at best, or outright failure at worst.

Lamb Kababs $7.99.

I would describe these as fall-off-the-bone tender, only there are no bones here. Delight continues with these Seekh Kabab's. Again the fragrance and abundance of spice, the expert mixing of spice to produce a dish worthy of a world-class designation in my humble opinion.

If you look closely, you can see bits of spice sticking out of these tasty torpedo's. A sure sign that the proprietor has hit upon the perfect way of producing Indian food: spices so good they pop. The only problem is that I would have liked to see maybe four rather than just two spice-tubes on my plate. They say that in life, there is no free lunch -- well, when one pays 7.99 for lunch, one would like to know that value has been achieved as well as taste.

Handstretched Naan Bread $1.49.

I love naan bread, especially when it is of good quality like here at Tandoori Delight.

First-class spicy food. Indian-style. I'll be back soon.