Birthday luck & luxury at Vij’s

Over a month prior to my birthday, I started thinking about how I wanted to celebrate. I’m a new vegetarian, but I’ve kept a tradition of eating meat on special occasions, so I knew I wanted to eat meat somewhere special. I told my boyfriend that I wanted to eat at Wendy’s for lunch (a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger meal with iced tea – my usual entree of choice in high school) and at Vij’s for dinner. Dawn Chubai, host of CityTV Breakfast Television said she was going to Vij’s on her birthday, and didn’t care how long she’d have to wait. This is because Vij’s takes no reservations for anyone. Whether you’re a celebrity or a family member, you eat in sequential order just like everyone else. So be warned!

This week’s Georgia Straight newspaper had its annual Golden Plate issue where they highlight readers’ choices in favourite restaurants. And it was a sign that Vij’s made the top of the list for #1 Indian food.

My boyfriend and I planned to get there at 6pm on Good Friday, and put our names on the waiting list – it was about an hour and a half wait. I started a tradition of eating cupcakes on our birthdays, so my boyfriend said, “if we go and come back, we can make Cupcakes before it closes.” The only thing was, we had already paid for 2 1/2 hours worth of parking. We threw caution to the wind and took off to get cupcakes to go, and returned to find that our original spot was there, with 2 hours to spare. A birthday parking miracle!

The wait after that was an hour, and we passed the time with some drinks (I had a tasty Indian mojito) and warm snacks that owner Vikram Vij himself and his staff set out for the 40 or so people in the waiting lounge: fries, fried pita chips and fried lentil balls (for lack of the proper name). My tongue was having tastegasms at the lentil balls alone.
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