My Shanti and Vikram Vij - Tips from your local Cloverdale Real Estate Specialists

Saturday nights' are typically date night for my husband and I. Which usually means dinner and a movie or dinner with friends. Last night we tried to get into a local restaurant for an early dinner...but they were all booked up until 8pm. But that didn't work since our movie was to start at 7:30. We decided to head to White Rock to see what we could find along the strip. Along the way we decided we should check out My Shanti again. It's been 2 years since our last visit, we were due. 

Being the foodies that we are and that we love Indian food, we can't figure out why we haven't been back. Unfortunately there aren't many places in the Fraser Valley that we love to frequent, so we end up heading to Vancouver most times....we forgot all about My Shanti.

We were pleasanty surprised to see Vikram Vij working when we walked in. We have followed him on Dragon's Den and even before. Still haven't had the pleasure of trying his Vancouver location "Vij" but were excited when he opened "My Shanti" a couple years ago. Even more excited we got to meet him during our visit this time.

I admit I "fangirled" and wanted to get this photo taken with him, I was honoured to meet him. But more importantly I was impressed with his presence in the restaurant. He's become a Canadian celebrity, but you could tell he was a restauranteur first and foremost. There wasn't a single table that didn't get his attention more than once. He wanted to ensure that everyone was enjoying their "My Shanti" experience to its fullest. The table beside us the woman looked as though she was cold and he wanted to ensure she was comfortable. Then he visited our table a short time later and commented on how he liked my nose ring. As he recently had his nose pierced with his daughter. He took her to get hers done and decided why not get his done too when she said it didn't hurt...well he disagreed...IT HURT! 

We have often visited a busy restaurant and never understood why the owner or manager wasn't pulling up his sleeves and helping out when things were falling behind. Either in the dining room or the kitchen. But not at My Shanti, Vikram Vij barely stood still the entire time we were there for dinner. He was quite happy to have his photo taken with me, without hesitation. Then helping to serve a table or even visiting our table again while we ate our dinner insisting on giving me more sauce to eat with my roti. We couldn't have had a better host. We will surely be back, the servers were attentive and the food was delicious!

 

I don't usually take photos of my food. But I wanted to share the delicious dishes we enjoyed. When we first sat down we were served an array of tasty seasoned light chips. Then we wanted to try a few things that we hadn't tried before. We started with Vikram's Favourite Snack (which was crisp naan bread with a creamy cashew sauce and pieces of portabello mushroom...Similar to a small flatbread). 

For dinner we ordered Paneer (which is Indian cheese served with vegetables...slightly spicy flavour). Chicken Korma (chicken in a cashew garlic sauce)...probably our favourite dish....the chicken was so tender and moist and the sauce it was in was delicious! So delicious there was only a very small piece of  chicken left but enough sauce to dip naan in...so we had them wrap it up and we brought it home. The last dish we shared was the beef dish, short ribs in coconut milk with curry leaves and saffron. To help soak it all up we ordered roti and the meal was rounded off with jasmine rice. 

My Shanti is not your typical Indian restaurant, it is a fusion of the various regions Vikram has travelled throughout India. The decor is colourful and inviting. The staff friendly and attentive. We highly recommend visiting their restaurant if you haven't yet!