The singular truth is that the East Indian food was outstanding
Mark Laba
Province
Saffron Indian Cuisine owner Kewal Sandhu offers up a variety of traditional dishes. The butter chicken is especially good, says our critic. Photograph by : Les Bazso, The Province
SAFFRON
Where: #5-4300 Kingsway, Burnaby
Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-436-5000
Drinks: Fully licensed.
Hours: Sun.-Thurs., 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m.
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Two heads are better than one. It takes two to tango. Kill two birds with one stone. Good things come in twos. There’s no end, it seems, to sayings about two. Double your pleasure, double your fun, as the old Doublemint chewing gum commercial once proclaimed. Although sometimes doubling up on anything besides your bet at the craps table can produce odd results.
Witness, for instance, the Halal meat store/video rental shop or the convenience store/aquarium fish supply joint. Or Rosie Greer and Ray Milland stuck on the same body in The Thing With Two Heads. And in the world of enterprising restaurants, the pairing of opposing food endeavours in the hopes of broadening your business and hitting a wider target audience can create some truly strange two-headed beasts. Like this establishment, which serves East Indian food through the front door and pizza going out the side entrance.
So, I was wary stepping into this tabernacle of tandoori and tomato sauce, but my fears were alleviated, first by the setting and secondly by the food. Peaches and I hoofed it into some pretty styling but still casual digs that you wouldn’t expect from a place that serves two-for-one pizza next door to the main restaurant. In all fairness, the two are separated with no trace of one or the other leaking over, although they do share the same kitchen.
But Saffron’s main dining room, with its blond wood furnishings and tasteful wall décor that doesn’t overplay the whole relocated Bombay thing, emanates an overall tranquility and the food was surprising. I’ll be back for the buffet.
First up were samosas ($4.95) and although at first I was put off by the stunted size of the two crispy doughboys, the densely packed interior of potatoes and peas cranked up with cumin seed set me straight on the flavour scale.
Peaches and I went for an old standby with the butter chicken selection ($14.95) and let me preface this with previous butter-chicken experiences where I have been compelled to ask “Where’s Clucky,” looking askance at the scarcity of poultry on the plate. Well, this entry was a whole new denizen from the coop as it seemed not only Clucky, but his entire family, had found a new place to roost, albeit now in pieces and awash in a creamy sauce. But what a butter-chicken feast, with large chunks of marinated white meat and a sauce burbling with ginger and coriander, tomato and cumin.
Also tried the lamb vindaloo ($14.95) because sheep meat is always tricky and a good indicator of how well the restaurant handles the little critters, not to mention the quality of the meat used. In this instance, the lamb was tender, not fatty, and the dish included enough pieces that you’d fall asleep well before you could count them all jumping over a fence. And the sauce carried all the complexity a good vindaloo should, with the balancing act of sweetness, vinegary tartness and a brow-wiping dose of spicing.
Finally, aloo gobi ($12.95), the potato and cauliflower wonderfully cooked and simmered to a tender veggie state without compromising their underlying toothsome nature in a sauce that I thought would be overpowering but turned out to be more nuanced than it visually insinuated.
Which is kind of the metaphor for this place. Is this two sides of the same coin, so to speak? I think not. Although the heart loses steam when the eye takes in Indian food and pizza under the same roof, sometimes it’s best not to believe what you see but believe what you taste.
THE BOTTOM LINE: A butter chicken in the hand is worth two in the bush.
RATINGS: Food: B+; Service: B+; Atmosphere: B+
© The Vancouver Province 2008
