Mia Stainsby
Sun
Atithi Indian restaurant needs a shout-out, so here I am, shouting out.
The jovial owner, Abhishek Roy, was the executive chef at the fancier Maurya Indian restaurant before going it on his own two years ago.
You won’t find such fancy digs here, but it’s neat and comfortable. Tables have polished granite tops and the food isn’t merely plopped on the plate. It’s plated, fine-dining style.
Roy calls it homestyle Indian food.
“It doesn’t have too much cream or spices. It’s more simple and that’s what I’m focusing on,” he says.
It’s so homey, many of the techniques and dishes are hand-me-downs from his mother.
“I always am influenced by Vikram Vij and what he’s done to Indian food. He’s an inspiration to me,” he adds.
“When I came to North America, I saw that Indian food here is on the heavier side. When Indian people started opening restaurants here, they used tomato and cream and lots of ghee because they thought it was more palatable to people here,” he says.
His mother, he says, never used cream because it wasn’t available.
“There are one billion people in India, having curries every day. They have to have simplicity or they wouldn’t get fed.”
One of the earmarks of his modern style of Indian cookery is the blackboard specials featuring ingredients he’s picked up on his daily shop, mostly at Granville Island.
“Sometimes I’ll make Bengal curry out of fresh halibut with ginger and mustard and fresh cilantro. Or I’ll get coho salmon, grill it with poppyseed curry on top.”
He tries to shop organically and definitely from local sources, he says.
Lunch is somewhat more pedestrian and served buffet-style, with about a dozen dishes ranging from butter chicken to samosas and cumin potatoes. The dinner menu offers the more interesting dishes as well as lots of specials.
You have to try the “frankie,” which is a Mumbai street food. Think of it as an Indian hotdog. Chicken or lamb is mixed with egg, paneer, vegetables and spices then is wrapped with several layers of paratha. It’s served with french fries and a mint and a tamarind dip and for $6, not a bad deal at all.
His pakoras and samosas are nothing like the heavy, dense, oily versions we’ve all munched on.
His jackfruit pakora is his mom’s recipe.
“We had a jackfruit tree at home. When the fruit was young, birds used to pick them and they fell to the ground and she made pakora out of that,” he says. There are secrets he won’t divulge but fresh ingredients play a big part, he says. “I make eight portions at a time, not 120.”
I’d go so far as to say the vegetable samosa is the most delicate I’ve ever had.
Desserts also have a light touch. The rice pudding was too liquid for my liking, but the gulab jamin was perfectly golden, perfectly round with a delicate honey accent.
At the very least, if you’re stuck for a place to grab a bite before a movie at the Fifth Avenue Cinemas, grab a frankie and samosas here.
ATITHI. 2445 Burrard St., 604- 731-0221. Open Monday to Friday for lunch and 7 days a week for dinner. www.atithi.ca
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