Edible BC with Vikram Vij
Nov 25th, 2007 by Oana
A couple of weeks ago we had an amazing dinner cooked by Vikram Vij. It wasn’t at Rangoli (where we’ve been several times) or Vij’s (we’ve only been there once, yummy!), or at Vikram’s house for that matter - it was held at Edible BC at Granville Island, after hours. We had bought tickets in the summer and were very lucky to do so, as we heard the event sold out in two hours. Vikram is quite a popular Vancouver chef and there were only 16 tickets, so that makes sense.
We arrived a bit early, found some great parking in a daytime-only loading zone right in front of the market doors, and ducked into the pub next door to warm up with a quick beverage. Once 7:30 came around, we snuck in through the back door of the Granville Island market and were met by Cecilia & Eric (the owners of Edible BC), who told us the Food Network was going to be filming the dinner!
We were offered an apéritif and some papri chaat, and found our seats at the long communal table.
Vikram welcomed everyone and challenged us to guess the origin of the apéritif we were drinking. No one guessed right, and it turned out to be Sula Brut, from India - quite appropriate, but who knew India made wine, not to mention champagne-style wine? Not us.
The next three hours were a whirlwind of delicious tastes and spices. We would get up from the table and crowd around the cooking demonstration area, watching Vikram and his two assistant chefs prepare a dish, then we would sit back at the table and be served that dish, along with a glass of the wine pairing.
Vikram would wander around and answer questions and check that we were enjoying each dish properly. He was quite informative and very entertaining, and told funny stories about how he got started in the business and how it’s going now.
Seconds and refills were always available, and once everyone was done a dish, we’d get up again and watch the next one being prepared. There was an interactive portion of the evening, namely making your own naan!
In total, there were six dishes, each with its own wine pairing:
- papri chaat
- mushroom soup
- masala BC spot prawns
- chicken curry
- lamb curry, with a very yummy goat option
- rice pudding with silver leaf
It was a great dinner experience, and we highly recommend it, with Vikram if he agrees to hold another dinner at Edible BC next year, or with any one of the dozens of other great Vancouver chefs in the “Cooking with B.C.’s Best” series.