It has been nearly four years since I last considered Palki Restaurant in these pages. At the time of that review, the stalwart of Indian cuisine on the North Shore had just undergone a major renovation, elevating the aesthetic of the restaurant to match the excellent food that is consistently issued by its kitchen.
Much has changed on the North Shore since then. Many new restaurants have opened. Some have since been shuttered. And there have been fantastic new entries into the Indian cuisine category, leading me to believe that this side of the bridges now boasts some of the best Indian restaurants in the Lower Mainland, despite the habitual accolades that are more commonly bestowed upon venues in Vancouver and Surrey.
More broadly speaking, I think the habits of diners have changed significantly in recent years as well. The Farm to Table philosophy, still a burgeoning push in early 2014, has firmly taken hold. As a result, diners like me increasingly want to understand the provenance of the foods we eat and expect restaurateurs to make efforts to source ingredients responsibly. The satirical sketch comedy show Portlandia famously needled this meta-trend, presenting a skit in which a young couple demanded to know the minutiae of the life of the chicken they were considering ordering at a restaurant in order to ensure it had a happy life before slaughter. While that may be an exaggerated depiction of a shift in our collective consciousness around food, I do find myself making more informed choices when I dine out. For instance, I order considerably more vegetarian dishes in restaurants than I used to (provided they have been thoughtfully conceived), forgoing the indulgent animal proteins that have informed so many of my life’s best meals.
This increasingly common forfeiture, which as yet does not represent a wholesale shift in my dining habits, is made effortless by Indian cuisine, which has elevated vegetarian cooking to an art form. For this week’s column, I elected to skip the lamb methi and fish curry, the rogan josh and the chicken vindaloo, my conventional favorites, in favour of a vegetarian spread. I am pleased to report my meal lacked nothing; the deep flavours and luxurious textures of the meal proved fully satisfying.
Of particular note were the desserts I sampled, a luxury I afforded myself out of tenuous, dubiously realized self-righteousness for having gone veggie in this week’s column. I will accordingly work backwards through my meal at Palki to give the sweets their just dues as they are usually granted little attention in my columns.
There is a whole family of Northern Indian sweets that are based on milk. I first experienced these confections – items like mishti doi (made with yogurt-like, fermented milk), ras malai (a sort of sweetened farmer’s cheese soaked in clotted cream), and kulfi (a dense and silky, unwhipped ice cream) in a shop in Kolkata about a decade ago and found them to be a revelation.
At Palki, they do a great job of these two latter treats, especially the ras malai, here flavored with rosewater and pistachios. Imagine a spongy disk of cottage cheese, sort of like a baked cheesecake, immersed in scented, silken cream, and you’ll approximate this unique dessert.
I was dining with my wife, DJ, and we made short work of our appetizers of crispy, nicely caramelized Onion Bhajia (deep fried clusters of shoestring onions in batter) and Vegetable Samosas bursting at the seams with potato, peas, cilantro, onion, and fragrant spices including cumin seeds and toasty ajwain, the earthy seeds that give samosas their signature taste.
From there we delved straight into an ambitious selection of vegetable mains. First out of the gate was an order of Bombay Potatoes, a staple of Northern Indian cuisine. This simple but rewarding dish, which also works brilliantly as a cold snack, tends to be on the drier side of Indian offerings, its light, ginger-lifted sauce providing a sparse coating to hearty chunks of potato, all seasoned with toasty spices. Palki’s version is a touch wetter, with ample spicy masala, but still makes a great beer snack and can be ratcheted up to hyper-spicy, on request, as we did.
A creamy, succulent, and generously portioned order of Saag Paneer (spinach and greens with paneer in a rich sauce) was outstanding and proof positive that vegetables can achieve outstanding depth of flavor. With dense, chewy hot naan and a dollop of raita (seasoned yogurt) to temper the requested heat, the dish was my favourite savoury item of the evening.
A final dish, Navrattan Korma, was a balanced and luscious mix of vegetables in a thick, velvety gravy of cashew nuts and onions, heavily scented with turmeric. Navrattan means “nine gems,” referring to the diversity of ingredients in the dish, which here included broccoli, zucchini, onion, and carrots. Paired with rice and naan, Korma is exceptionally filling stuff and we ended up with a good portion leftover.
Our meal of two appetizers, three mains, rice, naan, and dessert was just over $90.
Palki Restaurant is located at 115 East 15th Street in North Vancouver. Palkirestaurant.com. 604-986-7555.
Soundbites: A weekly insider’s tip on good eats:
Vanak Market and Deli at 19th Street and Lonsdale Avenue, which has the same owners as nearby Cazba Restaurant, is a spot I hit up for Middle Eastern and Mediterranean goods, especially if I’m putting together a cold spread for guests. Chief among my usual purchases there are their impossibly fresh, exceptionally well-priced Macedonian feta cheese, sundried black olives and loaves of Barbary or Taftoon breads.
– Chris Dagenais
