Vancouver serves its diversity on a dinner plate

Street banners signal our arrival at the Punjabi Market, which is actually less a market and more a small strip of Indian restaurants, groceries, sari shops and, yes, bangle bazaars.

The only problem is, we've arrived so early that the only store open is the Punjab Food Centre. Its owner, Harinder Singh Toor, emigrated to Canada in 1975.

Inside his store, the scent of turmeric, cumin and the spice mixture garam masala mingles with the overripe perfume of mango and passion fruit. We stock up on spices that, with the favorable Canadian exchange rate, cost just pennies. A tiny cache of saffron — one of the world's most expensive spices — is less than $2.50 U.S.

And although it's not even 10 a.m., we buy almond, pistachio, pineapple and mango malai kulfi, tiny cylindrical-shaped ice-cream treats on a stick. Each treat is neatly wrapped in wax paper. The fine print on the wrapper indicates they are made by Yummy Kulfi Enterprises in British Columbia. The ingredient list includes half-and-half but no eggs. There is a hint of cardamom.

As we amble down the desolate street waiting for the first bangle shop to open, my friend unwraps the pistachio-flavored ice cream, takes a bite and sighs. "This is the taste of India," she says. "A little sweet and a little sour."

The story of immigration is always bittersweet — tradition and innovation must jostle each other, then learn to coexist.

"Curry art"

What emerges at Vij's, a hip, neo-Indian restaurant in the South Granville neighborhood, is something chef/owner Vikram Vij describes as "curry art." In his case, the art of curry refers to an amalgam of classical French kitchen techniques, the finest ingredients from British Columbia — culled from the sea and the fertile Okanagan Valley — and India's aromatic spice palette.

On a frenetic Friday night, Vij, our tall, blue-eyed host, welcomes guests to a jam-packed bar area. He apologizes for the wait, but the restaurant doesn't take reservations.

A native of Bombay, Vij moved to Salzburg, Austria, to study hotel management, then moved to Canada in 1989. He opened Vij's in 1994. The restaurant has garnered numerous awards, including honors from Gourmet magazine and the James Beard Foundation.

Visually the restaurant depicts a splendid cultural metaphor. A heavy, ornately carved door is the passageway to India that, once the diner is inside, reveals Vancouver's youthful modernism: hip-looking patrons, spare tables and minimalist light fixtures.

So clean are the lines that an armful of bangles seems effusive and, oddly, out of character when you consider the ornateness of classic Indian architecture and design. Which is not to say that native Indian women are missing from the picture. In fact, the all-female kitchen crew, an oddity at fine dining restaurants throughout the world, is headed by Vij's "auntie," which he, of course, pronounces "AHn-teee," with a proper British accent.

As my dining companions and I wait, we nibble on hot-from-the-oven naan, an Indian flatbread that nearly burns our fingertips. When we are finally seated, the wait is well worth it.

Vij's signature lamb "popsicles" recline in a creamy curry sauce dotted with fenugreek that comes with turmeric-infused spinach. The sauce is so lovely we riffle the breadbasket for more bread to soak up every drop.

Asian food: taste, texture

After a traditional Sunday-morning meal of dim sum at King Fortune's on Burrard Street, we hop a bus and head for the crowded streets of Old Chinatown.

Beginning in the late 1800s, Chinese workers came to Vancouver as part of the gold rush in British Columbia or to work on the Canadian Pacific Railroad.

Born and raised in Vancouver, Nathan Fong conducts tours of the city's many markets. A food stylist who works in print and film, he was trained at the city's Dubrulle French Culinary School and has worked in various Vancouver restaurants.

"In Asian cuisine, flavors are very important, but texture is important, too," Fong says as he points to an elderly Asian woman considering a pile of dried brown roots at an herbal store. "You'll find a lot of gelatinous textures that absorb the flavor." The woman buys the dried daylily buds, which Fong says can be reconstituted as a base for stews and soup stocks.

Later we walk past an herbalist shop. Fong points out a bird's nest made by the yellow swallowtail, selling for $338 a pound. When soaked, the saliva used to hold the twigs and feathers together creates a gelatinous broth that is high in protein.

We pass a Chinese butcher and a Hong Kong-style bakery with wedding cakes in the window. At a fruit-and-vegetable shop, we touch and smell soursop, durian, jackfruit, rambutan, mogwa (hairy melon) and pommelo, essentially a Chinese grapefruit that symbolizes wealth in the afterlife.

At one point Fong beckons us into a dry-goods store. At the back of the crowded shop, he points out altars and stacks of red and gold paper money. "The Chinese believe when you die you want to have the same or better lifestyle," he explains.

And, of course, every altar includes a favorite food.

Which might be why Fong tells us the peel of pommelo is terrific candied.

A modern market

On the edge of Chinatown, next to the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Garden and Park, stands the T&T, an expansive, modern Asian-style supermarket. If you want to see the narrowing divide between Vancouver's old and new immigrants, take a self-guided tour through the T&T.

Sure, it's more adventurous to roam through Chinatown to shop for mysterious produce and herbs, Fong admits, but "one thing that is easy about (T&T) is they all speak English, so it's consumer-friendly."

As the music of jazz vocalist Diana Krall plays over the public-address system, we sample plum water that tastes like a gulp of liquid smoke. Next we help ourselves to an Asian version of cup-a-soup noodles.

Some things look familiar. There's a can of Swanson's Chicken Broth — with a Chinese label on it. But the oddest find at the T&T turns out to be an inscription on a mayonnaise container. It sums up Vancouver's dining scene to a T.

QP Mayo — sold in a Kewpie doll-shaped plastic container — comes with this simple message: "Food, for ages 0-100."

Like the mayonnaise, Vancouver's dining scene has something for everyone. Hark, I hear (even when I cannot see) my friend. She's got 75 new bangles up her sleeve.

If you go

A taste of India:

From downtown Vancouver, take a city bus down Main Street and revel in the cultural melting pot:

Punjab Food Centre, 6635 Main St., 604-322-5502. Spices, exotic produce and pulses are among the Indian food items found in the aisles of Harinder Singh Toor's store. If you're in the mood for bangles, check out any of a number of shops that line the street.

Himalaya Restaurant, 6587 Main St., 604-324-6514. The scene is the thing at this family-style restaurant where Indian soap operas blare from multiple TVs. Eight drippy crystal chandeliers with red, yellow and green bulbs give the dining room that bazaar feeling. Order the lunch buffet, with or without meat. The spread (about $4.50 U.S.) includes mango pickles, naan, biryani, roti, puri and saag paneer. Included is a gargantuan table of East Indian sweets in eye-popping shades of pink, green and orange.

Vij's, 1480 W. 11th Ave., 604-736-6664 or on the Web (vijs.ca). Go early, about 5 p.m., or be prepared to wait, especially on weekend nights. But the food — tea-braised halibut in ginger and black chick-pea curry, and tamarind-marinated beef tenderloin — is dynamite. Chances are, you'll get a nibble of naan or a cup of chai while you wait. Entrees range from about $12 to $16 U.S.

A taste of dim sum:

King Fortune Seafood Restaurant, 217-755 Burrard St., 604-656-1199. On Sundays, dim sum service starts at 11 a.m. Enjoy these lovely handcrafted tidbits. "Dim sum" literally translated means "little morsels for the heart." A few to get you started: su mai (pork dumpling with shiitake and fish roe), gai lan (beef in garlic sauce), ha gow (steamed pork dumplings), prawn spring rolls and sticky rice balls. Enjoy with hot tea or sparkling wine.

A taste of Little Iran:

Inn Cogneato Bistro and Bakery, 1861 Lonsdale Ave., 604-988-0201. Iranian-born owner David Hossini serves Persian, Italian, Greek and North American cuisine at his North Vancouver restaurant. Try the grilled meats, fresh salads, rice and crusty breads.

Lodging specials:

Winter saver rates for Vancouver hotels range from $39 (Howard Johnson's) to $130 per night (Fairmont Hotel Vancouver) in U.S. dollars ($1 U.S. currently equals about $1.50 Canadian). For a complete list of rates, see the Tourism Vancouver Web site (www.tourismvancouver.com).

To learn more:

Tourism Vancouver, 604-682-2222 or www.tourismvancouver.com