We don’t have too many Indian restaurants in our part of Burnaby. As a result, it’s not really a cuisine that we eat all that often. Maybe that’ll change. About a block away from Trade Winds Restaurant, Agra Tandoori Restaurant on Canada Way and Smith Avenue has been quietly doing its thing for a great number of years. We knew it was there, but we never really thought to give it a shot until recently. I mean, it doesn’t look like anything special on the outside.
Maybe we should’ve been paying attention and we’ve been missing out this whole time. As of this writing, it’s got solid 4.0 overall ratings on both Google and Yelp. That’s got to mean something, right? When we scored ourselves a Groupon to the place, that sealed the deal. So, how is it?
Vegetable Pakora: Deep-fried mixed vegetable fritters ($6.95)
I’m a sucker for these things. For my part, I still prefer the vegetable fritters at Hawker’s Delight though. This rendition was a little too “doughy” in consistency. Maybe if the pieces of vegetable were a bit chunkier or if each pakora were a bit smaller, there’d be more of a “crispy outer” relative to the “soft inner.” As expected, the vegetable pakora were served with a tamarind-based dipping sauce.
Butter Naan: Leavened bread with spread of butter on top ($1.75)
You could eat your curry with rice. That’s a perfectly reasonable choice to make. It’d just be the wrong choice, because the right choice will always be naan. While we usually go with the garlic naan, we decided to go back to basics with the butter naan instead. I feel like this version at Agra Tandoori could have spent a bit more time in the tandoor.
Lamb Korma: Boneless pieces of lamb cubes cooked in a creamy sauce with cashew nuts and mildly spiced ($13.95)
Okay! Onto the good stuff! Aside from the practically quintessential butter chicken, lamb korma is probably my favorite “go-to” dish at Indian restaurants. The morsels of lamb are wonderfully tender, and the korma curry had a wonderfully thick consistency and nutty taste. We opted for a “medium” level of spice, and that was just about right… thanks to the lassi (not pictured) I had to balance it out.
Prawn Masala: Prawns cooked in fresh onions, green peppers in mildly spiced gravy ($14.95)
This is not something we normally order, so we thought we’d give it a shot. As far as I can gather, the prawn masala is not the same as a tikka masala. The color, consistency and flavor is totally different. Whereas the lamb korma was more like a thick paste, the prawn masala had more of a “chunky” consistency to it, thanks to the large pieces of onions and green peppers. The prawn portion was quite generous as well.
Mango Ice Cream: Home-made Ice cream with pistachios and nuts ($3.95)
The dessert menu had some more unique offerings, including faluda kulfi and ras malai, as well as the usual galub jamun (but no kheer). But, we were dining with a kindergartener. When presented with the options, she naturally gravitated to the mango ice cream. The consistency is closer to that of a gelato: more “ice” than “cream.” A wonderfully refreshing way to end a satisfying meal.
Never dismiss a place just because it doesn’t look particularly special from the outside. Sometimes, your best finds could be in some random strip mall, next to a 7-Eleven. Agra Tandoori Restaurant is located at Unit 110, 3790 Canada Way in Burnaby. They’re open daily until 10 p.m. with lunch buffets every weekday, plus “wine and dine” specials for couples.
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