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This month has been a great month for good food finds around the Vancouver area. I wrote about my favorite Thai restaurant, Khai Thai To Go, cheap but really good sushi at Kishu Star Japanese Bistro, and one of the best Chinese food places ever, Deer Garden. I just really like food and I like to share it with whoever will listen!

My girlfriend doesn’t really like to cook, so when I visit her, we usually go out to eat, and when she comes to my house, I usually cook. That is why a majority of these restaurants reviews are in the Kitsilano area of Vancouver. I visited my girlfriend last night and we both decided that we wanted some Indian food on this particular evening.

We both really love Indian food, and I have yet to find an Indian restaurant here in Vancouver area that I would call my favorite.  There are lots of good ones, but none I can call my favorite quite yet. One of my favorite Indian restaurants is in Old Montreal and I hope to share that with you all later this summer when I get back to beautiful Montreal.

I was hoping that this restaurant we were about to try this even would make it onto my favorite list. It was recommended to us by a number of friends, because they claimed the food was really good, the price was cheap and the restaurant had some character. Sounded good to me, the name of the restaurant was Jolly’s Indian Bistro – 2778 West 4th Ave, Vancouver BC V6K 1R1 . ph – 604-730-6929. The restaurant is right on the corner of West 4th and Macdonald on the South side of the street right next to the bus stop. Click here for the Google Map.

 

I really like the small boutique restaurants with some great character and charisma and Jolly’s is definitely one of these. They have their menu outside in a nice wooden frame and when you walk though the weathered door, you immediately feel like you are stepping in what seems like a restaurant in India. The fine smell of freshly cooked India curry and spices fills the restaurant and the old worn hardwood floors feel like they have been there for a long long time. On the ceiling there are different colored tapestries looped on the ceiling, candles on each table and rich dark brown colored high bar top with a row of burning tea light candles contrast nicely with the mustard colors table cloths and dark brown chairs scatted through out the restaurant. This restaurant has about 14 tables and can seat about 43 including the bar top.

 

 

My girlfriend and I rolled in about 6pm and there were only about 3 other tables taken when we arrived. The setting is intimate, and surprisingly quiet. The menu is one laminated page, double sided; Food on one side and drinks on the other. It was nice to see that the cutlery and water glasses on the table we sat at were clean with no water spots or other dish washer marks. 

We ordered the Somosa’s to start as an appetizer and for entrees, my girlfriend had the Kolkota Kofta – Potato dumplings in lentils and fried onions, and I ordered the Veggie Thali – Pakoras (Vegetable fritter appetizer with mint and tamarind chutney), Mango Lassi (Indian yogurt drink) and a combination of 3 vegetarian curries and a papadum (thin baked Indian bread). All entrees come with a homemade naan bread, basmati rice, and fresh salad.

Somosa- As you can see from the picture, the Somosa comes on a plate with a bunch of chick peas and sweet mango chutney. The stuffing inside the Somosa was outstanding and the sweet mango chutney and the chick peas were to die for!

 

Kolkota Kofta – Potato dumplings in lentils and fried onions . My girlfriend’s entrée was outstanding. The 3 potato dumplings had such a smooth rich flavor they just melted away in your mouth when you ate them. I’m not sure what kind of curry sauce they were sitting in, but whatever it was it was damn tasty. Surprisingly the mix of potatoes, lentils and onions was not dry, just the opposite, it was pretty moist. Full of flavor and tasty Indian spice, my girl friend and I both agreed we would order that dish again. On top of the 3 potato dumplings, you have a monster baked naan bread, basmati rice and some salad. I would note that the naan bread they serve at Jolly’s much different than the naan bread I have had at other Indian restaurants. Typically naan bread is soft with large bread bubbles in it. The naan here at Jolly’s is sort of baked and slightly more on the crunchy side than the soft maluable side like that of other Indian restaurants. Either way, just a bit different but still very good.

 

Veggi Thali – My entrée was massive. I got the big platter with 3 different vegetarian curries:

a-Punjabi Palak Paneer – Spinach Curry with fresh Indian cottage cheese
b-Chick Pea Masala – Chick peas boiled in black tea with Jolly’s special blend of spices
c-East Indian Gobhi – Cauliflower in mustard seeds and turmeric

along with the naan bread, papadum, basmati rice, salad, Pakoras appetizer and a Mango Lassi.

I didn’t think this thing was going to be so packed full!  The waitress suggested this dish was a good way to sample a bunch of different curries all at the same time and that sounded good to me at the time. My camera ran out of batteries and the only picture I couldn’t get was the picture of my Pakoras appetizer.

There was certainly a lot of food on my dish and I would have to say out of the 3 curries on my plate, I would order 2 of them again. I really like chick peas, so the Chick Pea Masala was an instant hit;  Nice mild flavors, with smooth, perfectly cooked chick peas is a winner anytime with me. The other one I really like the flavors and textures of was the East Indian Gobhi. I don’t like Cauliflower on its own, but with the curried sauce containing the mustard seeds and turmeric gave the cauliflower a really addicting taste. The one I wouldn’t order again would be the Punjabi Palak Paneer. If you like Spinach and cottage cheese, you will love this dish. I am just not a fan of mashed spinach and cottage cheese. I found this dish a bit runny and when I eat spinach I don’t eat a lot of it and I rarely eat cottage cheese so both of these put together was not a hit for me. The cottage cheese was very good though. Nice buttery texture with a mild flavor.

Mango Lassi – Is an Indian yogurt based drink. Unlike other Indian restaurants I have been to, this Mango Lassi was no sweet and not thick. Other Indian restaurants tend to make their Lassi’s too sweet or too thick like a smoothie. The Lassi here was pretty good, it tasted just right and went down really easy.

As mentioned above my girlfriend and I rolled into Jolly’s about 6pm. When we left at 7:15pm the restaurant was getting busy and full. If you go and don’t want to wait for a table, definitely go by around 5:30 or 6pm.

Surprisingly the service this evening was just OK. There were only two waitresses on shift, and when we got there it wasn’t busy at all. It just seemed like we waited a long time for our entrees to come to the table and at times it seemed like the waitresses were disorganized and confused. When we were there, only about 8 other people were in the restaurant. Maybe there was only one cook on this evening? It happens. People make mistakes, no big deal. At least the waitresses were really friendly.  

You have all seen the pictures of the quantity of food. The food is good and surprisingly the cost is super cheap for the quality and amount of food you get! Our bill came to a whopping $17.98 with tax. Granted we did have a $9.00 off Entertainment Book coupon. If we didn’t have the coupon our bill would have been $26.98 CDN with tax. So with a 15% - 20% tip your looking at about $32 for two. That is really reasonable and cheap for such a hefty hearty meal!

Regardless of the slow service this evening, I would for sure recommend this place to anyone that likes Indian food. I would definitely go back and try their other dishes as they all sound really appetizing to me.

 

Ranking  (out of 5 stars)

Food – 4.50
Service – 3.50
Washroom Cleanliness – 3.50
Restaurant Ambiance – 4.00
Plate/Cutlery Cleanliness – 4.00
Value – 4.00

Overall rating: 3.91

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