Aldergrove Indian Bistro

My recent proposal to turn Aldergrove into a Barkerville style theme park, owing to the surprising percentage of empty store fronts, has not been met with much enthusiasm. This despite my volunteering to personally play the old timey electrician complete with straw hat and sleeve garters, demonstrating fun with knob and tube electrical installations. Other attractions would include 'The Big Mall That Has Sat Abandoned For Years Dragging Down Local Property Values'!
It seems some folks have not given up on this place and so we have the recent opening of Aldergrove Indian Bistro.

The owners are enthusiastic and optimistic, a necessity as this is the third restaurant to occupy this space (including the very decent Lucky Fried Chicken) since I moved to Aldergrove just about 5 years ago. We showed up on a Saturday afternoon to find the newly opened spot has been nicely decorated with a larger dining room including comfortable booths and a few chairs and tables. We started with what has recently become one of our favourite snacks, Chaat Papri.

We love the crunchy roti like crackers with assorted tamarind and coriander chutneys and yoghurt. 

We both had lunch specials. There are four lunch specials offered at between $9 and $11 and are decent deals. Marie had the Butter Chicken and declared it the perfect dish. High praise indeed as this is her favourite Indian dish.

Both lunch specials came with Basmati rice and a nice little green salad, not to mention, very good naan.I had the Curry Lamb plate.

This was also very good. Both dishes had a generous amount of tender meat.

You know what naan looks like. This was nicely tandoor toasted with little charred bits that we really like. On another visit, so as to get a clear feel for the place, I tried their Fish Pakora.

A very attractive arrangement arrived and was very good! The fish was beautifully cooked under the crisp but fairly light batter and accompanied by a tasty coriander chutney.

I also tried the Lamb Keema Naan. Again nicely charred naan but with a thin filling of minced lamb and spices and accompanied by butter sauce. This also made me very happy! 

I am convinced that the folks here have no intention of standing still now that the restaurant is open. Our host told us about some of the changes that they intend to continue making to improve the space. Their web site tells a story about some people who are serious about good food.

We now have 2 pretty decent Indian restaurants in Aldergrove. I see no reason why they shouldn't both thrive!

Despite just opening, for what its worth, we give Aldergrove Indian Bistro 4 out of 5.