After a triumphant Thanksgiving dinner at Vij’s, we were eager to experience Vij’s casual offshoot, Vij’s Rangoli. Vikram Vij and wife Meeru Dhalwala opened up Rangoli next to Vij’s to begin 2004, focusing on stews, curries, and vegetarian options. The concept adheres to the same preservative-free, homemade approach as the fancier original. Rangoli even includes a large retail presence to assist home cooks. We showed up for lunch in driving snow, rare weather for Vancouver. Our flight home was fast approaching, but the terrific food put us at ease.

The simple but stylish space featured lanterns, a decorative tile wall, and an industrial partition dividing the semi-open kitchen from the small dining area.

To drink, we ordered a surprisingly light mango-pineapple lassi (C$4.50) and fresh pear juice (C$3.50).

Tender lamb chucks arrived stewed in Vij’s masala (C$13), served with rice and fluffy naan.

Beef cubes cooked with finely chopped rapini (C$13.50) were spicier. The stew paired with grilled slices of the wheat flatbread known as chapati and the cooling yogurt sauce called raita.

Another winning bowl featured fennel and yogurt pork curry (C$12.50) with more rice and naan.

Even though all three dishes centered around stewed chunks of meat, they each had distinctive flavor profiles, a testament to Rangoli’s imaginative kitchen. Another testament to the kitchen was how light the food was on our stomachs.

There were only two dessert options. Since we already ate the almond rice pudding the other night at Vij’s, we selected the made-to-order Meeti Roti (C$5.50), mango custard on warm Demerara sugar- and cashew-filled chapati. It was a light but tasty finish to our meal, but not especially mango-y.

One half of Rangoli is devoted to items sold for home use. A row of refrigerators held pouches of garnet yam & green curry dumplings, jalapeno pepper & ginger lamb curry, black chickpea & ginger curry, Bengali five spice curry, and more. It was one of the rare moments I was inspired to cook.

Vij’s Rangoli also sells house-roasted and ground spices: Vij’s masala, garam masala, roasted cumin seeds, roasted ground cumin, roasted ground coriander, roasted dried fenugreek leaves, roasted red cayenne pepper and turmeric. In retrospect, the combo pack would have been a smart buy. There were also packages of Thomas Haas chocolates, from the famous local dessertery.