Ask Gurdip Bhachu the best thing about running Agra Tandoori Restaurant at 110 - 3790 Canada Way, and it literally takes no time for him to answer.
"I love working with my family," he said. "This is a family business, and we work together well."
Look in the kitchen and wife Palwinder is hard at work putting together a multitude of unique North Indian dishes together.
Youngest daughter Harminder, a recent high school graduate, is working the front room as a hostess.
Middle son Inderpal is out delivering food while on break from his studies in import/export business management at BCIT, and older daughter Pritpal is just about to start work for the evening shift.
Gurdip has run Agra for the past eight years and has more than a decade of Indian restaurant experience.
He said the business wouldn't work without all the family's contributions.
"There's a lot of hard work in restaurants," he said. "Long hours, but we work together well."
While Gurdip will take some spells cooking, he said the kitchen magic comes courtesy of Palwinder.
"She's 20 times better than me," he said. "The food has to be the number-1 thing. You have to maintain consistently good food, and you can never say this is good enough. You always have to try and be better."
Gurdip said the business has slowly grown over the years, mainly through good word-ofmouth.
I'm enjoying my conversation with Gurdip when the food starts arriving. We start with the naan - a steal at $1.50 and only 10 cents more if you want butter spread on top.
The naan is baked vertically in Agra's clay oven, and it's so crispy that I almost feel guilty when I dip it in the chili chicken sauce that is part of our second dish.
The chili chicken ($11.25) came with chicken nuggets that include onions, green peppers, tomatoes and just enough spiciness to give it a kick.
Even better was the fact the sauce didn't overwhelm the chicken.
"We don't try to do things too spicy because we can always add spiciness if people want it hotter," said Gurdip.
I was also thankful for less sauce because it's my firm belief that restaurants hide mediocre cooking in a river of sauce.
The deep red chili chicken contrasted nicely with the dark green palak paneer ($9.95) vegetarian dish that came out next.
The spinach was lightly cooked with onions, ginger and garlic, but what made the dish was the cubed cheese that offered flavour in every bite.
Between bites of my mains, I also had a chance to sample the katchumber salad ($3.95), which was better than your regular garden variety salad with the simple addition of cilantro, and the pulao rice ($3.75), which featured basmati rice cooked with onions, green peas and spices.
The portions are more than generous and the delivery/pick-up side of the business accounts for almost half of total sales.
The concept of family pervades everything the Bhachus do at Agra.
"We don't open on Sunday because that's our family day," said Gurdip.
Agra Tandoori, located at 110 - 3790 Canada Way, is open for lunch from 11: 30 a.m. on weekdays and from 12: 30 p.m. on Saturday. It's open for dinner until 10 p.m., with take-out available until 9: 30 p.m. and delivery from 5 to 9 p.m. For more info, call 604-430-1629 or go to their website at www.agratandoori.ca.
