Vikram Vij

Coming Up

European hotel kitchens are where the work starts: chef trainee at Hospitality industry in Salzburg, Austria (from 1983), then worker at Hospitality industry in Vienna, Austria, before the move to Canada as an employee at Banff Springs Hotel in Alberta, Canada (from 1989). That sequence matters. It is service, repetition, and pressure before profile, and it reads like the early apprenticeship of a cook who learned pace, standards, and stamina before taking on a name of his own. The visible shift comes with Bishop's restaurant in Vancouver, British Columbia (1992–1994), where Vikram moved into the role of chef. From there, the work was no longer only about holding a station; it was about carrying a room. That stretch sits as a practical turning point in the record, the point where a working kitchen career begins to register beyond the pass. The public-facing side of the job widened further through Dragons' Den in Canada (2014), where the role was dragon investor. In the same year, My Shanti in South Surrey, British Columbia (2014–2024) extended that restaurant footprint beyond Vancouver. The throughline is not reinvention for its own sake, but a widening of the same discipline across different formats and audiences.

Where They Are Now

Vij's (since 1994) remains the core of the practice. There, the work is identified with a style that balances warmth with precision, and with a room where memory is part of the service language. As a certified sommelier, Vikram also brings wine into the house vocabulary, most notably through the wine-marinated lamb Popsicle, a signature dish that has remained closely attached to the restaurant for more than three decades. Longevity in this context is not nostalgia; it is repetition that continues to earn its place on the menu. Rangoli Restaurant (since 2004) and Vij's Railway Express (since 2012) show the same operating logic in different settings. Each extends the same culinary world without diluting it: food shaped to be direct, personal, and controlled in its intent. The consistency is in the method, not just the brand. The working attitude is stated plainly in Vikram's own line: "I don’t cut corners, I add them." Read as kitchen shorthand, it points to accumulation rather than minimalism — more layers, more detail, more room for flavour and texture to carry weight. It is a useful summary of a practice that treats generosity as part of craft, not as decoration. That same stance appears in the line, "Cooking is my passion and creating food for my friends is the way I run the restaurant." In trade terms, it describes a dining room run with a host’s instincts: the public room is still managed through welcome, and the service ethic remains personal rather than theatrical.

Signature

Vikram's signature dishes include wine-marinated lamb Popsicle, Rajasthan-style goat curry, and Grilled Asparagus and Corn in Fenugreek Seed Curry. The set is useful because it shows range without drifting from the same base: dishes anchored in tradition, then shaped with enough adjustment to keep the work current. Across them, the kitchen language stays rooted while allowing for variation in form and contrast.

In Their Words “I always respect the tradition of a dish, but modernize it by adding blueberries or some acidity.” “Cooking is my passion and creating food for my friends is the way I run the restaurant.”

Honors

Vikram's honors include Chef of the Year, Honorary Doctorate of Laws, People's Choice Award, Canada's Best New Restaurant, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Pacific region, hospitality and tourism, and Rising Star Award.