East Is East

Oooh, so delicious! And such a gorgeous setting, as well!

IDK much about Afghan / fusion cuisine, but after two visits, I'm hooked!

This is a very accessible menu, and the tastes are so rewarding, you'll be back, for sure!

We had a big celebration here a few weeks back. Despite all the people, service was warm and efficient. I got a double east roll (their take on a wrap) for $29 with paneer and chicken mango as fillings to share with a friend. Appreciated them allowing us to mix the fillings. Portion size was massive and it came with soup and salad. They are known for an all you can eat menu for $44 so something to try if you are a big eater. Flavour wise, everything was good but not really authentic, for instance the soup tasted like Thailand curry soup. Really enjoyed the soy chai though.

This is one of my favorite restaurants in the Lower Mainland. I usually dine at the Main Street location and this place is equally good.

Nice ambiance with lots of rugs and tapestries and cushions with wooden benches. Almost like an Arabian night feel to it.

The place can be quite dark with dim lighting and that makes reading the menu a bit challenging. My date and I were finding it quite hard to read and thank goodness for the diners next to us. They lent their readers to my partner and I resorted to taking pics of the menu to read on my phone.

I usually get the chai feast (cheaper during lunch at $33 compared to $43 dinner at time of writing) but I notice it is too much food for me now. It is a good experience as you get to try everything on the menu.

This time I had the boulani which was always my favorite food here. I had the eggplant and potato boulani with Dahl soup. It was perfect. My date had the rice bowl without the rice. He had the lamb on green salad. I tried a bit and it was really good too.

The service was excellent with the server coming by very often to top up our water glass. The tasting menu was explained clearly to us and never once did we feel like we need to leave as soon as we finished with our food.

Great place for dates and special occasions or anytime. The food is just fantastic! At night there will be musical performances.

I'm confused by this restaurant. It came across as a Indian/Afghan fusion restaurant but I didn't get much Afghan.

I ordered the Afghan Rice with Alo Gobi and Mango Chicken. My husband had the Salmon and Mango Squash and Eggplant Boulani.

The flavour profile of what I would consider a true Kabuli pulao didn't come through and I feel that this dish would have suited better being presented in three separate dishes instead of having to two options poured on top of the rice. The Samon Boulani was quite 'fishy' smelling but the Mango Squash and Eggplant was really good. I don't know if I would reorder either of these dishes.

I will say one thing though... their soy chai tea is the best chai tea I've ever had. Absolutely delicious.

This is a super cute Afghan/Indian fusion restaurant. The ambiance is quite different and gorgeous decoration of it. We ordered the chai feast meal and tried a couple of items on the menu which was great. So delicious. I love that they have a few dairy free/vegan/gluten free items on their menu.

The service was also good. The staff were pretty friendly; however, the service was a little slow.

Inside out: it was easy to find street parking and the building is well decorated, The sign at the front did not say East is East. Inside the decoration is incredibly fun and I wish that I could decorate my whole home like this. It's comfy, it uses a lot of natural elements, and I love the lights behind the stone look.

Service: I wish we would've been able to come earlier so that I could actually get the full experience, I had a lot of anxiety about my friend wanting to come in towards the end of the day as I'm not a person who will not go in an hour and a half before close. Our friend took us anyway and we didn't know -so my husband and I ordered some thing that was a single plate and did not do the experience I wanted to. I bet it would be incredible to try, but we just had too much anxiety to try it right before close. That didn't seem to slow my friend down and they were still accommodating to him, which is nicer than I would be. There were two musicians that did piano and I believe guitar the night we were there, the music was of surprisingly good quality and incredibly relaxing. This place was like a dream, I just wish I could have tried it at a better time.

Food: I don't think there was a single thing I tried that I didn't like, and the food was amazing. I don't get a lot of food like this where I am from, but attended a temple for a while where we enjoyed feast together- this was just blissfully tasty. I don't know what they do to make it so freaking good other than just have a good quality ingredients and prepare it well -it just tasted magical.

Overall I bet this would be so fun and tasty to do at any time of day that isn't close. They had so many options and tons of things for vegetarian's it was amazing. All the drink options looked delicious but we just got to try a tiny sample and I wanted to drink a gallon of it immediately. I cannot say enough good things and I highly recommend this place.

Ok, if you're going on a date this is a lovely place to go. It's so beautiful inside and they have live music most nights. It's well-worth it just for the ambiance.

The food is yummy. It's a veggie's dream! They have meat as well for the carnivores. The portions were huge so expect to take home half of your food

They have a decent wine list as well. Though next time I'm going to try one of their chai cocktails for sure.

The staff are polite and knowledgeable, and make the evening quite amicable.

Not a place I'd go every day, but it's a treat once and while.

The ambience of the place was amazing! They have beautiful persian interior and ample space. The menu is kind of confusing between indian and persian. The bowl we ordered was really mix of all the curries which kind of was not pleasing. But if taken separately the taste was really good. The service was super slow. We waited for 30 min to get the check. Also I think the name of place is also silk n spice, which is weird.

First time at East is East :)

They have an incredible tasting menu that allows you to have smaller portions (unlimited). When we went they also had live music, which helped elevate our dining experience.

For the Chai Feast Tasting Menu ($39 per person)and you get to choose unlimited small dishes from their signature tasting menu (includes Salads, soup, and main dishes). Each feast also comes with boulani, hot chutney, a mix of afghan and basmati rice.

We tried: Dahl soup, mystic soup, Persian salad, hummus, baba ganoush, afghan eggplant, Tibetan mantu, peas & cheese, spinach paneer, chana masala, chicken masala, mango chicken and lamb curry.

10/10 Would recommend

The first thing that hit me when I walked in was how dark it was. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of the dark, although it was really elegant. The food smelled pretty great, and the staff was friendly. The performer was really talented, although I didn't stay too long. I really dislike how gloomy it seemed in there, and more than half of the people in there were really odd. The wait time was really long, and the food was slightly overpriced. But I guess that's what most fancy restaurants are like.