Came here with a group of friends and got to experience some real, authentic cuisine. My friend described the food as feeling just like home and I was excited to try all the things on the menu that aren’t that easy to find around town! Such a little hidden gem.
Near Burnaby General Hospital is this rather odd street with a few businesses and residences. One of these businesses is El Inka, a South American cuisine cafe. The first thing you'll notice is the parking; there's plenty of it - but only for residents, who seldom seem to use this gift that they have been given. In front of the restaurant is pay parking - not an ideal way to attract customers.
On to the food. The food is quite authentic, but salty and, (in the case of certain pork dishes) very, VERY greasy. It tastes good, but they did hike the prices since the last time the menu was printed. Overall, it is a good restaurant, but not somewhere you would want to go to all the time.
I had stumbled upon this place a few years ago when my wife was in the hospital near by. Yes, I felt guilty that when she wasn't feeling well, I was stuffing my face.
I've been back here with her a few times now. The food here is delicious. It's truly is a hole in the wall, but a true gem. Today I tried the tripe & housemade sausage soup. The broth had deeply developed flavor and the meats were tender...true comfort food. My wife had a fried chicken leg with green rice. I had a couple bites of green rice and really liked the herby (is that a word?), savory flavor. I also must have the chicha morada when I come here. It's a drink made of purple corn, very refreshing.
The family that runs this place are hard working. I can see that in the food and the care that they try to put into the restaurant. I feel good about spending my money here. If anyone is in the area, stop in, say hi, grab a bite. You won't regret it.
Authentic Peruvian / Columbia food in a seemingly deserted stripmall on a tiny side street behind a hospital.
I love the ceviche here. It's is a large portion of chunky pieces of fish with the right amount of lemon juice balanced with sweet potato and corn. I also highly recommend the tres leches cake for dessert: spongey moist cake served with creamy sweetened milk.
Negatives: weird location wuth angled meter parking out front. Not much else there.
Positives: The food is fantastic - they have the usual empanadas, papusas, tamales ... but also lesser known traditional dishes, too, that feature plaintain, casava, chorizo, chicarron, tripe, ... worth the trip for something different.
Clearly it is the most latin-american focused restaurant in Greater Vancouver. Small location, big and varied menu, it caters to at least 6-7 countries with traditional dishes cooked from scratch. I tasted three different dishes and all of them delivered. Great choice of traditional drinks too!
Amazingly food great service .. i am vegetarian and was satisfied by the choices they had
The food was really good. Prices are fair. Definitely a hole in the wall, but worth the visit.
Great first time Peruvian food.. I had some business in the nearby hospital and decided to pop my head in. There's not much to look at, with everything up on chalkboards (they do have menus to look at but it's all the same stuff). I ordered an empanada, horchata, and a leche asada. I've had many empanada, and this one was different than the Mexican and Filipino ones I've had recently. Far less dough, but the meat tasted nice (albeit a bit dry - I don't know if this was just the style or not). They included a mild sauce that accented the flavour as well. The horchata had a bit more grit in the texture versus one you would find at La Taqueria, but on a hot day, it is refreshing all the same. The leche asada (creme caramel) was nice and creamy. Sweeter than what I'm used to, but good all the same.
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We'll definitely be back!. We just went to the El Inka Deli as we're going to Peru this year and wanted to check out the food. The owners, Victor and Karin were great because we didn't know the restaurant closes at 8:00pm and showed up at 7:20pm, but they told us not to worry and welcomed us in.
The restaurant is modest looking and in a pretty unlikely place, but don't be dissuaded... the food is really good and the owners are really nice and friendly.
We asked for some recommendations on the food, so Victor suggested the Jalea Mixta (a lightly breaded mixed seafood dish with a wealth of onions and tomatoes on top --- YUM!) that was served with a fresh and spicy sauce. He also suggested the Lomo Saltado (a stir fry of beef, onion and french fries in a zesty sauce served with a side of rice) --- also *really* good!
For drinks we had a dark purple drink called Chicha Morena that is a mix of lime and pineapple juice; the purple colour is extracted from purple corn. It was good on its own, but when you take a sip after eating some of the spicy food, it was even better! Also, we had the Inka Cola, that looked like Mountain Dew but tasted like cream soda. A genuine Peruvian soft drink!
All in all, we were really happy with the El Inka, definitely because of the food and the friendliness of the owners!
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Delicious!!!. I was born in Bogota, Colombia but have lived in Vancouver for over 18 years. That being said, I know what Colombian food tastes like. This place has the absolute closest flavours of Colombian food that I've ever had here in Vancouver, which is hard to do because a lot of the ingredients, such as avocados, just do not taste the same here.
I ALWAYS get the ajiaco, a potato soup native to Colombia. It has chicken and corn, as well as some herbs and is served with a plate of rice, corn meal flat bread, some avocado, cream, and capers. You can add any of the ingredients on the plate into the soup. I myself do not like capers too much so I add cream and slice the avocado and put it in as well.
I also highly recommend the bandeja paisa (Countrymen's platter), empanadas colombianas (fried colombian dumplings with beef), the arroz con pollo (chicken and rice), and the arroz con seco, a dish of beans in the most amazing sauce with a soft, tender beef served with rice.
They also have a variety of south american soft drinks that I just love!
This place is a little hole in the wall that you have to check out!
Yummy!. The ceviche, jalea mixta, yucca frita, piccarones (doughts) were all delicious. What a little find!
Neighbourhood Gem. Ever since Mirasol closed, we have been looking for its replacement. We found it in El Inka. A very good Peruvian food. Also serves Mexican and Colombian food. Love the chili sauce.
Different. I'd never had much exposure to Peruvian food, and assumed it shared the same common ground as Guatemalan, Salvadoran, and other nearby cuisines. At El Inka, they do have some dishes from other Central and South American countries, but the Peruvian food really shines. The ingredients were interesting: peanuts, dried potatoes, yellow chili paste -- and the food in general was a refreshing change from what I'm used to. It's not a fancy place, but the friendliness of the owners make it feel comfortable.
Excellent. Best deli and cafe bistro in Burnaby. Delicious home made flavourful meals and a very happy and smiling owner/daughter combo. Delightful people.
Gastrofork Dee De Los Santos
+4
It is clearly a family-run place, as this sweet girl who closely resembles our server came to give us our cutlery and water.
M, Jewels, and I decided to have dinner at El Inka Deli. It’s a hidden restaurant in the Burnaby Central area. I’ve never heard it until someone told me I had to check it out. It’s also beside the Burnaby Hospital, so if you are in the area, do check this place out. El Inka Deli serves Latin American food and it’s very unique to find this type of food in Burnaby. It is family owned and you will get a sense of that once you walk in the door. Jarritos Lime was ordered by M and he really enjoyed the fizzy sour taste of it. I had half of this and it’s really good Mexican soda. Horchata is a traditional drink made out of almonds, sesame seeds, rice and barley. The way they made the horchata was very gritty and had a strong sesame seed taste. We were not a big fan of this. Chicken Empanadas was an item was started out with. It was crispy on the outside and nicely toasted. The inside had a good amount of filling and was delicious. Yum! Cheese empanadas was even better than the chicken empanad
They say that if you go to dinner with food bloggers, you can be sure to be eating cold food. I don’t know about that, but when I was late for a dinner with fellow food bloggers Kim, Elaine, Annie, Mijune, Jessica, I just headed for the table with all the
I'd noticed El Inka Deli before, but had never the inclination to try them. They serve mainly Peruvian food, as well as some burritos and tacos. Anyways, they've been in the neighbourhood for a couple years now, so a visit was due.
Some time ago, I wrote a post about El Rinconcito Salvadoreño, a restaurant in Commercial drive that serves Salvadorean (sp?) food. In it, I mentioned that Mexican cuisine was a “bully” to other Latin American cuisine, mainly because it was better known.
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