Reviews

Zeminia Bharmal featured in Women in Focus

Watch Zeimina Bharrmal’s inspiring interview on Women in Focus YouTube channel. In this video, she shares her inspiring journey from her childhood, where she began cooking at a young age, all the way to how she eventually opened one of the most popular restaurants in the area.

Cayenne Bistro & Grill Named the Best Overall Restaurant in Burnaby

Cayenne Bistro & Grill has been honoured with the Best Overall Restaurant award in the 2023 Beacon’s Readers’ Choice Awards. This award ceremony is a partnership between tourism burnaby and Burnaby Beacon to promote the top businesses in Burnaby’s food and beverage industry. And the winner was voted by the residents of Burnaby.

Cayenne Bistro readers choice awards
Yelp review

Cayenne Bistro & Grill made it to the Canada's top 100 places to eat in 2022

During the pandemic, Yelp engaged with its user community to encourage nominations of restaurants that people were eager to revisit in 2022. These restaurants were selected based on customer ratings, the number of reviews, and the volume of submissions, ensuring geographic representation. Yelp collaborated with its Community Managers across the country to curate the Top 100 Places to Eat in Canada for 2022, finalizing the rankings with their expertise.

Discovering Cayenne Bistro: A Culinary Journey from East Africa to Vancouver - by Jay Shah

Nestled in the bustling heart of Burnaby, Cayenne Bistro is a vibrant culinary gem that brings the rich and diverse flavors of Indian and East African cuisines to the forefront. Founded by the resilient and passionate Zeimina Bharmal, this restaurant is not just a place to eat but a haven for food lovers looking to experience a fusion of flavors that tell a story of heritage, migration, and cultural integration.

Read Jay Shah’s comprehensive  blog post about Cayenne Bistro here.

Image of Indian foods

Customer Reviews

Cayenne Bistro & Grill – East African & Indian Fusion Burnaby, where have you been all my life? Seriously…

Saturday night, after a show in New West, we had the good fortune to dine at Cayenne Bistro & Grill, accurately described on their website as Finest East African and Indian Fusion. We were welcomed by the owner, who told us more about the restaurant and their story. Every menu item is created from scratch. He made sure we knew his wife is responsible for the incredible in house flavours!

The service was excellent! All staff, we met, were lovely. We were honoured to meet the chef, as well. Everything we tried was outstanding! We started with orders of beef and vegetable samosas. The pastry was light to perfection with a flavourful filling. Next, we shared the Goat Bryani, Prawn Bryani, Chicken Rafiki, fries, and several rounds of naan bread. The garlic naan was fabulously fluffy! All the dishes boasted such unique and amazing flavours. We frequently eat and appreciate Indian food, but this was certainly next level! We don’t live in Burnaby, but we will definitely return to explore the menu further.

Emma Lee – Facebook

My picky 12 year old ate everything we ordered for our party of 8. To be clear, she ate it fast and a lot of it. Normally, this girl will dissect most meals to the point of eating only a few morsels. Not the case here. The food was full of flavor from the samosas to the Kashmiri chicken, daahl, and chicken paneer.

These great dishes were matched by the best service our family has experienced in any restaurant, and we are fairly well traveled and go out a lot. The genuine care that our host gave our family did not feel at all fake, and he never once was perturbed by any little request we had. It was delightful conversing about his travel experiences, and he was helpful with explaining the way to eat the condiments that were new to some of us not familiar with the cuisine.

We are out of towners, but we visit Vancouver about four times a year for a few days to a week at a time. We have promised to visit Cayenne Bistro with each visit from here on out.

Vegetarian options: While eating, I brought up that there were so many delicious vegetarian items we were enjoying that we could easily live a life as vegetarians as long as we ate great Indian food from Cayenne

Kid-friendliness: Three kids that ate themselves silly, eating and loving so many new flavors that were new to their young palettes. It was astonishing to witness.

Carlton Harris – Google Reviews

Great ambience, cleanliness and attentive and caring hosts plus delicious food. What else you want.. perfect dine in place.. taste is little different than usual North Indian cuisine. That’s what make them stand out from the rest. Wonder why it took me so long to explore this restaurant. Although expensive highly recommended. Best of all was chapatis/tava roti. They have free wifi. Also liked the small pouches of fennel seeds at the end. Loved it. Sure going to visit again and explore other items on the menu.

Abhilasha More – Google Reviews

I love this place and everything about it!! Been here numerous times, and every dish has been phenomenal!! The staff are great and the owner is one of the nicest people you could ever meet:) To be perfectly honest, I’ve been hesitant about leaving a review because I don’t want more people to start going and possibly take away from the ambience. Some secrets are too good to keep though, and this one deserves to be shared. Plus, the more people who discover this hidden gem, the more it’ll help ensure they stay around for years to come.

Thank you for being such a great host!

And thanks to your wife for so many great meals!

See you guys again soon:)

Daniel Harms– Google Reviews

I don’t think I’ve been to a better restaurant in my life. The food, the hospitality and the service. Absolutely perfect! Ordered the Masala Fries, The Serena Chicken, biryani and Meat Platter. Every single food item was so spectacularly seasoned, with complex flavours that felt homely. They’ve really outdone themselves. Will be coming back soon. Bonus points for never letting my glass be empty. I have been yearning for this kind of fine service and hospitality. The male owner is kind with a lot of history and conversation to share. Fantastic!

Maimnat Batool– Google Reviews

My wife and I had a wonderful experience here. The food was unique and delicious. The team took great care of us and the manager was very attentive to our need. Truly a hidden gem. We will definitely come back and make this a regular spot for us.My wife and I had a wonderful experience here. The food was unique and delicious. The team took great care of us and the manager was very attentive to our need. Truly a hidden gem. We will definitely come back and make this a regular spot for us.

Gavin Chow– Google Reviews

Coming from the states we don’t have many African/Indian places to eat: this place was AMAZING! The owner made us feel very welcomed and explained everything to us! He truly wanted us to have a great meal and he wanted us to enjoy our time. Family friendly, personable, kind, and all around amazing. Great experience, and honestly would highly recommend. The young lady closing tonight(Tuesday) did an amazing job describing all of the deserts to us. She had the care and willingness to help, just like the owner.

Tyler Miller – Google Reviews