“Downtown” really limits the options available, so I’m going to make like the rest and… flagrantly ignore that part of your question!

Chinese: Greasy Sunday brunch dim sum upstairs at the Park Lock (Keefer at Main) is a quintessential Vancouver experience so long as the carts are being trundled about (essentials include the sticky rice in a leaf — while you’re in the area, swing by the New Town bakery, Pender at Main, for some pork steam buns and coconut buns); the Shao Lin Noodle house at Broadway and Cambie (remember that intersection if you ever want to eat in Vancouver) offers a great subset (focus: noodles) of Chinese food, plus which you get the entertainment of watching them make your noodles through the glass kitchen window; the Bo Kong on Main offers some of the best vegetarian Chinese food (an elusive variety) probably in the world, without resorting to the meat-simulation of the late, lamented Buddhist Vegetarian Restaurant. Hon’s ain’t real good, but there’s a real lot of it, real fast, for real cheap. For a more pan-asian thang, my roommate (er, the sour-chef) would probably endorse the Red Door on Granville.

Indian I don’t have so many recommendations — the area around 49th and Main offers several similar buffets that offer you much more than you pay for, but aren’t likely to satisfy adventurous palates. (Surrey might, but that’s venturing a bit far afield from downtown 8) House of Dhosas (Kingsway at Knight) we can’t seem to praise enough, so I’ll instead shed some light on Major Chutney, a fusion joint (conducted inoffensively) on Cambie.

Can’t decide? At the Green Lettuce (Kingsway at Victoria) you can get Chinese-Indian, Indian-Chinese food — made by a Chinese family from India, making Chinese dishes using Indian ingredients and techniques!