Sampled the food at Himalayan Kitchen on Waialae Ave and 11th Ave yesterday. I've always enjoyed Indian cuisine though I imagine that there really is no "Indian" cuisine. It probably goes along the same lines as "curry" powder. Each specific region probably has their own unique spice blends and ingredients. In any case, I enjoy that amalgam known as "Indian" food. And now, Himalayan Kitchen offers authentic Nepalese food. Hmm, bring it on!
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We started with two appetizers, the onion and cilantro stuffed naan bread known as Onion Kulcha and the Veggie Samosa stuffed with potatoes, chickpeas and spices. The Onion Kulcha was served with a dipping sauce flavored with fresh cilantro, our server stated that it was their cilantro chutney. So good! The Samosas were about the size of tennis balls, a small meal in itself and it was also served with the cilantro chutney.
Our entrees were presented family style (at our request) and consisted of our server's five favorite dishes plus a biryani (the Mrs always needs to sample the biryani). We gorged on:
Everest Seakwa or lamb kabobs marinated in a host of dry spices then cooked in the tandoor oven. It was a tender as lamb can get - almost didn't need teeth to chew and still done medium rare (esp since tandoors are like cooking in jet engines). It was served with a simple salad and the cilantro chutney and a red yogurt based sauce.
Madras Madness or a mixed madras curry. This was best consumed with your own rice bowl so you could pour the coconut milk based sauce over the rice - it just doesn't work as well eating the rice from a plate.
Beigan Bharta or cooked eggplant mashed with ginger and spices then cooked with potatoes. This dish had a little heat on the back end but it was very good.
Lamb Bhuna or shredded lamb cooked in a garlic cream sauce with green onions. This was one of my faves of the evening. Again, it would be better to eat from your own rice bowl.
Nepali Style Mixed Biryani or basmati rice cooked with shrimp, lamb, chicken and vegetables. Their biryani was on the drier side - which the Mrs and I prefer - almost like a pilaf. This was also ones of my faves for the evening.
Nepali Style Fish Stew which is a tomato based stew (as opposed to yogurt or coconut milk based). A very good flavor of cadamom? permeated the dish. This dish also had some heat that snuck up on you on the back end but it was still very good.
I opened two sweeter wines to pair with the dishes since that little bit of sugar helps balance the spicy flavors of each dish and both were lower in alcohol which prevented magnification of any chili pepper burn. The 1st was a Risata Moscato and the other wine was a Lychee flavored sake.
This restaurant is definitely a repeater!
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