Dining

Tap the Himalayas

All the tastes of the famed range come alive at Las Vegas’ only Nepali
restaurant

Max Jacobson

Most of our Indian restaurants serve essentially the same north Indian menu. That’s what makes our only Nepali restaurant, Himalayan Cuisine, so much more compelling.

In fact, as the name implies, this is more than a Nepali restaurant. The Himalayas span several countries, such as Tibet, Bhutan, Pakistan, Nepal and India. So the restaurant has Indian and Tibetan dishes on its menu, as well as those from Nepal.

The soul of this place is the owner’s son, Rajan Dhungana. He has taken stewardship of his father’s restaurant and hired a new chef, Kathmandu native Giri Raj. He’s also added a spate of authentic dishes, boutique beers and ales and a list of fine wines to go with his cuisine. It makes me think of Lotus of Siam, our most famous Thai restaurant. It, too, has a clever, progressive owner, authentic food and innovations that have won critical raves.

Now, I have to admit that I would be eating at Himalayan Cuisine even without these changes. As some of you may know, my wife is a native of Nepal, and she is fond of her native cuisine. But until a few months ago, local Nepalis were the only ones who got the real Nepali dishes here. The restaurant had the typical north Indian lunch buffet, and only a handful of dishes such as momo, steamed dumplings eaten with spicy tomato chutney.

Sure, the cooks regularly prepared goat curry, cucumber and sesame seed chutney, and even the occasional dish containing gundruk, fermented spinach. But they weren’t on the menu, and until Dhungana took over, the restaurant only served them to friends.

That’s all changed now. The lunch buffet has been removed in favor of an à la carte menu featuring exotic fare such as mahakali mango chicken, a creamy, mild casserole composed of boneless roast chicken and mangos in an onion and fennel seed base, and jwanu chicken curry, made with a flavorful seed that has an indescribable pungency.

And the evening menu is stocked with Nepali dishes that have never been served in Vegas, such as kwati, a five-bean soup eaten by the Newaris, a Tibeto-Burman people who populate the Kathmandu Valley, and bhatmas, a cool soybean salad. It’s all terrific stuff, and Chef Raj has proven his mettle in a short time.

The restaurant occupies a modest location that has already been home to a few Indian restaurants during the nine years I’ve been in Vegas. The décor has a basic attractiveness, thanks to colorful prayer flags and thankas, hand-embroidered Tibetan banners. There are booths to sit in and lots of Hindu and Buddhist artifacts, so it’s pleasant enough.

If you’ve never experienced Nepali food, you’re in for a surprise. Dishes tend to be less oily than in Indian restaurants, and less spicy. Dal, stewed lentils, is the staple of the diet, poured over steamed rice in great quantity. Nepalis also consume vegetable dishes called tarkali, and often curried or roasted meats. Breads, cooked in a clay oven, are great, too.

Momo, palm-sized steamed dumplings, come nine or 10 to an order with a side of delicious tomato chutney. In Nepal, they are stuffed with either lamb or buffalo, but the chef here uses ground turkey. (There is also momo for vegetarians, stuffed with a mixture of spinach and spicy Jack cheese.)

Thukpa is a thick Tibetan noodle soup, here available with vegetables, chicken or lamb, the way a real Tibetan eats it. It’s a rich, cloudy soup, definitely filling, and not for a diet.

The same noodles are also used in chau chau, similar to Chinese chow mein, except that a noseful of curry-like spices and green chili is added in, again with your meat of choice.

Samosa, those hand-made, stuffed pastry pyramids, can be had vegetarian or with lamb, ground finely. They are served with a trio of delicious chutneys: mint, cilantro or tomato.

Selroti rings are like onion rings, but the batter, made from sweet rice, will throw you off. (Nepalis sometimes eat them as dessert, but if that idea doesn’t float your boat, then try a khir, or Nepali rice pudding, for dessert instead.)

One of the most unusual entrees from the dinner menu is lamb saag ra dhido, which is something my wife actually cooks at home when she is feeling ambitious. Saag is just the Nepali (or Hindi) word for spinach, and dhido is used here to mean cornmeal. If you want to get technical, saag really means mustard greens and dhido is millet. Try it anyway.

And do sample some of the incredible brews that Dhungana has put together on a list that may only be surpassed around here by the one at Adam Carmer’s Freakin’ Frog. The ales alone, such as Canada’s Blue Moon and Belgium’s Heylissem Organic Triple Brune, are worth a detour, and so are lagers from India, England and Sikkim.

My wife isn’t planning on doing much cooking this spring.

Himalayan Cuisine

730 E. Flamingo Road. 894-9334.

Open Tuesday-Sunday, 10:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m.

Suggested dishes: momo, $6.99 (veg), $7.99 (non-veg); kwait soup, $4.99; lamb saag ra dhido, $14.99; bhatmas ra gundruk, $12.99.

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