However, a little while ago we purchased a fine little book of entertainment, an Entertainment Book if you will. It was high time to break it in. Paul picked the place - the Himalayan Kitchen on Melbourne Street.
I had no idea what type of food it was and neither did Paul, so it was a very much a … well lets see how this goes… kind of night… but sometimes those are the best nights, right? So it was on and we headed to Melbourne Street. It was really close to that car park that's behind.. something on Melbourne Street so that was nice and handy because it was quite a crisp night.
It looks small from the outside but goes a fair way back, and was warm and comfortable inside. Generally, it was quite dim lighting. There were a total of two lamps on the walls and we got one of them, (the lamp was conveniently located at around head height so half the night was spent sitting with my head at an angle so it didn't glare too much). But it really wasn't a bad thing, it made reading menus easy and we felt a little special getting one of the two.
It was lovely and warm inside, but definitely bring a jacket if you're going in the colder weather. As soon as you walk out the back to go to the bathroom, it gets freezing. Ice cold, shivering worthy freezing. You warm up pretty quick once you're back in, but still. Bring a jacket.
So it turned out to be Tibetan and Nepalese food, which didn't help me much because I've never eaten anything like that either… So I thought. Reading the menu it seemed very similar to Indian and Asian foods. There was curries and spring rolls and pakoras etc etc.
A few of the entrees looked so good, there was a handy little try it all option which was called Four Seasons, which was a combination tray of (what I assume is) their most popular entrees.
It had: "Momo" which was homemade steamed dumplings, "Sekuwa", tender chicken marinated with yoghurt, ginger and masala, "Bereco Roti" which is spring rolls and "Pakora" which were onion, spring onion and potato fritters.
Every single one was so delicious.
The entrees are between $8 - $11. The Four Seasons was $10.50 and you got one each of the best so I was pretty happy with that value, especially because they were all so yummy! The chicken was so tender, the spring rolls were crisp and it all just tasted fresh. You know when you have a really greasy spring roll and you end up with the grease all on your fingers and you can feel it in your mouth and you just kinda hate yourself afterwards? It wasn't anything like that.
We had a pretty cool waitress, she seemed either new or awkward or both and had big trendy glasses and her work top was just that bit too big for her. She stopped serving us about halfway through the night so we might have ended up being a creepy over friendly couple. Happens to the best of us.
The mains! Oh the mains. After such tasty entrees my hopes were high. I had ordered the Festival Chicken, which was chicken cooked with red chilli, basil, seasonal vegetables and tomato and Paul had Pokhara Ko Kukhura (also known as Coconut Chicken).
I was told that the Festival Chicken was only a bit spicy, even though it listed red chilli as a main ingredient. That's okay I said to myself. What's a little bit of chilli to someone who doesn't eat spicy food, we'll be right.
It was spicy. It was like, if I ate a few mouthfuls one after another, the flavour of the meal disappeared and if Paul had asked me what it tasted like I would have to respond with "spicy, it tastes like spicy". If I took a break every now and then and let my mouth recover then I would get the hit of actual delicious flavours that the curry was offering, but if i didn't… Well, do I need to say spicy one more time so everyone understands?
I don't want to say I'm a fussy eater, but Paul's meal was a non-spicy, nut free curry so I could have had that… But it was a coconut milk curry and while Paul loved it and scoffed it down with only offering me a bit out of politeness and then going back to his meal with super speed when I said no… I don't like coconut milk.
However, lets all take a moment to remember that Jade (that's me) has a few eating disabilities: super bad reflux (which takes full force when eating spicy foods, anything too acidic, anything too fatty, too much onion/garlic (yes lets talk about the onion fritter I had already eaten)) and the ever present nut allergy (which sends me to hospital when eating… nuts). It all hinders me "trying new things", and sometimes a bit of sickness is totally worth the reflux (the nuts aren't usually worth the hospital visit). I know I know, excuses! Reasons to stay with the "safe" food! I promise you all (even though I'm sure you don't mind what I eat) that I will TRY to try some more "adventurous" foods, because why not live a little.
ANYWAY completely off track. Overall, with drinks, entree and mains and using the Entertainment voucher (25% off) it came to about $45. It was good, spicy, flavoursome, delicious, tender and there was a variety of options on the menu. And to top it off, I really enjoyed the atmosphere, though I wouldn't go there with a big group for a birthday or anything because I'd want a bit more space.
Love the sound of this place. I had nepolese food once and it was amazing. keep trying new stuff... buy don't die please.
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