Nepalese platter

date of visit: Saturday 24 August 2013

Well, it seems that Nepalese restaurants are like buses. After our recent visit to Himalayan Kitchen, we’ve managed to find time to hit Taste of the Himalayas, the new Nepalese restaurant in Brighton.

As it’s walking distance from my parents’ house, we decided to take my dad there in celebration of his birthday. This caused some confusion because mum thought we meant on the day itself – so she had been ready for the meal for the best part of a month!

Actual details of the outing ironed out, we headed off, aiming to be there for the restaurant’s 5:30 pm opening. Best laid plans and all meant we arrived around 6pm. We weren’t quite the first people there but might as well have been. All good when you have a two year in old tow. A two year old who thinks that as soon as he sits at a table, food should appear …

We started off with a few drinks – including, for me, a real Nepalese beer, Mustang. Given the small hungry person, we opted for main courses only. For the (apparently starving) toddler, I chose the choila, a chicken entrée, where the meat is marinated in traditional Nepalese spices. This was an absolute hit and was carefully, slowly and steadily demolished.

Andy chose a barramundi curry, mum the lamb cutlets, dad the goat curry and I had the Nepalese platter. The platter included lentils, a chicken curry (I had a choice of chicken, lamb or goat and chose chicken on the basis that mum and dad already had lamb and goat covered), mustard green spinach and a tomato pickle. We also had rice, roti and extra lentils for the table.

Everyone really enjoyed their food – the great thing about Nepalese food is that while it’s essentially curry, it’s all about spice flavour rather than spice heat.  If you don’t like chilli, you can still eat Nepalese. There were a couple of uneven patches but overall, we agreed we’d be more than happy to head back. Dad thought his goat was a bit tough and while some of the roti were perfectly crispy and delicious, some were a little thicker than others which meant they were a touch doughy. My gripe (and this is very typical of me) is that my food wasn’t as fearsomely hot (thermally) as I like it to be. I loved the lentils and gobbled up not only the ones that came on my platter but also some of the second portion too. The stand out dish (which I didn’t actually try) was mum’s lamb which was a generous portion (served on a sizzling hot platter) which dad announced would be what he would have next time.

Service was very friendly and, for the most part, pretty good. As the restaurant got busier and busier (and, here’s a tip, if you are going to go on a Saturday night you should either book or get there no later than about 6pm) it tailed off a bit and I did get a sense that perhaps they could do with one more body on the floor.

Taste of Himalayas also gets a big tick for proper tablecloths and napkins!

The restaurant is also well set up for takeaway (there are couches for those waiting) and there’s a fish tank which seems to keep two year olds pretty happy. On a Sunday night there is a buffet (if that is/isn’t your thing).

Prices are very reasonable – 4 and a half of us left having spent well under $40 a head, and that was plenty of food as well as pre dinner drinks and a bottle of wine.

Definitely somewhere to check out!

Taste of the Himalayas
489 Brighton Road
Brighton SA 5048
phone: 8358 2483