Himalayan Kitchen
360 S. State St., Salt Lake City ; 801-328-2077
(see
map)
Northern Indian and Nepali dishes make the sizeable menu, which spans from lamb curry to vegetarian momos.
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Cuisine: Nepalese, Indian
Price: $$
Hours: M-Th, 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; F-S, 11:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m.; Su, 4:30-10 p.m.
Liquor: Beer & Wine
Corkage: $ 5
Reservations: Accepted
Accepts:    
Website: http://www.himalayankitchen.com
Recommended Dishes: Chicken thukpa (soup laced with noodles), "chicken butter," momos.
August 26, 2009
Stop in and say naan: This Kitchen is back
By Vanessa Chang
Who knew what might happen in Himalayan Kitchen's recent move. Granted, it wasn't supposed to be very far -- just around the corner, in fact.
But still, the upheaval could've been one of tectonic proportions. Not least of which because of the care required moving an entire restaurant famous for its conical clay tandoor oven, let alone a whole business.
Plus, the threat of a lapse in my naan consumption felt like the anxiety that comes from knowing a good friend or family member is going away for a good while -- summer camp, European trip, college -- and you knew before they were even gone how much you would miss them. Or their naan.
Lucky for me and other Himalayan Kitchen fans, the recent move was smooth and the kitchen's transition has been relatively seamless. For one, the menu remains intact. And the dining room is updated, bigger and more befitting the vibrancy of the food. A meal in the new venue feels a bit like a reunion, only one where everyone hasn't changed for the worse.
Baygan barta ($8.95) gives baba-ghannouj lovers another reason to love creamy pureed eggplant. The subtly spiced biriyanis built on slender basmati rice grains still come with an option of vegetables or your choice of meat, although I especially love the chicken ($10.95).
As the restaurant's name suggests, we're dealing with the Northern reaches of the subcontinent, where India juts up against Asia, sculpting the Himalayas, home of Nepal. Lamb curries and vegetable dishes sit alongside filled momos (dumplings $7.95 to $8.95) and the occasional stir-fry complete with chopped vegetables and electric-red sauce created, in part, by the presence of ketchup.
The cuisine mirrors the cultural layers comprising the region's flavors, including Persian, Indian, Chinese to name a few. You see the cultural converging, too, in the good-humored faces of Himalayan Kitchen's staff when they take an order, bring a second round of naan or joke about how much more food you could possibly fit onto a table. They can be scattered, but they always seem to be in a pleasant mood.
As for the food, the flavor speaks for itself. Meat dishes, especially searing hot tandoori lamb kebabs ($12.95) or creamy chicken coconut korma ($10.95) are popular. Tender meat, no matter its origin, tends to be the norm, especially in mild, delicate chicken butter dish ($9.95).
Medium spice levels are fairly innocuous, while hot is tear-jerking, but exhilarating for those who can handle it. A cold Spaten Optimator ($5.50) calms things down. The yogurt-spiked mango lassi ($2.95) is a creamy, non-alcoholic extinguisher. Nepali cuisine doesn't trigger anything on the Scoville scale, lulling the palate with creamy greens in a vegetarian momo ($7.95) that resembles a pot sticker.
In fact, it's many of the vegetarian-friendly items that strike me as remarkable. I'm not ashamed to proclaim my love of flesh -- especially the ground lamb samosas ($3.50) -- but I fully appreciate good deeds done to healthy things. Daal maharani ($8.95) gently stews lentils, tomatoes and onions into a puree-like texture that's sweet and complex -- ideal with the complementary basmati rice.
Bhindi masala ($8.95) takes misunderstood okra and dresses it up with hints of cumin. Onion ring fans (especially Indian-food novices) should try the onion bhaji ($2.95). The crispy coating is made from chickpea -- garbanzo bean -- flour, spiked with cumin for a haunting flavor. Paneer is a mild cheese bearing an unfortunate resemblance to tofu. Some will enjoy the mild nature, others might be left wanting more flavor. Still, I prefer the creamy saag paneer (spinach and cheese $8.95) over the seafood dishes that are relatively meek in flavor especially when compared to the concentrated flavors of a vinegary lamb vindaloo ($11.95) or the hearty aloo gobi with its chunks of tender potato and cauliflower ($8.95).
Traditionally, you eat these dishes with one type of starch, slender grains of basmati ice or flatbread, but both are complementary. The "bread basket" ($4.95) offers a sampling of onion-stuffed naan and whole-wheat flatbread with potatoes and peas, while keema (stuffed with ground lamb $2.75) and cheese naan ($2.25) together could constitute a meal, soft and steaming hot from the tandoor oven.
One thing to remember: flatbreads from any culture are always better when they're piping hot. It's never quite the same experience when it's been sitting exposed to air over the course of a buffet lunch ($9.95) or an overnight stay in a styrofoam to-go box. Life's too short for room-temperature naan. Dine in to try it at its prime and really savor it. There's plenty of time. Himalayan Kitchen isn't going anywhere.
Tribune's rating system
Overall rating
1 star Good
2 stars Very good
3 stars Excellent
4 stars Extraordinary
Entree price
$ Entree under $10
$$ $10-$18
$$$ $18-$25
$$$$ Above $25
Restaurant Noise
1 bell Quiet (under 65 decibles)
2 bells Can talk easily (65-70)
3 bells Talking somewhat difficult (70-75)
4 bells Raised voices (75-80)
A bomb Too noisy for normal conversation (80+)
The Tribune covers the cost of all meals at reviewed restaurants. Star ratings are based on a minimum of two visits. Ratings are updated continually based on at least one revisit. There is no connection between reviews and advertising.
February 15, 2006
Himalayan Kitchen scales new culinary heights
By Mary Brown Malouf
I have never eaten in Nepal.
So how can I fairly review Himalayan Kitchen, a 3-month-old Salt Lake restaurant featuring Nepali cuisine?
This is a fundamental question among all critics: Does a critic need to know the artist's intent to appreciate a work of art? Or is it fair to react to it prima facie -- just the critic and the art -- or the food, no footnotes, no background, no context?
Paradoxically, the answer lies in a question.
What do you want to know about Himalayan Kitchen? Do you want to know whether the momos taste good, or do you want to know if they are made the same way in Katmandu?
I think most readers want to know if the momos taste good. They do. Face-to-face with a momo, I didn't care how momos are made in Katmandu. I just wanted another one.
Momos are traditionally filled with yak, buffalo or turkey meat, or so I understand from what I've read. Himalayan Kitchen stuffs them with chicken, onions and ginger, and serves 10 of them with a cashew soy sauce for $8.95. The crescent-shaped dumplings are reminiscent of potstickers, only not browned on one side, and their aromatic seasoning makes them more Indian than Chinese.
In fact, looking at Nepal on the map, unless you've been there, will help you anticipate the flavors of its cuisine. The tiny country is squeezed between India and China; the cuisine ranges from curries to stir-fries. At Himalayan Kitchen, much of the menu and lots of the lunch buffet is devoted to more familiar Indian dishes like lamb tikka masala ($11.95), prawns vindaloo ($12.95), chicken biryani ($10.95) tandoori-cooked dishes with chicken ($10.95) and prawn ($15.95). But scattered throughout are traditional Nepali dishes like "quanty massala" ($8.95), a substantial soupy stew of nine different beans seasoned with tomatoes, onions, garlic and ginger.
Himalayan Kitchen's awe-inspiring name is otherwise modest; the street-front cafe is cozy -- Tibetan yellow walls hung with Indian gouache paintings, sounds of sitars whining through the speakers, a view of downtown lights through the drape-framed window. Very simple, but thoughtful. Likewise the service -- waiters here aren't required to do much other than take and deliver orders. There's no tableside flambéing, no complicated wine service. But the simple service was performed by the most solicitous waiters I've met in a Salt Lake restaurant. From host to busboy, the staff cared in earnest whether I was ready to order, whether I liked my food and how far I trusted my taste buds to take the heat of spicy dishes.
Not to worry. Raised on jalapenos, I found the Nepali dishes -- many listed as Himalayan specialties -- complex and spicy, but not spicy-hot, even when I asked for hot instead of medium.
Even so-called chicken chili ($10.95) -- a torrid bowl of red glistening with a film of chili oil over apparently breaded little chicken chunks, stir-fried with onions, ginger, peppers and tomato smoothed lightly with cream -- only pleasantly tingled the mouth.
At the other end of the taste spectrum, a dish called "chicken butter" ($9.95), traditionally made with tandoori chicken, was a velvety, gently-seasoned cream sauce cloaking the mouth in simmered richness.
Like Indian food, most of the dishes we tried involved a layering of flavors; foods might be marinated first, then stir-fried with aromatic vegetables and finally, simmered in sauce.
Steamed rice comes with all entrees. We also ordered a bread basket ($4.95), filled with fresh-baked Indian breads -- tandoori-cooked naan; onion kulcha (naan stuffed with sautéed onions); aloo paratha, multi-layered whole wheat bread filled with potatoes and peas; and chapati, the puffed, pita-like bread.
Nepali dishes are complemented by cool, spicy pickles called achar ($1.95) but we were served tamarind and mint chutneys and raita (yogurt-dressed cucumbers, tomatoes and onions, $1.95) that echoed Indian flavors again.
Other concoctions, like the chicken chow chow ($7.95), reminded me more of Chinese cooking -- quick but with lingering flavors. A rich version of stir-fried noodles with slivered chicken and crisp-tender vegetables, the dish was light-textured but with resonant aroma. Chicken thukpa ($7.95), chicken soup laced with noodles in a reduced broth brightened by peppers, ginger and onion, was rousing enough to energize a climber before attempting Everest.
Himalayan Kitchen seems to be taking a risk appropriate for its name by opening its doors downtown, when so many business owners have been discouraged by road construction and empty storefronts. But both at lunch and dinner, the restaurant's tables were nearly filled and at dinner, several convivial groups lingered over hot tea or Indian beer long after their plates had been cleared.
Writing restaurant reviews won't earn me a trip to Nepal anytime soon so I don't foresee an opportunity to compare the momos on 400 South with the momos in Katmandu.
But I do know I'll be dining on momos at Himalayan Kitchen again soon. Real soon.
Tribune's rating system
Overall rating
1 star Good
2 stars Very good
3 stars Excellent
4 stars Extraordinary
Entree price
$ Entree under $10
$$ $10-$18
$$$ $18-$25
$$$$ Above $25
Restaurant Noise
1 bell Quiet (under 65 decibles)
2 bells Can talk easily (65-70)
3 bells Talking somewhat difficult (70-75)
4 bells Raised voices (75-80)
A bomb Too noisy for normal conversation (80+)
The Tribune covers the cost of all meals at reviewed restaurants. Star ratings are based on a minimum of two visits. Ratings are updated continually based on at least one revisit. There is no connection between reviews and advertising.
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