Cristina R.
Yelp
What exactly is Tibetan food? I didn't know. And I went to find out.
This restaurant is a small, intimate space super close to the Central T stop. It was a little cramped (especially considering it was a Tuesday night).. the waiter asked me to take my purse off the back of my chair since he couldn't walk between the tables, but once we got situated it was fine. Okay let's check out this menu.
I was pleased to see that the alcohol was super affordable. Every glass of beer and wine were under $5! Whenever I try a new cuisine, I like to have a local drink with it, and although they carried local non-alcoholic drink options (tea, juice, etc), I didn't find any Tibetan boozy beverages (the closest was Indian and Thai beer). As for the wines, they had standard, nameless options. But for $4.25, I'm not complaining. Maybe Tibet doesn't have breweries or vineyards, what for the major monk population and all. Beats me.
It was my dining partner's first Tibetan experience as well, so we started out with the appetizer combo in order to try out a few different things. I didn't expect everything on the plate (green stuff, potato, chickpea, eggplant) to taste so similar. It was all fried and came with two little pots of red (mild) and green (spicy) sauces. They were delicious, don't get me wrong, and the textures differentiated them, but they mostly all tasted like fried vegetable with sauce on top. Regardless, my fave fried veggie was the mushroom with mushed chickpeas. Mmm.
Entree time! The menu is pretty extensive, making our decision-making a bit difficult. So we started with general categories and worked our way down to the specifics. Meat and veggies with rice. You want beef. I'm in a chicken mood. This mixture of ingredients and spices sounds appetizing. Langsha Shogo and Chhasha Po Tsel. Done.
I really enjoyed these dishes. They were flavorful, and the sauces mixed well with the meat and veggies. I didn't find the meat to be of the best quality, and it was a little tougher than I would have preferred (especially the beef). But maybe that's how they do it in the Himalayas. Also, it was a lot of food. I barely ate any of my rice and took home leftovers for at least two lunches. Maybe three. Therefore, although initially pricey, for the amount of food we got, it came out to be pretty reasonable.
Overall, I'd call this a cultural cuisine success. After our Himalayan meal, I felt like I'd climbed Mt. Everest. I just need a Tibetan beer to celebrate.