Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Conquering the Himalayan Feast @ Tibet Nepal House (Pasadena)

Free Winona Ryder!!

I was stuffed like a pig in this gigantic Himalayan feast as I have never experienced a cuisine like this before. I was so inexperienced in that I might as well was eating this with a blindfold as I needed to get myself acquainted with all the dishes beforehand. It was an eyeopening experience for me, but was well worth the feast.

During lunch, there is a buffet served here similar to some other Indian restaurants (Ashoka the Great comes to mind), but at night this place served a much more classier dinner. Not just any dinner, but a feast!

We were going to have 16 course dinner! With the help from Pleasure Palate, who organized a dinner here at this restaurant. Here are some of the items that was served on this festive night:

First we had a Mo-Mo which was a stuffed dumplings with various meat stuffing like goat meat. This was actually very delicious. I didn't gave much thought at first because it just looked like a simple dumpling. With the two homemade sauces on the plate, the goat dumplings was just too delicious to savor. I devoured a few of those within moments.


Mo-Mo (Stuffed Goat Dumplings)

Next, we have some Phaleys which was a delicious gyro-like flour dough patties with meat and vegetable. I am beginning good at this point because I thought all the appetizers or starters were tasty. This was quite good and I think I overestimated at this point because I didn't know the main courses will be flowing out very furiously within moments after this platter.


Phaleys (flour dough patties stuffed with vegetables and mixed meat)

Coming right up was the House Special Sampling Platter. That was a cool sampler of roasted chicken, deep fried cheese stick, potatoes, and vegetable dumplings. This platter itself should have stuffed like a pig. It could be thought of as a party platter for your company function and be an easy choice for take out. It got everything you needed for the simple bite, but also was one of the least interesting dish course of the night.


House Sampling Platter

One of my favorite of the night was the well cooked Chyamtango Pujaari. That was probably one of the best chicken I have tasted. It was a garlic chicken that was stewed without too much spices to overwhelm the flavor. Simple and yet delicious.


Chyamtango Pujaari (Garlic Chicken)

The non-meat dish of the night was the Arun Valley Saag, a veggie lover's delight with special Chinese cabbage prepared with ginger, garlic, and other spices. Definitely put a momentary stop for meat munching while we took a palate cleanser with this veggie dish. We also had a sauteed green beans with garlic spices and Nepali spices called Hariyo Simi, which was a much better dish to handle than the cabbage.


Arun Valley Saag (Prepared mustard greens, cabbage and tomato cooked with Nepali spices)


Hariyo Simi (Green beans sauteed with garlic and Nepali spices)

Back on the meat train comes the Sherpa Stew which is a soup mixed with goat meat, rice, vegetables, and Himalayan spices. It was a very thick soup with lots of flavors and a lot of components in the soup. Luckily it wasn't too confusing, but it does have a lot of things going on with the soup.


Sherpa Stew

Throughout the meal, one of the supporting item with our courses was the Tibetan Bread. This was my other favorite of the night as it was delicious on its own. You can see that it's almost looked like a Naan from an Indian restaurant, but it's a little bit more nuturient and was excellent being used as a wrap if you want to put any items with the bread.


Tibetan Bread

This was the other interesting dish of the night was the Gaunle Khasi, where the goat meat was cooked with different types of spices, onions and tomatoes. Very nicely done. Was thoroughly enjoyable and was much better than I originally thought.


Gaunle Khasi

Two Dishes that caused me to paused for a moment to decide if I want to continue on with the feast. I was quite full already, but I decided to go ahead and chow down a few more bites. One of the more compelling dish for me to try was the Yakshaa Thenthtuk, which was a Yak meat (goat) cooked with radish, potato, house made pasta, onion and Himalayan spices. It was not quite like pasta or noodle which was what I originally had imagined, but nonetheless the curry sauce had a great aroma and flavor. Regretfully at this moment, I was getting sick of the goat meat.


Yakshaa Thenthtuk

The one that did put an end to my eating prowless for the night was the Tofu Saag, which was a sauteed tofu cooked with pureed spinach and seasoned with Himalayan spices. That was unfortunately unremarkable at this point. Was my full stomach led to this biased conclusion? No. Unfortunately, it was an unremarkable dish as I thought that the tofu and other spices didn't meshed well. The taste was very unflattering and the spinach didn't helped either.


Tofu Saag

We ended our meal with a dessert of rice pudding with almond and raisins called Kheer. The pudding was not too sweet and was quite fitting to a gorgeous feast.


Kheer

Overall, it was a huge feast. The big rave of the night seems to be Tibetan tea where it was a must order. I did enjoyed the chai tea, where it soothes the stomach. Avoid the lighter, but more oily Butter tea. That did not sit very well. It has a lighter texture in color, but more thicker in taste.


Chai Tea

The service was not bad as there was about 2 other huge party that took up all the attentions of the server throughout the night. At first it seemed slow, but most of the dishes all came out at the same time. I only wished they spread it out more evenly in different time or take them out as they finished cooking. Otherwise, not much of a complaint.

The interesting sighting of the night was Michael Jackson and Winona Ryder's lawyer Mark Geragos.who graced his presence at this restaurant last night. The whispers can be heard. Only in LA where you would be wearing sunglasses at indoor and at 7pm!

If all the items are included in that lunch buffet, I would definitely make the trek to Ol' town Pasadena where the restaurant is a block away from the ever popular Colorado Blvd. This was a feast worth having!

The total cost including tip was only $35. I think it was a prefix menu that was set up by the restaurant for Pleasure Palate's dining group. Overall, I thought the meal was excellent as we get to try out so many dishes. There were a few misses like the tofu, but we got so many good or even outstanding dishes, I was very satisfied.

Tibet Nepal House
36 E Holly St
Pasadena, CA 91103
(626) 585-0955

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2 comments:

gourmetpigs said...

no yak meat mike? you need to come back here w us to try it !

Anonymous said...

This is one of my favorite restaurants. I have been returning here for years. The use of spice for flavor verses for heat is appreciated by this pallet. Salmon with Himalayan Spices, Garlic Naan (they have MANY others), Mushroom Peas... now I know where I need to dine this evening. The staff is friendly. Casual dining.