Nestled on the First Floor of Numbers 22-30, Tai Wong Street, Wanchai, is The Himalaya Restaurant.

If one sneezed as one approached the steep staircase, leading up to this restaurant, it is likely that one would pass by without even knowing of its existence.

That would have been a pity, actually, because The Himalaya Restaurant is well worth a visit.

It specialises in Nepalese and Indian dishes and it serves no pork or beef.

The restaurant is a 70-seater and although the furnishings are sparse and one would be hard-pressed to suggest that this is luxury dining, the friendly serving staff – all Nepalese, by the way – and the quality and variety of the dishes make up for what the restaurant lacks in furnishings.

TARGET (泰達財經) visited The Himalaya Restaurant on Friday, December 4, 2009, at about 7:30 p.m., having made a reservation – which was completely unnecessary as it turned out because the staff did not care, at all.

After studying the extensive menu and obtaining some tips from our waiter about this dish and that dish, the obese Nepalese gentleman, whose smile started at one earlobe and spread over to the other earlobe, this is that which was selected as a tasting menu:

Chana and aloo Chatpate (羅望子汁煮雞豆,薯塊)
Stadium hawker special! Chickpeas with boiled potatoes in light tarmarind sauce
$HK42

Aloo Tama Bodi ko Rass (酸芛,薯蓉雜菜湯)
Native village preparation. Fermented bamboo shoots and vegetables
$HK35

Momo (尼泊爾餃子,跟湯叧上)
Steamed dumpling with soup
$HK40

Bandel ko Bhutuwa (炒羊肉)
Boneless cube of mutton marinated and cooked in slow fire
$HK70

Bhuteko Misas Sabzi (尼泊爾香草,香料炒雜菜)
Stir fired fresh vegetables with Nepalese herb and spices
$HK55

Khasi ko Masu (Mutton) (咖喱羊肉[去骨])
Native village style boneless mutton curry
$HK62

Onion Naan
Naan stuffed with onion
$HK18

Kulfi (印式雪糕)
$HK25

Masala Tea
$HK22

Gorkha Beer
$HK28

The Gorkha Beer (pronounced as Gurkha Beer) is 5.50 percent alcohol by volume and is much sweeter than most beers that this reviewer has sampled.

It was refreshing and went down very smoothly.

The Food

Chana and aloo Chatpate was arranged in the shape of a stupa and TARGET’s waiter, on hearing this comment, remarked that Nepal has quite a number of stupas so that the 3 chefs – who are the joint owners of the restaurant – decided that it was a nice touch.

This dish was, simply, chickpeas, marinated in a tomato sauce, laced with some chillis, the flavours of which were not overpowering.

It was all very tasty with the presentation, being unique.

Aloo Tama Bodi ko Rass turned out to be a simple, very healthy and very hearty vegetable soup to which a little lime juice had been added.

This is the type of soup that nearly every country produces, with available vegetables boiled in a chicken base for hours and hours.

The Italians call it minestrone, the Eastern Europeans call it borscht, and the Americans call it only a vegetable soup.

Strangely, the flavour of the vegetable soup at The Himalaya Restaurant was quite mild.

TARGET supposes that this is the way that Nepalese like their vegetable soup or else, somebody in the kitchen made a slight error.

The third course, Momo, is very similar to Chinese steamed dumplings, complete with a small bowl of soup into which one places the dumplings which are filled with chopped chicken meat.

Again, the flavour of the dumplings, like the Aloo Tama Bodi ko Rass, was mild.

Up to this point, nothing had been offensive to the taste buds of TARGET’s reviewer, who has trouble in eating very spicy foods.

Bandel ko Bhutuwa and Bhuteko Misas Sabzi changed the temperature of the restaurant, completely, as far as TARGET was concerned, because the Bhuteko Misas Sabzi, stir-fried vegetables, was very spicy, so spicy, in fact, that this reviewer, after having just one mouthful, had to order another beer, immediately, in order to quelch the fire.

The Bandel ko Bhutuwa, mutton slow-cooked, was only slightly spicy and the meat literally melted in one’s mouth.

Our waiter had suggested Khasi ko Masu, a mutton curry.

With it, one ate onion naan, a type of unleavened bread which had been cooked in a tandoor – a clay oven.

The trouble with this dish is that one could easily become a glutton: It is very tasty and it is only mildly spicy.

To top off the meal, Kulfi, an Indian ice cream, was ordered and this helped to neutralise the spiciness of the food.

The Restaurant

Clearly, The Himalaya Restaurant is known in this area of the Hongkong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) because, during the 2 hours or so that this reviewer was there, people kept coming in nearly every 10 minutes or so.

The kitchen is enclosed behind glass so that anybody can see what is going on.

The kitchen was spotless as was the entire restaurant.

TARGET noted that the customers comprised Europeans, Muslims and Chinese, all of whom appeared to be very relaxed in the atmosphere of the very pleasant serving staff – all 3 of them.

The cost of the dishes was very reasonable and the restaurant was offering a 10-percent discount to everybody on the night of medium’s visit.

The restaurant claims to specialise in home cooking and, in view of the simplicity of the dishes, this had to be the case.

But can home cooking be beaten?

There are no frills at this restaurant, but who needs frills when the food, the service and the atmosphere are as friendly as is Himalaya Restaurant.