World Food Thursdays

Country No. 6: Nepal

 

Date: 18/05/2014

 

Venue: Gurkhas Diner, Balham

 

Attendees: Ben, Lee, Kim, Ellen, Becky

 

Cost: £28 a head

 

A sadly much diminished collective of world food wanders descended on Balham on a balmy summer’s eve to celebrate the six-month anniversary of World Food Thursdays.

 

Perhaps in tribute to the special nature of this milestone episode the gang decided to eschew the now traditional Tuesday evening festivities and attempt to bridge the gap from week night friends to weekend friends. A bold move with the potential for fireworks, heightened by sensational weather and the collective volume of white wine consumed before the event.

 

Having built up a sizeable thirst on the sweltering tube journey from North to South London Ben wasted no time ordering bottles of both Kathmandu and Ghurkha, the mysteriously named Nepalese beers.

 

First up on the menu were prawn crackers, a somewhat surprising although no doubt enjoyable and twice replenished delicacy, emphasising the not quite India, not quite Asia position Nepal maintains in both geography and culture.

 

With all attendees present, and the merits of sharing or not-sharing fully discussed, orders were made.

 

To start we went with the quintessential Nepalese dish, Momos (soft dumplings filled with lamb), Dayalu, Tareko Farshi and Nakese.

 

For main we ordered a variety of saucy curries, some rice, some Nepali bread (disappointingly, from an epicurean perspective, similar to Naan Bread) and some vegetarian sides. Clearly the curries must have looked appetising because Kim was easily persuaded to break her no red meat stance and tuck into a little bit of each of the lamb dishes.

 

The highlights were the sides, the Rato Farshi (pumpkin cooked in tomato and onion sauce with carom seeds) being a particular favourite.

 

Finally, summoning up reserves of strength, we were enticed enough by the fancy dessert menu to take a little wander down sweet alley. Sadly I can’t remember the names of the dishes but three were ordered. The first was a staple of Chinese menus through the realm, fried banana with toffee sauce. The second a boiled milk pudding that was much nicer than I have made it sound. The third dish split opinions, I think it was called Hot Sweet and could best be described as spring rolls filled with cooked carrot and sugar, all coated in a suspicious looking white sauce. Ben liked it, everyone else was wrong.

 

Nepalese facts:

 

• The name Sherpa is a generic trademark. Whilst thought to mean Guide it is actually the name of a Himalayan tribe in Nepal whose members typically fulfil the role of guides and has now become synonymous with the act of taking tourists up and down the treacherous slopes.