In Search of Nepalese Food

Ever since last December’s venture to Darjeeling, to soak up the fresh Himalayan air and even fresher tea, I’ve had an urgent craving for Nepalese food – a craving that led me to seek out Gorkha Grill today, of which I’ve heard much about. The particular craving was for momo, a Nepalese version of the jiaozi, or gyoza, but made with minced chicken and seasoned with Nepalese herbs, rather than with pork, as in the Chinese and Japanese versions.

But first, the preliminaries: Smith Street and its vicinity is one place with no shortage of more than decent food. Gorkha Grill is set along Smith Street, in one of the shophouses near the lane where the Smith Street open-air “hawkers” are. Stepping into it feels a step away from Chinatown, as the background music of choice is the Kal Ho Naa Ho soundtrack (my favourite soundtrack, incidentally), the restaurant is a small and rather cosy little place with minimal though well-appointed decorative items.

For S$8.00, there are 8 pieces of momo, which you may opt to have steamed or fried. This is also one of the few places here which sells Kashmiri naan – a version of naan with cherry and nut toppings, making it have an excellent “dessert” taste. Difficult to find, and usually rather expensive, this may be had here for just $3.50. One of Gorkha Grill’s specialty dishes is its fresh prawns in wine and cream on a papaya boat ($14), served with basmati rice. The gravy on the prawns was one of the more interesting ones I’ve had all year – it wasn’t spicy yet had hints of it, it was creamy yet not overtly or overwhelmingly so in a carbonara sort of way. Our sole dish of vegetables was spinach with cumin ($6.50) – it was interesting enough, in that the taste accompanying that vegetable is not something one typically pairs a vegetable with, yet highly palatable, and complemented the other dishes well. Excellent Nepalese tea may be had at $2.50 a cup, or $5 for a pot. Mustang coffee ($2.50), is a sort of coffee with a dash of Nepalese liquor – a taste I can only describe as milky Bru coffee with a slight hint of alcohol. Pleasant enough, though not exactly gourmet, but well worth a try.

(It also has an extensive North Indian menu, though we didn’t try that, given as to how we eat that all the time.)

My only gripe was: at $4 for a serving of gulab jamun, that’s just insane. My inner Bengali screams murder most foul. While I do look fondly upon those good memories of eating momo and chowmein on a plate of pressed leaves, and drinking Nepalese tea off a little mud cup (next to a stable of horses, on Christmas Day, and peeking into a Tibetan curios store, no less) – this is as good as it gets.

Gorkha Grill
21 Smith Street, Chinatown
Singapore 058935
Tel: 62270806

Opening Hours (Open Daily):
Lunch – 11.30 am – 3pm
Dinner – 5.30pm – 10.30pm