Out & About August 2017

With its own unique blend of spices, Nepalese food is light and full of flavour as HILARY SCOTT discovered when she visited Gurkha Chef in Newbury Savour the flavour S o many people lump Nepalese food in with Indian. While there are some similarities and similar spices used in some dishes, Nepalese is generally Keeping with meat, the unusual Kalejo Butuwa is a small poppadum bowl filled to the brim with chicken livers fried with onion and Nepalese spices. The Rara Prawan (£10.95) was four skewers of plump prawns, delicately spiced and char- grilled, the Chamsoor Sag (£3.95) was spinach lightly fried with spices and was one of the nicest spinach dishes I’ve had.

lighter and fresher. One of the best places for novices to try it, and for fans, is Newbury’s Gurkha Chef – on The Broadway and handy whether you walk to it or drive, with car parking just around the corner. You get a warm welcome too – Nepali people are polite and friendly, with smiles as big as the mountain ranges in their country. We were greeted by owners Kamal and Poonam Gurung who work hard to serve up great food and a lovely atmosphere. This is their 11th year in business so they are definitely doing something right. Kamal was keen to deliver when we asked for his recommendations for both starters and mains cooked by head chef Roshan Gurung and his asistant Tirtha Gurung – and soon, after the ubiquitous poppadums, they began to arrive. Many of you will have had Moma, the South Asian steamed dumplings – Gurkha Chef’s version has spicy lamb in its light dumpling casing. These were amazing – as you bit in you could see the red chilli flecked through the lamb and it came, like many of the starters, with a hot chilli sauce and a sesame sauce for dipping.

We loved this – soft, fragrant livers with a mild spice and texture added by the crispy poppadum. We also had fish – a flattened breadcrumbed king prawn (Sinka Prawn) that was marinated in yogurt, ginger and garlic before being coated and fried, and salmon (Poleka Macha) with a highly-spiced sauce that turned the pink fish a zingy orange and which yielded to our forks easily. All starters are between £3.30 and £4.50, which, judging by taste and portion size, is surely one of the best bargains in town. On to mains and here came the dish we wanted to put a flag on top like those hardy souls who climb Everest – this was a triumph. A whole fish (Pokharali Maccha, around £9) marinated in chilli, soy sauce, ginger and garlic. The skin was crispy and the fish soft and moist. We conquered it, no problem at all. We also had a chicken curry – Kukura Ko Masu (£6.95) has a tomato-based sauce, which is also creamy and this was the one dish of the night that did, in a way, resemble an Indian curry. But, as I said before, it was lighter and you could almost taste the individual spices.

We had one portion of pilau rice – though there are plenty of other rice variations to try – and a herby and fine roti, crispy on the outside and soft in the middle as it should be. Even dessert displayed the Nepalese lightness of touch – a pistachio kulfi (chosen because it is Poonam’s favourite) was not too sweet and sang with pistachio flavour. A few Cobras and a good chat with Kamal and Poonam about the attractions of Nepal (it’s not all about climbing you know and we left wanting to book a trip) ended the evening. With two daughters who are “totally British” according to Poonam, we loved hearing of the village and city where the couple grew up before moving to the UK. Like the food (and takeway is also available), the owners are charming. And like the country, the food takes you on a journey of unusual spices, clean tastes and chilli heat from mild to strong. While Newbury may just be 100m above sea level, a visit to Gurkha Chef will make you feel you’ve risen to at least Everest base camp at 5,380m. Happy climbing!

Poonam and Kamal Gurung

Roshan and Tirtha Gurung

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Pictures: Dijana Capan