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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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Pictures: Dijana Capan