Description: Nepal – 10/07/09

And so I accidentally had a Nepalese meal…

I mean, having a Nepalese meal was always part of my plans. It just happened at a time when I was not expecting it. It was a lazy Friday evening and the plan was to meet up with Ross and Laura (who had been partially traumatised by her Nigerian meal two days earlier) for a couple of beers, a DVD and a take-away curry. However, we were in Didsbury, so I should have know that our curry would be a Nepalese one. I don’t know why – maybe it is because Indian restauarants are just not exotic enough for upwardly-mobile Didsbury – but the area has become something of a Nepalese ghetto. Wilmslow Road in East Didsbury hosts The Original Third Eye, Palatine Road in Northenden Jai Kathmandu, and Burton Road in West Didsbury has no less than three Nepalese restaurants – Gurkha Grill, Namaste Nepal and the Great Kathmandu.

It was to the latter that we were going. The smart pink-tied waiters showed us through the diners to a desk at the back where we could place our order for collection. We were told that there would be a twenty-minute wait – enough time for us to head out for another drink.

The smells wafting from our take-out as we headed back to Laura’s were quite intoxicating. However, upon opening the bags we hit a snag. Not being familiar with Nepalese food it was a struggle to work out which carton contained which dish – the odd scribble on the lids was not particularly helpful. We were able to make out our starter however – a Kathmandu Mixed Shashlik to share. This was a grilled kebab of lamb, chicken, king prawns, tandoori chops, onion and peppers. And it was fine, but of the standard you would expect from any decent curry-house. There was nothing that would set it apart as being particularly evocative of Kathmandu – and certainly not the king prawns! What I would say was that for £9.75 it was not good value, even considering the free poppadums they had included. Between the three of us it amounted to £3.25 each, and I’m not sure any of us got more than, say, two pieces of meat.

The main courses were more interesting. In particular dishes tended to be more subtly spiced (i.e. not as ‘hot’) as the Indian dishes I am more used to, and they often came ‘dry’ and not in a ghee-based sauce. For example Ross ordered Chandane Dry Fry (£7.10), a vibrant concoction of chicken stir-fried with ‘herbs and spices in the Nepalese style’ (certainly a touch of chilli and a sprinkling of ginger). To contrast I ordered Bhaktapur Chicken (£7.30), which came in a makhani-like butter and cream sauce. Laura’s choice was lamb karahi for £6.95, rich in onion, capsicum and tomato puree. Add in two portions of pillau rice at £1.90 each and we had a perfectly decent take-away meal for three for £35.

With its rather dated décor Great Kathmandu is not the flashiest Nepalese restaurant around – that title would probably go to Gurkha Grill orThird Eye. But it has a devoted following who choose this little place over its rivals time and time again, whether for eating in or taking out. And while I think the mixed shashlik starter very overpriced for what we received, I have to say that the three mains were both tasty and competatively priced (for Didsbury). And in the Chandane and Bhaktapur dishes they showed us something a bit different from the usual curries on offer at every tandoori up and down Britain. All credit to the Nepalese chefs (Chandra Kumar K.C. and Dhurba Bahadur Dangol). I would be happy to eat here again.

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