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| - Oh.... Man.
This place has been on my radar for a long time, as it's consistently gotten excellent reviews and has been very popular with many foodies across the board for a long time. I was therefore absolutely enthused to finally get a chance to check out this place for dinner on a Thursday night - only because my friend's LA phone number inspired them to find a table for us.
While the exterior is unassuming, in a strip mall in a part of the city I usually wouldn't ever find myself, the interior is absolutely spot on with it's décor choices and atmosphere - it's modern, classy, but not ostentatious - and I particularly liked the culturally appropriate paintings. The service and the wait staff were also very much on point, something you'd expect from a more high class joint.
Unfortunately, this is where the 5-star experience that is apparently expected of The Himalayan ends for me, and ends very rapidly.
Between the two of us, we tried the pork mo-mo and the lamb starter for appetizers. The pork mo-mo deserves the praise it's been getting - they were delicious and not unlike Chinese soup dumplings. The lamb appetizer, however, was very lackluster. The lamb was dry, and the "rice crispie like crunchy topping" was not at all inspiring. I felt that appie completely lacked flavor or anything distinct whatsoever.
Sadly, the disappointment didn't stop there - I had the Dal Bhat for my main, which from the menu seems like their staple, "if you come here you should order this as it is a good representation of the diversity of flavours of this restaurant" type of dish - it's a platter with a meat main and several side dishes.
I chose the lamb for the meat main - it was almost like a very thick lamb stew, in a very small cup that had maybe 5 squares of lamb in it - and I can't say it wasn't decently flavourful, but honestly if I did a blind taste test with this one and one from a buffet tray I can't honestly say I'd tell the difference.
The saffron rice was only mediocre - lukewarm and without much saffron fragrance. The pickled carrots were also nothing more than standard, some acid and some tart sweetness but nothing remarkable. The Pickled cabbage - I don't want to be disrespectful in case that was how it was supposed to taste, so I won't factor it into my review score, but the flavor was sour in a rancid way and also bitter without any sort of pleasant taste whatsoever!
The platter was also served with a lentil? soup and a creamy spinach side dish - while both that decent flavor and weren't offensive, again I didn't find this to be any more inspiring than any other run of the mill buffet table. I suppose the flat bread that came with the platter may just have been the best part (fluffy, light, and well baked).
I also had the Mango Moi drink, which is a mango and yogurt drink - I didn't even drink 1/4 of it - it was about 10x sweeter than I'm able to handle with a thick, saucy consistency that reminds me a lot of mango sauce that is put on sushi. Wow, what a mistake.
The mango rice pudding dessert was also so sweet and unremarkable that it was essentially unpalatable - both me and my friend could only handle about two spoonfuls before throwing in the towel.
It's a relief that this was a meal that was under 30/35$, because if it wasn't I would be incredibly offended at the quality/price ratio.
Because of the other stellar reviews, I will come back eventually and give this place another shot - maybe this was a one off. Based on this experience however, I'd say it's hardly worth the price or the hype.
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