Trying Nepalese cuisine at The Gurkhas Restaurant

*AD – this experience was gifted to our family for this post. All opinions, as always, are our own.

I do not think I have ever had Nepalese cuisine before, so when Dann and I were invited to try some of the menu at The Gurkhas Restaurant, we both were pretty excited to try something so new to us! The Gurkhas was founded by Shrabaneswor Rai, who is Nepal born and is also the co founder of a few different restaurants in Islington. The head chef, himself, and his father-in-law were all inspired by the heritage of the Himalayas to create their menu.

Snack and Starters

Dann and I got a snack and a starter each to begin our meal. For the snack, we went with the Gurkha Pickles, which were a fermented vegetable coated in Nepali spices. These were crunchy and spicy and quite delicious – unlike any pickle I had previously had. Dann really loved them too and continued to talk about them well into the evening. For our starters, we ordered the white and green asparagus and the spicy lamb kachila, but what came out was the asparagus and the chicken dumplings. We didn’t realize that the dumplings weren’t what we ordered until we tried them, and as they were so good, just decided to go with it.

The white and green asparagus was like a salad. It had a mustard-esque dressing on the bottom which was very chunky, some grilled asparagus, and then lots of chopped herbs on top. I found the salad to be really lack luster – the herbs were overpowering and besides them, there was no real flavor to the dish. The chicken dumplings (the full name of them being the Kukhura ko jhol momo) were really delicious. Probably my favorite thing of the night – there was a big show of pouring the lapsi and tomato sauce over the top of them, which was rich and meaty. The dumplings themselves were tender and delicious.

Drinks and Service

Dann and I each got water for the table (they had asked still or sparkling, there is tap water too, but I always say still and then realize it’s a bottle of £5.50 water and am regretting it). We both each got a cocktail as well – mine was fruity and Danns was an old fashion. The drinks were fine, though they did take quite some time to come out, appearing after our snack was finished.

The service is where I had some issues. I did not mind the dish coming out incorrectly at the start, as it was neat to try the dumplings instead, but I can see how that would be an issue for people with allergies or people paying for their meal, as this starter was actually cheaper than the one on our bill at the end of our night. There also was a significant wait between courses – like 45 minutes between our starter and main course. We went to the restaurant on a Tuesday, where there wasn’t that many people at all. We actually kept being asked if we wanted more drinks; another bottle of water. Then 30 minutes latter, another pair of drinks. Mine wasn’t finished yet at all, so I wasn’t sure why they kept asking. The moment we said no we do not want another drink, our mains came out instantly. It felt like the staff were instructed to hold our food until we had purchased more drinks. The food that then came out was – to be honest – cold. My potatoes on my plate were cold, my pork on top was barely room temperature. Dann’s fish had clearly been under a heat lamp. The service and timing was pretty annoying, considering the price of the food.

Main Courses

My starter was the Gorkhali pork Iberico secretto and dann got the monkfish cholia. As mentioned above, these both came out quite a long time after we had ordered them, and were not really at temperatures that we wanted. Dann’s fish was tough at the skin, due to clearly being under a heat lamp. It had good curry-esque flavor, and the cucumber salad it was on top of was nice, but also it was warm when it felt like it should have been colder. My potatoes were delicious under my pork, they were spicy and well seasoned, but super cold. The pork itself had an amazing coating and was cooked so well, but had just been left to sit for a while and was also room temperature, which didn’t make for the best experience.

Overall, we really enjoyed trying such a new type of food at The Gurkhas, it’s just a shame that the service is very reliant on people purchasing more drinks. A few of the other tables also got dumplings and we did see one person send them back as it wasn’t what they ordered either. It’s a bit strange to see the lack of attention to detail in such an expensive place, with a dress code.

Check out our other restaurant reviews.