Experience a little of Nepal, Tibet, and Bhutan at this newly opened restaurant at the heart of the city
Tongue, lungs, loins — these are the body parts that you can savour at Yeti – The Himalayan Kitchen at its recently launched second outlet at Connaught Place. If you have the stomach for it!
If you are a fan of food from Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan or would like to try their savoury offerings, look no further.
The interiors borrow a little from each of the countries they seek to represent with their food: wall hangings, scrolls, prayer flags, and the ambient Tibetan chants. The menu is encased inside beautiful brown leather folders, which was sourced from Janpath.
We started off with a platter which may not be your conventional choice — the Tibetan platter (with the organs mentioned above) offers interesting insights into their local cuisine. Served with Tingmo — freshly prepared steamed bread — it includes Gyuma (sausage) , Lowa (goat lung), Cheley (goat tongue), and Shapta (buff meat).
Apart from the initial scepticism, it turns out the texture is the only factor with which you can differentiate the three — except the dry sausages — as the flavours are quite similar.
If you would like to wash down your meal with a drink, you can try Yeti’s lemon (fresh lime with mint leaves and soda) or Ginger mint, two equally refreshing drinks.
A word of caution: they are yet to acquire licence to serve alcohol.
Moving on to our next choice of starters, we went to a safer one with Kokra Wai-Wai Sadeko. A staple snack for both Nepalis and Indians, this Wai-Wai is not the regular ramen we are familiar with.
This is topped with onions, tomatoes, green chillies, lemon and chicken and was a good snack. The waiter informs us that this is enjoyed as a street food in Nepal.
We were very excited to try their momos, since the Haus Khas village outlet makes them deliciously well. Here, however, we were in for quite a disappointment. The Yeti special ‘Kothe’ styled momos and the Jhol momos were equally dry. However, the latter did come in an interesting thick garlicky soup.
After all the flavours of Nepal and Tibet, we had to try some Bhutanese food. We went with one that looked a little mellow on the palette. The Ema Datchi is one of the most famous Bhutanese
dishes.
Made with cheese and chilli peppers, this dish is very close to a fondue. Served with Tingmo, which is soft and fluffy, the dish is not spicy like the others, but all about the cheese. So, if you love dairy, pick this one with no hesitation.
Choosing the main course was a task, as many items on the menu were not available. So maybe ask in advance before setting your heart on a dish.
We finally went with Sliced Pork in Vegetables that was from the Chef’s special menu. The pork was happily tender and not as spicy as the other meat dishes.
As pork lovers, another dish we ordered was from the “favourite” section – the Pork in Soy Sauce and Mustard Oil, which is a Nepali dish. It has the same flavours as the Tibetan platter.
To go along with this we ordered the Chow Chow veg noodles. It was very basic flavoured noodles tossed with some vegetables, and surprisingly low on sodium unlike the rest of the menu (barring Ema Datchi).
We finished this meal with Yomari, sweet Newari rice dumpling with Nutella chocolate. While this was the only sweet dish available at that moment, we quite enjoyed the little pockets of gooey Nutella inside thin-skinned rice dumplings.
While it doesn’t keep up with the reputation of its sister outlet in Haus Khas, anyone wanting a bite of the Himalayas in and around Connaught Place could give it a try.
Cost for two: Rs 1,900
Address: B41, B Block, Inner Circle, Connaught Place, New Delhi
Review done on invitation
