Restaurant Review: Gurkhas

Locations: There are 6 locations (CBD, Fitzroy North, Prahran, Carlton, Richmond and Brunswick)
Phone: 03 9629 7186 (CBD location)
Link: gurkhas.com.au
Cuisine: Nepalese
Overall Impression: 5/10

Gurkha’s predominantly serves Himalayan cuisine which is a variety of Nepalese cuisine eaten by Tibetan and other closely related ethnic groups in the Himalayas. The food served at Gurkha’s is always hearty and incredibly satisfying.

Lentil Soup 

The soup unfortunately lacked salt but it had a beautifully rich texture and had a good amount of flavour which was brought to life the moment I added a touch of salt. 

Chhoila

 Tender slices of beef marinated with chillies, lemon juice and spices, typical Kathmandu style

Aloo Rayo

Spinach (mustard leaves) and potato sauté’ with cumin seeds and dry chillies

Kukhura ko Masu

Boneless chicken curry, typical Nepali style

The curry was cooked well and the meat was tender and juicy. 

Masala Roti

Flaky Bread stuffed with herbs flavour mashed potato

The Roti was beautifully fluffy and light. The mashed potatoes it contained was perfectly seasoned. 

Steamed Rice

One of the first Nepalese restaurants in Melbourne, Gurkha’s retains an authentic touch to the food it delivers. The service is consistently warm and friendly and there is a casual and relaxed vibe about the place. There is also a brilliant BYO policy – corkage is a mere $2.00 per person.

Restaurant Review: Gurkhas

Location: 258 Lygon St, Carlton

Phone: (03) 9663 3119

Link: www.gurkhas.com.au

Cuisine: Nepalese
Overall Impression: 5/10 

Every dish was smacked full of flavour and very enjoyable. Although nothing surpassed our expectations, we would definitely not hesitate revisiting. Hearty, simple and to the point, this place is great for a casual dinner outing. Ambience-wise, it is quite noisy but not unacceptably so. 

Restaurant Review: Om Vegetarian

Location: Level 1, 28 Elizabeth St, Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9663 0062
Link: www.omvegetarian.com
Overall Impression: 5/10

Was catching up with the lovely Phermonh. Being vegetarian, she suggested this restaurant called Om Vegetarian. I have actually never heard of this restaurant until then. She sold it to me as being $6.50 for an 'all you can eat' dinner. I was shocked but also now very curious. So I spent the rest of the week before our catch up getting really excited about what a $6.50 buffet would look like.

When we arrived, I realised it was not so much 'all you can eat', but more feel free to ask for more, which in my opinion, are two very different things. The latter requires a thicker skin.

What happens is you are served with a plate filled with food (as pictured) and you can go up to the counter and ask for refills.

I ended up asking for a little more of the basmati rice and curry potato and we both left well fed.

It is hard to say anything too harsh about a place that charges you $6.50 for dinner so I won't. The food was very basic but at the end of the day it delivered what it promised. Thanks for the lovely catch up, Phermonh! I look forward to more vegetarian meals with you.