On the corner at the Himalaya Kabob Korner

Indianapolis, Indiana

Castleton

 

Onwards to the next spicy adventure! Trumpy and I went all out at the Indian restaurant last week, but if Indian food is a little too adventurous for you, this type of food might be a better place to try and get your feet wet into the high five to your face flavors.

Introducing Himalaya Kabob Korner! This place serves Mediterranean and Nepalese dishes. What exactly is Nepalese food you ask? Well...the best I can describe it is "Indian light".

Indian food is full of spices and can overwhelm the unprepared foodie. This doesn't necessarily mean that Indian food will burn your tongue out of your mouth (although some dishes can :-P), but it can confuse you with the sheer number of flavors invading your taste buds. Nepalese food is like Indian food in that it uses similar flavors, but it is delicately spiced so that you aren't trying to figure out what kind of party is happening in your mouth.

Kabob Korner is located on the corner of a shopping strip in front of Castleton Mall.  It better be on the corner if it's called the Kabob Korner ^-^. The restaurant itself is not much to look at; it's very casual and everything is served on foam with plastic flatware but the calming Himalayan background music does add a little something to make it a little better than a fast food restaurant. The owner of the restaurant is a nice lady from Nepal. I was new to Nepalese food so she was very helpful in recommending something to try and even took the time to explain all the dishes on menu to me. The menu has a lot of variety and includes the normal Mediterranean dishes with a few Nepalese dishes sprinkled into the mix. There was a lunch buffet that day so I opted for that so I could try as many dishes as possible.

 

One of the dishes on the buffet was Manto.  It's pretty much a steamed dumpling filled with ground meat and spices. They come with the top secret dipping sauce that is made from fresh grown tomatoes and a unique pepper found only in Nepal.  These were really tasty.  The spices were definitely different than your average Asian dumpling and the sauce was flavorful and not spicy.  I couldn't get a picture of them because they were always gone and I couldn't wait long enough to take a picture before I ate them.  I know patience is a virtue but... I forgot.  :)

Also on the menu were chicken momos which are another type of steamed dumplings.  The ground chicken filling was spiced with a bit of curry.  The sauce was served on the side for dipping and not drizzled on top like the Manto.  The sauce was made with tomatoes, other spices and sesame oil.  It reminded me of the Thai peanut satay sauce. 

As for the Mediterranean food, all the kabob and gyro meat was nice and juicy with just the right amount of spice and made with good quality meat.  Small amounts of food are put out on the buffet at a time so everything was freshly made, but if there are a lot of people in the restaurant, you could end up waiting for a few minutes for a refill. 

 

This restaurant is also very vegetarian friendly.  They had a few options on the buffet, and also plenty on the regular menu that you can order separately.  I'm a big fan of the lentils.  These are a lot like Indian restaurant lentils but a lot lower on the intensity scale in flavor.  Don't get me wrong.  These have a lot of flavor to them... just not as much as standard Indian food. 

Bonus points.  If you go on Friday, you get free baklava with the buffet.  Score!

 

Overall, I like this family run restaurant.  It is a good deal for great exotic food, but if you are looking for a fancy date night, I don't think this is the place for you.  I definitely recommend this restaurant and Nepalese food in general, especially if you are not quite ready to try Indian food. 

 

How Nuts Are We?

Food: 5 coconuts
Service: 4 coconuts because it can take some time for made to order items
Repeatability: 5 coconuts