Nepal’s culinary peak is in... Woolwich

I’ve come to south-east London to feast on Nepalese food. Thanks in part to the many Gurkha soldiers and their families who have settled in the area, the Royal Borough of Greenwich is home to the highest number of Nepalese-born residents in London. This has fuelled a demand for authentic Nepalese food. From Blackheath to Bromley, Lewisham, Woolwich and Plumstead, a host of restaurants, cafés, market stalls and food trucks have sprung up to serve the community, with newer offerings such as Eat Momo in Borough and supper club Tapari popping up all the time. The question for anyone unfamiliar with this cuisine is: what to order? And where to go?

Although the country’s food draws on flavours from neighbouring India, Tibet and China, Nepalese cuisine has its own distinct characteristics. Ingredients such as jimbu (Himalayan leaf garlic), tori tel (mustard seeds and oil) and timur (Nepali Sichuan peppercorn) feature regularly. Vegetables like okra, lentils and potatoes are common, as are goat and buffalo meat and offal. Among many regional varieties, Newari cuisine from the Newar people of the Kathmandu Valley is most celebrated and the source for many restaurant signatures such as chatamari (rice pancakes), choila (spicy marinated roasted mutton or buffalo) and bhutan (lamb or goat tripe).

The most popular and familiar Nepalese dish is momo – the Tibetan-inspired dumplings served with tomato chutney that are widely considered the test of a good restaurant. “I eat, think and dream momo,” says chef Binod Baral (formerly of Tamarind and Bombay Bicycle Club), who earned the moniker “momo king” for his efforts in popularising the dish. It’s Baral who schools me not only on where to find momo but also how to eat them. “Don’t cut momo with a knife and fork,” he says. “Eat them whole so the juices burst in your mouth. And try a couple without chutney first so you can taste the meat, ginger, garlic, onion and herb filling.”

You should eat momo whole, so the juices burst in your mouth

Kailash Momo in Woolwich is my first stop. Behind its emerald-green shopfront, I find a Shangri-La of rug-covered benches, shiny gold wallpaper and framed Dalai Lama quotes on the walls. As well as Himalayan comfort dishes such as thukpa (noodle soup) and tingmo (steamed bun), the accessible menu at this family-run restaurant includes curries, noodles and rice dishes that go easy on the punchiest Nepalese flavours like mustard oil. Among my favourites are the chilli chicken fried momo, which are sticky in a sweet and sour sauce. I also like the surprisingly demure bhutan, which consists of soft strips of stir-fried goat stomach coated in a spicy dry sauce.

On the hunt for other varieties of momo, I head to Namaste On The Wheel food truck in Woolwich’s Beresford Square. Here, a portion of steamed momo delivers eight hot parcels of juicy deliciousness. At Shristha Kitchen, a tiny unit in another Woolwich market, the knockout jhol momo (dumplings in a curried tomato soup) is creamy, aromatic and spicy with red chilli oil.

At Maya DD’s, a low-key venue around the corner with laminate tables and Hindi figurines on display, I make the mistake of forgoing the celebrated momo for something more adventurous. The samay baji platter normally eaten during feasts is a thali-like mix of aloo achar (spiced potato salad), choila, bhutan and rice flakes. The combination of dry grains with curry served (intentionally) cold leaves me cold. But my faith is restored by a takeaway order of chicken sekuwa (grilled skewers) and sel roti, a sweet fried doughnut that I eat dipped in tea as a snack. 

Of course, like any foodie, I’m most excited by spots I would never have discovered without insider knowledge. A quick Google search brings up Kailash Momo and Maya DD’s as neighbourhood stalwarts, and Everest Inn in Blackheath too, which has won awards for its Indian and Nepalese food. If it weren’t for Swapnil Gurung of Tapari, however, I would never have popped into Beresfords Fish & Chips in Woolwich. Alongside the battered fish, burgers, sausages, fried chicken and pies on sale at this Nepalese-owned chippie, you can find possibly the best Nepali chow mein in London. This variation on the popular Chinese dish incorporates extra Nepali spice. Beresfords’ version is charry in flavour and buzzy in effect, like MSG in a Saturday-night takeaway.

Another tip-off from Baral leads me to Gurkha Club – an “ex-forces social venue” in Plumstead that is unassumingly furnished with wooden tables, a TV blasting out Nepalese music videos and photographs of Gurkha servicemen (some with Joanna Lumley). With my Gurkha premium lager, I order the buffalo momo soup, which is sour, aromatic and stupendously tasty. Then a dish that isn’t on the menu that Baral has told me to request. My server has to check with the kitchen first. But half an hour later out it comes: dyakula (mutton stew) – tender meat on the bone in a tomato-rich gravy cooked to the point of mellow spicy sweetness. For all its modesty, Gurkha Club has served up the holy grail of restaurant cooking. A dish that could make me a regular. 

@ajesh34