KEY POINTS:
I sometimes think that people who find a parking place in Parnell must leave the car where it is and take taxis everywhere. How else to explain the fact that every spot the length of the boulevard was taken on a bleak Monday evening when just about everything was either closed or deserted?
The Blonde, who has an expensive penchant for illegal parking, found a spot that left her shapely rear end one wheel-width across a driveway and her cute little nose hard up against the bullbar of an SUV. I suggested that the driver of the Remuera tractor would not think twice before crushing her bonnet in order to get out. Uncharacteristically, she took my advice and went searching down a side street.
We've had some good meals in Parnell and we've had some pretty dire ones, too. As a general rule, the bad food was served in the places that are - to use a restaurant reviewer's technical term - "up themselves'. The best - like the hearty, unpretentious tucker at St Petersburg behind Antoine's - is to be found in places that know the meaning of effortlessness.
Himalaya definitely falls into the latter category. It purports to be the first fine-dining Nepalese restaurant in the country, an assessment that I am in no position to contradict. Certainly, it is a testament to the wisdom of never straining for effect, even if it does bill itself as 'a new height in taste'.
A stylised white silhouette of mock Himalayas on the interior walls and recorded background music - the meditative chant of a woman's voice over a bowed instrument of some sort - set the scene well. I know that most of Nepal is high up, so I had visions of tsampa and yak butter tea, the food of Tibet, on the other side of the mountains. I asked the waitress whether Nepalese food was more like that of its southern neighbour, India.
"Every place has curry," she said, somewhat cryptically, "but Nepalese food is different. You just have to try it and find out."
There was no arguing with that. I decided to let her and the Blonde decide on what we were eating so I wouldn't have to take the blame.
A plate of appetisers included a small and spicy whole fish, baked to perfection; lightly seasoned shredded chicken; and delicious dry-fried patties like the Indian pakora. Some slightly greasy cubed potato marred things a bit but the creamy mint dressing added interest.
The chicken Momo were the Nepalese take on dumplings, more doughy than the Chinese, but packed with flavour (garlic, ginger, coriander), and the two dipping sauces - one of roasted sesame seeds and the other of chilli tomato - were excellent. The other two mains were more conventional curries, one beef and one vegetable, reminiscent of North Indian food, but gentler, more fragrant than pungent. Fans of the big curry hit may be disappointed - no heat-level options were offered - but I found the taste subtle and nuanced.
We finished with some classically basic desserts - a semolina cake and a small rice pudding each, scattered with nuts and dried fruit. At $7 each they were a steal and left a sweet taste in the mouth at the end of a lovely meal.
Wine list: Largely French. It's also a bar.
Vegetarians: Plenty of options.
Watch out for: A parking place.
Sound check: Conversation-friendly.
Bottom line: Well worth the trek.
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Himalaya
123 Parnell Rd
Phone: 362 0215
Dinner seven days from 6pm; lunch by prior arrangement.
THE BILL
$101 for two
Starter $15
Mains (3) $54
Desserts (2) $14
Wine (2 glasses) $18
Wine list: Adequate.
- Detours, HoS
