Friday, December 05, 2008

Himalayan Hallucinations, The Khukri

From Han Su Yin's THE MOUNTAIN IS YOUNG:

Abandoning her passionless marriage to colonial civil servant, John Ford, Ann journeys to Khatmandu, land of gods, temples and snow peaks in a voyage of self-discovery and spiritual awakening.

Against the erotic and deeply mystical backdrop of Khatmandu she learns the reality of love, with its pain and sacrifice. Here she meets the majestic Unni Mennon, worshipped by his own people, resented by the Europeans. And as they struggle against the rigid morality of European colonial standards and the man-made perversion of racial discrimination, their remarkable story-and the story of Khatmandu- unfolds.....
.

Ah, lets face it, I am not in the league of Life for Beginners or Hairy Berry when it comes to arty farty literary prose..... I am a pleb, and proud of it!

I have been fascinated to the point of obsession when I read numerous reviews on Khukri, a Nepalese restaurant right in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. A portal into a whole new mystical world. I expected the winds of the Himalayas to assail my chubby cheeks as I entered the premises, and scents and smells of Khatmandu invading my nostrils the way Germany attacked Europe in World War 2.

Instead, I drove around the greater Kota Raya area, looking for reasonable parking, only to end up in Kota Raya where it costs RM2.50 per bloody hour. Thanks to a very badly drawn map (by AWOL) and even worse system of road signs by DBKL, I emerged from the Kota Raya dungeon a bit disoriented, but suddenly found myself in a whole new world....[breaking into that awful ballad from Aladdin]. I felt I was in some part of ethnical New York, where a predominant community resided, and almost wondered if I would be yanked in by one of the foreigners to meet the Don Corleone equivalent, the Nepalese Godfather, sipping yak milk and puffing cigars made from herbs from the Himalayas. No such luck. Toyboy taps me from behind, as he came in search for me, to direct me to the place with the blue sign.


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Khukri refers to some kind of Nepalese dagger as illustrated in the menu below. Certainly not your everyday cooking knife.

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We were greeted by a Gurkhalike Buxom Nepalese Waitress, who held up the menu and spoke in flawless English. Much like Unni Mennon in Han Su Yin's THE MOUNTAIN IS YOUNG. She seemed familiar.

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Our beers which were insufficiently cold, (maybe there's no need for refrigeration in the Himalayas) had to be chilled using that good old chinaman method, adding ice! Ah, watered down beer and good chow. Happy times, happy times.

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Numerous exotic dishes, which I know not the names of, as I was too busy soaking up the wonderful atmosphere, and basking in the love of my friends, made the balloon decorations and party hads totally incongruous. You see, my dear friends had gone to great pains to decorate the place with balloons as it was supposed to be in honor of my birthday. So the celebration continues. .... alas, my head was too big (literally too big) to fit into a party hat. So was Hairy Berry's. Head.

Present at the lunch were Ciki, Hairy Berry and AWOL, of the flogger community, and Mr & Mrs Toyboy, and Leon Lai from the NFC. (non flogger community).

Of course, the highlight of the meal has to be these MOMOS.... (which reminds me, I have an undone MEME), which are the Nepalese version of our Xiu Long Bao. I am sure they must have been spawned from the same Bao school....probably in the days of yore, all the cooks from Nepal, Tibet and China attended the same culinary class....


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The other variety of Momo were the fried kind. Also very yummy, they resembled fairer versions of Seremban Siew Bao, but tastes completely different. I love the dipping sauce both momo varieties are served with, but the soup brought to mind the term dishwasher.....


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The winter song of a solitary momo. She sings, eat me, eat me.


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I just love those bronze water jugs. It lends such an authentic ambience, (not that any help was needed, the place was a swarming hive of activity for many Nepalese.... I wonder if they were disconcerted by our staring at their interesting looking dishes).

And the piece de resistance, ......

Gorgeous cupcakes from AWOL, Hairy, and Ciki....deliberately dolled up all girly girly like....pbbbbbbbbbbbth, thanks guys.....

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............a beautiful floral arrangement complete with two large candles, not unlike a funeral.

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A mystical aura surrounds these cupcakes, with the strange letters FOTY adorning its centre. Whatever does it mean? Eff Oh Tee Why.....Strange.

The Nepalese desserts are a bit too sweet and milky for my taste. Haluwa and some milk rice porridge.
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As if it wasnt enough to buy me lunch, my dearrrrrrrr friends also showered me with luxury gifts...sniff, stuff I'd never buy myself...I mean, how can I in clear conscience use a RM75 /250ml bottle of l'occitane shower gel to wash my toosh....

And Godivas, the epitome of chocolate.....


Thanks soooo much, AWOL, Hairy Berry, Ciki, Leon, Mrs & Mrs Zenboy...hugs......

15 comments:

HairyBerry said...

the khukri is such a nice place to hang out hor, despite the 10 minutes walk from the kotaraya carpark (the nearest, me thinks).

lurve the momos (especially the fried ones) and that dipping!

glad you enjoyed the little lunch (too bad the deaf one was away). oh, and aiyoh, i'm nowhere near LFB lar when it comes to arty farty proses. i am afterall, only a sendiri shioker and proud of it! ;)

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

aladdin in wonderland?? wah sound higher then drugs..(not like i know la)..

must go try these momo..calling out to me d..

Anonymous said...

must make sure our next party have hats that can fit your head huh??

the momos were my favorite that day too. Just looking at your pictures makes me wish i can bite into them now.

Argus Lou said...

Haha, had me chuckling all the way, FBB. Momos reminded you of Meme indeedy.
And what in the world is FOTY? (The only thing that came to mind was 'F*ck Off, Thank You'! But that is just too rude to be true.)
Happy belated birthday again!

(My word verification is 'misters' - is it reminding me of birth control?)

Anonymous said...

wah, so lucky.. one birthday celebration after another after another. Took me a while to see the FOTY. I like Argus's meaning for it.

Penang Tua Pui said...

nice review and nice place to hang out....

Happy Belated birthday ..

Steve said...

That was a beautiful post... and yes momos are the best part of Nepalese cuisine. You reminded me about a week I spent in Pokhara, the second largest city in Nepal. It was around a lake that I can't actually remember the real name of, but everyone referred to it as Lake Hepatitis.

Anyways, the restaurants there had the most extensive menus. There was however, a catch. All the dishes were actually the same... a type of Moussaka. Order moussaka, get moussaka. Order lasagne, get moussaka. Order fish and chips, get moussaka. Absolutely true. We tried 7 different restaurants, and no matter what we ordered, we always got mousakka. Those wacky Nepalese.

(And my word verification is 'ching' - as in Kerching... the sound my pokie machine at Genting makes when it spills forth thousands of dollars onto the floor. Not.)

Anonymous said...

Hmm... that Gurkhalike Buxom Nepalese Waitress does seem familiar... :P

And what's this about my prose? I merely babble and ramble and whimper in comparison to your incomparable wit. Tis true, tis true...

Ciki said...

So apart from the momo's (deco and pressies) didja like the food? lol...

Rebecca Saw said...

The celebration still continues huh?
Lucky FBB!
So u only liked the momos? Some dish looks "indian" to me but the momos are more like chinese...so how do you "classify" nepalese food?

Anonymous said...

LOL at Argus' FOTY definition.

Excellent point on NYC; notice how our worlds are all merging and resembling each other? I suppose it's part of our progession into being a developed nation.

Nepalese Godfather sipping yak milk sounds sooooo wrong.

fatboybakes said...

LL, i know, argus is GOOD isnt she...
why nepalese godfather sip yak milk cannot meh?

thenomadgourmand, hahah, aiyo, so malu la...still got wor, at least 2 more celebs, not blogged about yet. i a bit embarrased oso.

hmmm, nepalese food .... a bit undefined. seems like a mixture of indian, chinese, etc, maybe due to its geographical nature. more indian though. but it was very tasty.

ciki, i loved the food.

LFB, please, if i can compose half as well as you, i'd have slightly more visitors.... instead of being an abandoned himalayan hacienda...

steve, haha, i always wanted to do pokhara actually. sigh... hmmm, wonder where the mousakka influence came from. are they near greece? do they have egg plant in abundance?

penang tua pui, yeah, u should visit when u in kl next. very exotic.

myfoodsafari, its so florally camouflaged isnt it. oh, i should mention, the cupcakes were rather good....not overly sweet, and the icing was yummy butter icing, not those margarine rubbish some ppl sell.

argie, GASP!!!!! hahahahah, your comment takes the cake. so farnee.

mrs toyboy, tahpau some for xmas?

nipples, how do the nipple-eese momos call you?

hairy berry, u and lfb, both so modest. yeah, we missed the deaf one orite. my parking was RM7.50! can probably eat a few more momos.

Argus Lou said...

Nepalese godfather sips milk directly from the yak, that's how dangerous and daring he is.

You all ah... made me scroll up 'coz I couldn't remember what I scribbled. Did I win a cake from FBB? Yay! Make it a big one 'coz I don't wanna go looking for it with my trusty magnifying glass.

Tomorrow I become a dogmum (like godmother but more responsible and no yak) so I might have to 'disappear' for a few weeks. Miss you guys already!

Rebecca Saw said...

2 more??!! the well-loved FBB! Ya lor.. seems very mixed up type of cuisine ;p

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