In downtown Estes Park Colorado along the backcorner of a city block is a hole in the wall (almost literally) that serves exquisite Nepalese and Indian food. A family run business, the shop offers a buffet for nine dollars for lunch or a dinner menu full of entrees for around ten dollars.
What is unique about this place? Everything. The owners bow down to you practically while serving you the food, take breaks to go outside and scrape little pieces of dirt from the local green space into a bag to bring inside (is that their secret ingredient?), and have exquisitely friendly attitudes. The décor is from Nepal and includes many interesting and jaded tapestries. Additionally, a large liquor collection covers one wall.
The menu is incredible and full of food I have never heard of (but lacks the beloved durian, that Indonesian dessert-tasting fruit thing). We had Nepalese noodles similar to pad thai, but more with greater texture to the flavor and an order of Indian chicken saag. The freshness of the dishes and the mix of flavors (all complimented by the heavenly herb, cilantro) was unbelievable – especially from this chaqteau of a restaurant with no one in it at 6pm. I don’t think I will eat another chicken saag like that one again. It didn’t taste overly creamy, but the balance and freshness of herbs just melted it away into my mouth. The cuts of meat were juicy, but firm and without fatty pieces (we ordered chicken in both dishes).
I do know the restaurant’s secret – I overheard it! They mix all their sauces together fresh using a blender. The Indian dish was out of this world – the taste of the fresh spinach and cilantro together with the chicken was literally unlike anything we had tasted at a typical Indian restaurant. When a restaurant doesn’t follow a normed formula of heating premade sauces that other restaurants follow, it stands to gain a lot!
If I could go back, I would skip the Nepalese naan (it’s too similar to regular naan) and I would get some odd dish on their dessert menu that was poorly described as an ice cream-like concoction of chocolate and coconut (I love coconut!). They also have rice pudding, which is my go-to dessert at Indian restaurants.
We found this restaurant because on google it was one of the few restaurants in the area with a five-star user rating (it’s hard to get this with so many people commenting on restaurants online these days and the opportunity for one customer to be disappointed!).
Looking for more authentic, inexpensive local grub in Estes Park, check out Tulum’s Mexican.
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