Published by Jeremy. Last Updated on April 24, 2022.
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One of our favorite travel memories was hiking to Everest Base Camp in Nepal. Along the way, we were able to sample many rather delicious Nepali dishes to help keep us going on the brutal hike.
So when we found out that Pittsburgh has a Nepali community in the South Hills with several restaurants and stores, we had to go get our fix of the momos and other staples we enjoyed in our travels.
At the aptly named Everest Kitchen in Brentwood, we found all of these plus a modest offering of Bhutanese dishes as well. But for our first visit, we had to try out the Nepali side of the menu!
Take a Trip to Nepal and Bhutan at Everest Kitchen
Without a doubt, we knew what our appetizer would be when visiting Everest Kitchen- momos.
Most countries around the world have some form of dumpling dish, and in Nepal, it is the momo. Like other cultures, these can come stuffed with an array of fillings, be steamed or pan-fried, and often come out in large amounts of sauce (in Nepal it is often tomato-based loaded with ginger, onion, and more). We lost count of the number of momos we ate in Nepal, but it was definitely well over 100 in our month there- they're addictive when done right.
We opted for pork momos with 10 to an order and were filled generously with very lightly seasoned pork. This one truly was meant to highlight the flavors of the pork first and foremost and we really enjoyed the consistency of the fry as well but were on the mellow side flavorwise (next time we will try the vegetarian to see if the flavors would be a bit more complex, though).
All that being said, these took us right back to Nepal and we devoured them handily. Memories associated with food are real, and this is one of those dishes for us.
For our entrees, we went a bit out there with some lesser-known Nepali dishes.
Angie went for the chicken thukpa- a Nepali noodle soup with chicken, cilantro, cabbage, carrot, and spinach. This one was immensely flavorful with a nice balance of chile (without being too spicy), garlic, acid, and chicken. It was vaguely reminiscent of pho but with its own characteristics that were heavier on the previously mentioned flavors. Suffice it to say, we did not have leftovers of this one.
I opted for the pork sekuwa which was grilled pork in a house sauce with onions, chilis, and herbs and spices. I really wanted to enjoy this one, but there was something quite pungent about it I couldn't get over. It tasted heavily of onion, almost like asafetida, and was a bit overpowering for me on that end despite the pork being grilled with a wonderful char.
Still, hard to beat the price for the volume all the same- I just wish I could have got more nuance out of this one as the flavor was overpowering.
Apart from the above dish, the only other regret we had from our visit was that when we tried to order from the Bhutanese section of the menu, we were told it wasn't available. These are typically only served on weekends and are rather unique to the city, but as we visited on a weekend we couldn't tell if this was a one-off issue or trending to something more permanent.
In either case, we will be back to try more and see. Plus eat momos. So many more momos.
Everest Kitchen is located at 4042 Saw Mill Run Blvd in Brentwood, PA.
