Himalayan Kitchen — Restaurant in San Antonio

I saw this new restaurant on google maps when i typed “indian restaurants” in the search bar. Had a 5.0 rating so my gf and i decided to give it a try. First off the ambiance was kinda underwhelming, music was strange and very low in volume. Where we sat there was either a huge draft or they had the A/C cranked up all the way. Either way kinda cold and uncomfortable also made our food get cold faster! The service was great and the owner she made you feel comfortable and not overbearing. Now to the food, I ordered the chicken pokra (not sure if spelled right) for an appetizer. And for main entree’s my gf got the Dal Makhani and i got the butter chicken with some garlic naan. First off the appetizer, the chicken was beautifully seasoned and the sauces, especially the green salsa verde went with it spectacularly! The chicken on its own was flavorful to be eaten solo, although a tad bit dry. My gf thought the Dal Makhani was decent nothing special, i tried it and i thought it was decent as well just no “wow” factor. The butter chicken was absolutely brilliant, the curry was especially good and flavorful compared to other places. Two things a lot of Indian places out here fall short on is keeping the chicken tender and making sure the curry flavor is not obscured nor too overpowering to the chicken and this place succeeded very well done and balanced dish! You can tell everything is freshly made the day of/made to order! The garlic naan was superb, the only small negative note i would make on it is certain pieces were relatively thin and produced a crunch rather than a soft fluffy experience and when i think Indian food i think a smooth soft mouth feel. Lastly we get to the desserts, i sadly have to say the selection was small only 3 items, and i tried two of them. I also have to say it was the most disappointing aspect of the whole experience and the main reason this review received 4/5 stars rather than 5/5. First i tried the gulab jamun.. the mouth feel was interesting and the taste was not what i was expecting, not sweet not bland, not zesty… could not really say i disliked it but after the first bite, it did not have me urning for more so i stopped at one bite and the smell of it was also not appealing to me at all but not disgusting hard to put my finger on what it was other than summing it up to one word “strange”. When the owner noticed i did not like it she offered a rice pudding called Kheer free of charge. Now this one, the taste was also not what i was expecting, i was expecting sweet and a hint of cinnamon mixed with nutmeg. The base was sour in flavor which i found odd although the mouth feel was perfect but overall was better than the gulab jamun but not by much. Overall it is a good place for indian food and i was overall satisfied with the experience just a bit sad it ended on a bad note. If you are going to have desserts on the menu finish strong i always say i just feel the desserts are neglected and are an afterthought and you would not notice if they disappeared, rather than an important ending course in every restaurant. I will be back to try the Nepalese side of the menu and maybe a few more Indian dishes as well BUT definitely not for dessert! Or maybe the third dessert...

In our never-ending quest to try new places, my family and I came across a gem of a restaurant. Himalayan Kitchen just opened about a week ago and for the TLDR crowd, here it is: 5 stars!

If you are still reading, thanks. We started the meal off with an order of Samosa Chat (Crisp fried samosa mashed and layered with chickpeas, yogurt in tangy tamarind extract with spices) and Vegetable Samosas (flaky triangular pastry filled with incredibly spiced potatoes and baby green peas). The chutneys served on the side were full of flavor. The Samosa Chat? WOW! Flavor bomb.

For our entrees', we had the following: Chicken Momo, Chicken Biryani, Butter Chicken and Chicken Vindaloo Masala. If you aren't familiar with Himalayan food, Momo are a famous Nepalese street food made with ground chicken, vegetables, and full of Himalayan spices. They serve it with a special Momo sauce. Also had the Garlic Naan and for desert, we tried the Gajar Ka Halwa, which is a carrot based pudding made with milk, cream and sugar. It was delightful!

You can customize each dish to your spice tolerance level. For the Vindaloo, I went spicy and it didn't disappoint. This is a family-owned restaurant and the owners were extremely kind, friendly, helpful and went above and beyond to make our first experience here amazing. The menu is vast and I'm confident that even the most picky eater will find something enjoyable. Oh, and did I mention they have a full bar? Well they do!

Support our local businesses and give Himalayan Kitchen a try. We will definitely...

4.5 stars First, the restaurant is located in a strip center and two doors down from Cinnaholic. Perfect if you want dinner and dessert. The space is comfortable and welcoming. The staff greets you at the door and makes you feel at home right away. We arrived for a bigger group event, and they were ready to accommodate us. The menu has a vast array of things to try, and it can be a bit overwhelming. However, the staff takes the time to explain and answer all of your questions. Our host Tripti was the best! Now the food. We all tried different dishes so that we could experience more, and it paid off. I can not recall the names of every dish, but please see the attached pictures. We really enjoyed the Lamb briyanni, nann (they have different choices, and all of them were yummy), goat curry, and many others. The only thing is some of the food was not as spiced as I expected, so we asked Tripti about it. It is an unfortunate dilemma because San Antonio is so fickle about international foods sometimes. If they were to spice it like it is supposed to be a lot of customers would not be able to handle it because they are so used to American heat or seasoning. Being introduced to Nepalese cuisine may take some time for them to appreciate. This is part of the reason it is so hard to find good Chinese food in SA. Everyone is used to Panda Express and not the real thing. Anyway, we definitely enjoyed the experience and thank Tripti and the staff for...