Himalayan Sherpa kitchen — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

Chicago has had various restaurants serving versions of Nepali cuisine for decades, but they keep improving. Himalayan Sherpa Kitchen is the best so far.

Most Chicago Nepali restaurants underdeliver because a) the food is bland, b) dishes from Nepal aren't always the focus (!?), and c) they are lacking key parts of the Nepali food experience, such as gundruk, golbheda ko achaar, and badam sadheko. By pairing these accompaniments with excellent, fresh tingmo, momo, and the famous nine-bean kwati, we felt much more immersed in a Nepali culinary excursion.

None of the dishes we tried were a disappointment; they were flavorful and quite competently prepared. But beware, as if to further differentiate from the watered-down competition, the spicy dishes here teeter on the very precipice of self-combustion. (This friendly warning comes to you from a capsicum connoisseur, no less.)

We didn't try any of the more typical Indian dishes. I'm sure they're excellent, but my recommendation is to head for the highlands and dive headfirst into these uncommon Nepali specialties. We're grateful to have them close at-hand, and hope Chicago will support...

The food is amazingly authentic Nepali food. We had momos (dumplings), curries, naan bread and rice pudding and it was all amazing. The price was a bit high but this is speciality food in downtown Chicago so it is hard to complain. Parking added into the total so that it was a pretty expensive lunch, all in all.

The staff was incredibly warm, friendly and welcoming. I know it is stereotyping which is not good (or wholly accurate) but my experience with Nepali folk has always been very positive.

The restaurant was in a bit of an old and rundown building but they did a good job of decorating in a way that largely covered up the age of the structure. Regrettably, in the restrooms, the age and rundown nature of the building was on full display.

Pro Tip This amazing shop is just down the street a block or two from the Greyhound Bus Station (and similarly near Union Station and Clinton Subway station, which connects directly to O'Hare) so if you have a layover in Chicago, this is the place...

My husband and I had a lovely dinner here! We were surprised that it wasn't busy on a Friday night, but the place was immaculately clean, and we were greeted right away by the server. My husband is vegetarian, but I love meat. The chef was nice enough to divide the momo plate, so half of it was vegetarian and half of it was chicken momos. He even threw in an extra momo, so the numbers were even for us although it's usually served with 9 momos. The sauce for the momos was especially tasty, not made bland for "American" taste buds. We also ordered the hearty kwati & vegetarian thakali (which had several small cups to try). All of the dishes + the garlic naan were divine, & we waddled out of the restaurant happy and with leftovers. Most of the dishes were on the spicy side, which I appreciate. If you don't like spice, you might want to ask for a mild version of the dish. It's not a fancy restaurant, but everything was pleasant, and this is a great place to stop...