GURKHA, SANDFORD ROAD,SANDFORD, WAREHAM

This restaurant opened in the late summer of 2006, the site being previously occupied by a middle-of-the-road English restaurant. It must seat 100+ in pleasant, comfortable surroundings, with the modern-style wooden flooring and a bar at one side. As the name suggests, it is Nepalese run, being owned by Capt. Asbahadur Gurung who served with the Gurkha Regiment of the British Army for 28 years before spending another 22 years in the hotel and catering business in Kathmandu, Hong Kong and the UK. Notwithstanding the Nepalese ownership, the restaurant offers a range of Oriental cuisine, including Chinese, Thai and Malaysian as well as Indian and Nepalese. Although it does have an a la carte menu, the main theme is an ‘all you can eat’ buffet at the very reasonable price of £7.95 for lunch and £11.95 for dinner at the time of writing.

Although I have been to some very mediocre ‘all you can eat’ Chinese buffets (you know the type – a limited range of the cheaper dishes that stand in slightly congealed lukewarm piles under heater lights), I had been told that this was good, with plenty of variation. Indeed, the menu lists 95 different dishes - starters and mains - from the countries listed.  There was, of course, the not unreasonable proviso that they would not all be available at the same time, and there could be no guarantee which ones would be available on any day.

I have now been three times, the first exploratory visit being a wet Monday evening in January. Despite the poor weather and unfavourable time of the year it was reasonably crowded, which was a good sign, particularly in view of its size (a standard sized restaurant would have been packed with that many customers!). The second and third visits were a Saturday evening in June, when it was packed (booking essential). On each visit the buffet counter offered a good selection  - nowhere near the 95 of course, but about 30 including two soups, three different rice, noodles, popadoms and nan bread. The dishes were a mixture Chinese, Thai, Malaysian and Indian, with half a dozen Nepalese specialties. In addition there were various vegetable garnishes, pickles and sauces. There were a number of different dishes on each occasion - some new ones and some not appearing - although the majority were the same. 

The good thing about the buffet was that the trays were not so full as to gradually get cold and congealed during the evening, but were regularly topped up by small amounts being continuously cooked by several chefs in the open kitchen behind. The visibility of the kitchen also enabled you to see the reassuring sight of the regular cleaning and adherence to hygiene requirements.

I must confess that each time I made a total pig of myself and can’t recall everything I managed to sample, but over the three visits have tried many different dishes.  Amongst the starters I found the onion bhajias excellent - small but very crispy - and the Malaysian chicken satay and peanut sauce, and Chinese aromatic duck and pancakes were also very good. Of the main dishes I mixed different Oriental dishes with abandon – Nepalese Lamb (tender lamb in a rich dark and spicy sauce); Chicken Samrod (Thai hot sweet and sour chicken); Chicken in Black Bean Sauce; Gurkha Beef Curry; Nepalese Dall; Chicken Tikka Masala and so on – until I had to rest my stomach on the table in exhaustion. It has generally been very good, although both my wife and I thought that on the most recent visit it was not quite to the same standards as the earlier two visits. I hope they're not becoming complacent.

The service was generally friendly and attentive – empty plates are whipped away to enable you to re-visit the buffet table and fill a clean plate. Astonishingly, on my first visit I recognised the young Nepalese waiter from the Singapora restaurant in Rochester a few years ago. Considering the restaurants are not connected this was an amazing coincidence. On the second visit he appeared to be the head waiter, and his presence and friendly charming manner was an great asset (and another reason for our return). Unfortunately, on our last visit he had moved on. His presence will be missed.

If I had to make one comment on the food I would advise giving the samosas and spring rolls a miss as they are mini-sized and thus the balance of the small filling to the pastry cases make them quite filling and nothing special. It's much better not to fill up on these but to leave that room for dishes that are not pastry-encrusted.

All in all it is a very good value meal at £11.95 per head, and well worth a visit. My only other proviso would be not to leave it too late in the evening, as towards the end they do not replenish the dishes, as naturally they do not want lots left over at closing time (although they will readily cook a dish if requested).

Malcolm Wilkins - June 2008