KATHMANDU PALACE, 19 OLD BRIDGE STREET

This restaurant was formerly The Bay of Bengal but changed ownership in the summer of 2004 to its present title. It’s a relatively small restaurant, seating 36 in the main area with a table for six in a side room. Comfortable and pleasantly decorated, with Indian (or Nepalese) music and a small fish tank at one end to add some life.

It markets itself as a Nepalese restaurant, and has (I was told) a Nepalese chef, but the menu generally lists the usual dishes found in standard Indian restaurants. There are a few exceptions pointing to its Nepalese leaning, such as Momo (a traditional Nepalese dish of steamed mince-filled dumplings) plus some dishes prefixed with the words Gurkhali or Nepali. However, it lacked traditional Nepalese dishes, such as potatoes cooked in a pickle sauce or vegetable dishes such as Bodi Tama (vegetables with bamboo shoots and black eyed beans), dishes of chicken livers, Mis-Mas (spicy mix of meats, or vegetables), Bhat dishes (varieties of Nepalese rice or Biryanis) and many others. Neither does to menu use Nepalese terms (for example, kukhura for chicken, khasi for lamb, bhat for rice etc) to give the menu a touch of authenticity.

I started with Momo, which produced five, small steamed dumplings filled with sheek kebab-style mince with a little more chilli, and served with a dark brown sauce, which had a slight tandoori flavour. We also had Onion Bhaji, which comprised three round, well cooked spicy and crispy bhajias. Both starters were good.

For main dishes we had Gurkhali Chicken and Tandoori Chicken. The Gurkhali Chicken was OK, with green chillis to impart a hot tingle, but otherwise it was a fairly nondescript formula curry, and very oily. The Tandoori Chicken was slightly disappointing as the chicken was greasy and the marinade and tandoori flavour only surface deep. Also, the chicken portions were less meaty than average.

As side dishes we had Aloo Gobi (pretty average taste, but in a thick sauce) and Gurkhali Dal. The Dal was cooked with garlic, as Tarka Dal, but made with black urid lentils. I’m afraid it was awful – so much so that we left virtually all of it. Firstly it was so swimming in oil that it was like an oil soup with a touch of lentils, and I sent it back for as much oil as possible to be drained drained off. However, this didn’t help much, and although there was an oily garlic flavour, it was terrible and neither of us could eat it. The accompanying Peshwari Nan was about average, as was the Pilao Rice, although the latter had some soft, creamy cashew nuts in it (although not listed on the menu).

Service friendly and helpful (although the waiter did drop a plate on our table, knocking a full glass of water into my wife’s lap. He dabbed about rather ineffectually, but fortunately my wife is of a forgiving disposition!) Portions adequate, although tandoori chicken portions a bit skinny and it was all much too oily. Prices probably the lowest overall of the Truro Indian restaurants, although still higher than the national averages. Happily, however, they did not charge for the uneaten Gurkhali Dal, even though I was quite prepared to pay.

All in all a mediocre meal, particularly after the enjoyable starters. With all the good competition in Truro, they might well do better to differentiate themselves from the others by focussing more on the Nepalese angle, with a more enterprising menu containing many more traditional Nepalese dishes, with their Nepalese names, as to compete with standard Indian dishes against better (in my opinion) restaurants might see them last no longer than their predecessors.

Malcolm Wilkins - September 2004