KATHMANDU RESTAURANT, BERKELEY

Ah, it's my day off, so I'm sitting in front on my TV, watching Anthony Bourdain on the Travel Channel while blogging. Eventually I'll get up and runs some errands, but for now, I'll just keep up with my blog. So Mondays are my day off, but Tom has to work, but we still like going out to get lunch. This gives us a chance to try new places at typically lower prices than you'd be paying at dinner, and a few weeks, I figured we'd try out a restaurant called Kathmandu Restaurant.

Located in the Gourmet Ghetto, we'd actually walked by this restaurant quite a few times, but we'd never stopped there. After doing some research on Yelp, though, it turned out the reviews were quite positive, so we decided to check it out.

When we entered the restaurant, it was totally empty (it was admittedly an early lunch), but we were greeted warmly by the staff and seated quickly. After looking at the menu, I discovered that this place didn't really have a lunch menu. The just had the same menu for lunch and dinner, so it was actually kinda pricey for lunch. Luckily, on a menu board placed on the street, they did list like 3 lunch specials, and I ended up ordering one of them.

So we both started lunch off with a cup of lentil soup. It was actually pretty good. Not anything I couldn't have made a home by myself, but quite nice.

Next, we ordered one of their famous appetizers that everyone raved about online - the momo (basically a meat dumpling). They have different versions, but we ordered the chicken ones, and here they are below.

I gotta say, these were really good. They actually remind me of soup dumplings (which I haven't eaten since I gave up pork over nearly 13 years ago) and they're served with a very yummy red pepper sauce (that orange colored stuff in the middle of the plate). I would go back just to order these again.

For lunch, Tom ordered this enormous plate of mixed grilled meat.
He thought his dish was pretty good. By putting all different types of meat on the same plate, not all the meat cooked evenly, so things like the shrimp were a bit overcooked. Meanwhile, I ordered the lunch special of grilled chicken, which was served along with rice and veggies.
I liked my dish. It was a generous portion, and actually cost a lot less than Tom's meal (probably half as much). I wasn't feeling so great during the meal, so I didn't end up eating most of this, but I did take it home and managed to make two meals out of the leftovers.

Our meal at Kathmandu Kitchen was pretty good, but it ended being a bit pricey for lunch. I thought the food was pretty good, and would gladly go back for some more momos, but I don't think it'll ever become a regular dining destination for us.