Indian-Nepali Kitchen

It’s easy to whizz by Indian-Nepali Kitchen’s low-key location on Aurora Avenue. But if we could, we’d commandeer a stop sign, slap on fluorescent orange vests, and redirect traffic to prevent that from happening. This Indian and Nepali spot serves the kind of meal worthy of bragging about to a complete stranger, or traveling from the South End to procure. And the breadth of their momo repertoire is at the forefront of it all—these juicy chicken parcels are the best in Seattle. But the cool and casual restaurant offers a whole spectrum of fantastic comfort food without making a big deal about it.

photo credit: Brooke Fitts

photo credit: Brooke Fitts

photo credit: Brooke Fitts

photo credit: Brooke Fitts

photo credit: Brooke Fitts

Even at prime dinner time or peak lunch hours, the moody black and red dining room is peaceful, and (mostly) sans other humans. Yeah, the soccer game playing on TV will be muted, meaning the volume at which you crunch on papadum will be equivalent to a champagne tower collapsing at a wedding. But it’s refreshing for this kind of calm to play out on a busy stretch of 99. Here, you can sop up gravy-drenched aloo gobi with naan that’s nearly half an inch thick, dunk perfect pakora haystacks into chutney, and ponder the life you knew B.L.B.C. (before lamb butter curry) without the many distractions that plague our 21st century. Order your weight in momos as you take in the scent of sizzled garlic—and don’t question it.

Food Rundown

photo credit: Brooke Fitts

Momo Combo

If deciding which type of outstanding momo to order is causing an existential crisis, grab the combo instead of disassociating. You’ll get an assortment of steamed, deep-fried, sandheko, and chili-sauced dumplings that are all stunners, thanks to moist ground chicken and the toppings that complement it.

Tandoori Momo

As excellent as the momo combo is, we have to give an edge to the tandoori version. They have the same shallot-y chicken filling as the rest, but the tangy yogurt-marinated wrapper, fire engine red kashmiri tint, and charred bitsies from the tandoor oven amp things up in a way regular old steam simply can’t.

Vegetable Pakora

There’s just enough chickpea batter to glue together each rag-tag clump of vegetables that are served with a crisp shell and zingy cilantro sauce. These practically teleport to your table in 60 seconds flat—few reasons exist not to order some for snacking.

photo credit: Brooke Fitts

House Curry

Like many curries here, this one is more brothy than saucy, and we would drink the stuff straight from the tub like soup, if not for interludes of perfect stewed chicken chunks. Torn slabs of naan soaked in curry have identical day-improving properties as a wildflower-scented breeze, removing shapewear, or that YouTube video of a Novia Scotia man feeding hot dogs to a pack of raccoons.

Butter Curry

Resisting a blended tomato cream is hard work—don’t resist it. Indian-Nepali Kitchen’s butter curry is silky-smooth, with lamb hunks more tender than Joni Mitchell’s entire discography.

photo credit: Brooke Fitts

Aloo Gobi

Aloo gobi can suffer a mushy fate, though that’s not the case in this crock of soothing gravy that features precisely firm potatoes and cauliflower. The best part is, there’s still buffer room for the vegetables to continue softening when you (inevitably) reheat the leftovers tomorrow.

Garlic Basil Naan

It’s puffy, toasty, and sprinkled with just enough garlic to keep a first date from going south.