Authentic Nepal Food in the heart of Kuala Lumpur

nepal food kl

It’s a good toss-up about whether this place is called Indreni Restaurant (which is what is printed on the menu) or Kathmandu Restaurant Dan Dohari (which is what the staircase says). What I do know is that you’ll have a tough time ordering in English. smirk

english speaking waitress

The place is staffed by Nepalese immigrants – there is one friendly girl who tries her very best to speak bits of barely understandable English but communicating will largely be relegated to largely pointing at the menu and the only English-speaking waitress trying to say “pig or chicken”.

kathmandu restaurant

Not pork. Pig.

nepalese restaurant kl

It’s quite a hard place to find too, considering the restaurant’s name is partially obscured by a huge banner and it’s on the second floor, beside a store, also Nepalese owned and a dodgy locked stairwell which I think leads to living quarters.

little nepal kl

I didn’t know we have a Little Nepal, but there you go. Even the papers are all from around the region.

nepalese restaurant

They do have weird items on the menu like Western and local eats, with a Nepalese twist but I wanted to eat something that’s more or less authentic so I asked her about it and she pointed out three dishes:

(it sounds like the process is simple but it took about 15 minutes of gestures and communication)

Jhaneko Bangur Sekuwa (RM 10)

This is a sizzling dish of pork that’s meant to be eaten with beer or liquor as a side dish. It comes to your table still violently popping off bits of oil everywhere and it’s a pork dish with tomatoes, onions, shallots, peppers and chilli oil. Lots of chilli oil.

sizzling pork

It’s really, really good though – spicy hot pork that’s coated with chilli oil and dried chillis. You have to eat it when it’s still hot though.

Mai (RM 3)

mai

This is yogurt drinks – home-made and very sour. I had the plain one but you can also opt for fruit based choices. The apple one beside is made with real apples blended with the yoghurt!

Thakali Set (RM 8)

You can have this in either pork, chicken or mutton (chose the latter) and it’s served with sides of pickled vegetables, dhall and a soup that tastes interestingly neutral-sour.

thakali set

The mutton/chicken/pork is in curry form and there’s more fat than meat and I soon come to realize that this is place catering for Nepalese immigrants.

Dhindo Set (RM 10)

dhindo set

This is another set rice curry combo with all the same sides as the previous one, except dhindo comes with a mound of purple goo in lieu of rice.

dhindo

The purple pudding seems to be a mix of semolina/flour/whatever and it tastes like crumbly starch that has been made pliable with oil. I couldn’t get the waitress to explain what it is, the language barrier is too high.

clientale nepalese

This is a very interesting place to go to. The clientèle seems to be all Nepalese migrants who comes in to drink bottles of whiskey in small glasses. I’ve got to go back and try that sometime. They also serve good momos (Nepalese dumplings) but like I said be prepared for a significant language barrier.

eating dhindo

I thought it was a lot of fun trying to get myself understood with the waitress, who was very patient and friendly. Kathmandu / Indreni Restaurant is certainly an intriguing nook in the middle of KL. The price is cheap for us but not necessarily for an migrant worker, so I’m guessing this is a relatively nice place to socialize and drink.

nepal order

I enjoyed my time there but not the food (except the excellent yogurt and interesting purple dhindo).

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21 thoughts on “Authentic Nepal Food in the heart of Kuala Lumpur”

    • Yeah, I found it quite intruging too. I was just walking around with my friend Joyce and to look for a Nepalese restaurant I was at in 2009 and then couldn’t find it but found this one instead! 🙂

      Reply
  1. Hahahaha..I don’t why I keep eyeing at the Purple thingy although I confirm I can’t swallow it. So authentic that even the bill is written in alien language (to me).

    Reply
    • It’s actually surprisingly good! 🙂

      I don’t actually know what that purple goo is but I did a bit of Googling after Sean mentioned it and it’s under Nepalese cuisine.

      Pretty good stuff, it’s a bit oily though but quite interesting, texture wise. 😀

      P/S – It’s not just the writing, communication is a challenge too but fun!

      Reply
  2. Now this is one place I would love to go and try the food. Really very exotic! There’s a new guy at Payung here – from Kashmir – that’s in Nepal, right? Or somewhere around there…but he speaks good English…unlike that Mandarin-speaking monolingual local waitress at the new Italian restaurant in town. Tsk! Tsk!

    Reply
    • Yeah, I was out to find this authentic Nepalese restaurant I was at in 2009 but lost the photos in a HDD crash but couldn’t find it.

      I found this place instead! 🙂

      It’s an interesting find that’s for sure – clientale is almost entirely foreign (except us).

      I remember the Nepalese guy in Payung! He speaks the Queen’s very own English compared to this one. 😉

      Reply
  3. cool place! i got curious about nepalese food after reading this and went to look it up on wiki. learned that momo was originally stuffed with buffalo meat (though mutton & chicken variants have become more common now). anyway it sounds like quite a wide-ranging cuisine. great to try something different! 😀

    Reply
    • Yeah, I’ve looked it up before coz I was planning a trip to Kathmandu, Nepal but then got distracted and forgot what the purple goo is.

      I managed to look it up. Nepalese cuisine is quite intriguing in the Wikipedia entries!

      Yup, it’s always good to check out something different, I went hunting for an old restaurant in 2009 I went to, couldn’t find it, found this one instead! 😀

      Reply
  4. HB, I only know of one dish called MoMo a pasty very famous from Nepal. I saw it on tv food travel show and there one Tibet restaurant in San Francisco that serve it. It were not for food and travel shows and blogs people would not know much of other countries cultures and foods.

    Reply
    • Yup, we have restaurants serving momos here too! 🙂

      Besides this one that is, I know of another one but that serves a mish mash of different cuisine.

      Indeed, and Google and Wikipedia serves up a good dose of knowledge too!

      Reply
    • The previous restaurant I went to in 2009 was even more dodgy, going up. 🙂

      I thought this was interesting, a hidden gem so to speak.

      I didn’t know there actually is a Little Nepal (so to speak) in the heart of KL where people barely speak English or Chinese or BM.

      Yup, it’s interesting, love stumbling upon authentic places like this. It feels like you’re out of the country. 😀

      Reply
    • Yeah, it is really quite an interesting experience! 🙂

      I wanted to find another Nepalese restaurant but stumbled upon this one instead. Heh.

      The purple dhindo is a good reason to go back but most people there eat momos and drink whiskey from little bottles (those flask sized glass ones) of Nepalese liquor in small glasses.

      Reply
    • Yeah, I liked the authenticity too! 🙂

      I’ve had momos at other places before and one other authentic Nepalese restaurant (which seems to have closed down, can’t find it anymore)>

      Yup, the purple goo is dhindo, interesting stuff! 😀

      Reply
  5. I am totally bookmarking this site! I have actually been researching restaurants and other stuff that I would be able to include in my itinerary as I’m travelling to Kuala Lumpur in a month.

    Reply
  6. I went to that restaurant last month after I read here, food is quite nice, like trying new food. I like the momo, basically dumplings but inside taste is very unique.. Yesterday my friend said new Nepal restaurant in hartamas shopping ctr, so we went for lunch, actually is plaza damas, finally security guard guide us.. he Nepalese too. Momo was good and less oily, staff very nice, bit slow, maybe just new. Inside clean and interior very warm and feel I think it is in Nepal. I love their black daal, never taste something like that!

    Reply

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