New Everest kitchen in Singapore's little India

In the fast-paced life of Singapore and its countless high-rise buildings, Little India, with its two storied buildings, feels a bit more relaxed than the other parts of the city.

Among the many restaurants of various cuisines in and around the area, New Everest Kitchen specializes in Nepali and Indian dishes.[break]

After eating too much of seafood and fish varieties, I was beginning to miss home-cooked dishes. New Everest Kitchen seemed like a good dinner option right on the day Singapore opened its 166th McDonald’s.

New Everest Kitchen at 55 Chander Street opened in 2006.

“The most popular dishes are chicken momo, chicken sekuwa, sukuti, chhoela, and tea,” outlines the 33-year-old owner Krishna Pun.

He first came to Singapore in December 2005, and four months later, he was running the eatery.

“I decided to name it Everest so that people would recognize Nepal,” shares Pun from Butwal.

A hot cup of Nepali tea was a good start to the meal ahead. To beat the heat, try their Mango Lassi. The restaurant’s menu has interesting descriptions of the dishes to explain to non-Nepalis.

Our group’s first round of orders included chicken momos and aloo sandeko, which they’ve named Gorkha Chatani. While I couldn’t find any connection of the dish with its grandiose name, Gorkha Chatani was okay and not really a chatani, actually.

The momos can’t beat New Dish or Dragon, and so it was an average substitute.

Sukuti and Chicken Chhoela would have been the next things to try for appetizers, but we were looking forward to the main dishes.

To go with rice and naans, we decided on Machhako Tarkari, Saag ra Kukhurako Masu, Palungoko Saag, and Karelako Achar.

I was quite let down by the Macchako Tarkari. Perhaps it was because I had recently had the tastiest Assam Fish Head at another local joint.

The Saag ra Kukhurako Masu was, however, delicious and tasted much closer to home. The gravy was a good replacement for daal. Palungoko Saag, on the other hand, was too finely chopped and lacked that juiciness.

Surprisingly, the best dish for the night turned out to be Karelako Achar. For someone who isn’t really encouraged by the sight of bitter gourds, it ended up complimenting the rice and masu.

I would’ve loved to try New Everest Kitchen’s Nepali Kheer. But with hardly any space left for dessert, we decided to skip on it and end the dinner with yet another round of hot Nepali tea.

After all, this was our chance to have some heartwarming Nepali tea while we were away from home, something we were missing dearly.