The Gurkha Restaurant, Maidstone, Kent

Recently I heard about a new curry house in Maidstone run by Gurkha's.  So on Saturday night Craig and I decided to ignore the pork chops I was thawing out for dinner and head on out for a curry.

Gurkha's are renowned for their excellent curries and I had heard from a friend that this new restaurant was really good so we both had high expectations.  We were not disappointed.

The restaurant focuses on authentic traditional Nepalese Cuisine. They bring the true taste of Gurkha either in the restaurant or as a takeaway..

The tiny restaurant is located in Maidstone’s Week Street in what used to be a cafe. We arrived fairly early (6.45pm) so we weren’t surprised to find the place still half empty.  There was one couple already eating and another couple came along a short while later.  I was surprised however that by the time we left the place wasn’t full up.  I suspect that word has not got out yet.  However with food as good as this it won’t be long before the place is heaving.

The decor was clean, modern and bright with table clothes on the tables and a few tasteful pictures on the walls. There were also fresh red roses and candles on each table which I found quite amusing as this sort of thing is normally reserved for romantic French restaurants.

Once we were seated menus were delivered to us and our drink order taken.  Craig decided to have a bottle of Gurkha beer.  Well I have to say it was a bit of a surprise when the biggest bottle of beer I have ever seen arrived.  660ml to be exact and nice and cold. I ordered a glass of house white wine which thankfully came in a smaller glass than the ones that were already on the table.  These were like those ones you get that holds half a bottle of wine.

Onto the food.  It was really nice to see a few dishes that you don’t see on a normal Indian menu. For example for a starter I ordered a dish named Momo which is Steamed Nepali dumplings stuffed with minced chicken served with tomato and sesame seed chutney. Five decent sized dumplings with a dish of the chutney arrived.  I was in heaven.  Not only were they extremely low fat but they were also extremely tasty. They were similar to Chinese dim sum which I adore the only difference being the tomato chutney was nice and spicy.  This dish was an absolute winner in my book.

Craig ordered the Sheek Kebab which was pieces of kebab cooked with tomato based cream, butter sauce.  When they arrived they were much bigger than those we order in the Indian we normally go to.  Craig was given a plate with a fresh salad garnish and then the kebabs arrived on a sizzling black iron dish on a bed of onions. I tried a piece and I really enjoyed it.  they were not to spicy and had a nice smooth texture.

For my main course I was disappointed that they didn’t have my first choice available so I was under pressure to choose an alternative quickly.  I decided to go for the Lamb Tikka which was Lamb pieces marinated with fresh green herbs & spices grilled in tandoori oven and Served with green salad.  Again this arrived on a black sizzling iron dish on a bed of onions.  Seven or eight decent sized chucks of lamb were very tender and nicely flavoured.

Craig had the Khorsanae (hot) Chicken which was cooked with onion, green pepper in tomato gravy & flavoured with green chillies & herbs.  I didn’t try this as I suspect it was far too hot for me. Craig likes his Curry's with the heat turned up high.  It certainly looked good and it was a decent sized portion.

To go with the main course we also ordered some naan bread, Gurkhali Aloo which is spiced boiled potatoes, Chyauko Tarkari which is shallow fried mushrooms and green peas with crushed coriander seeds, and lastly some mushroom rice.

The potatoes were just right however while the mushroom dish was very tasty it seemed to be missing the advertised peas.  The nann bread was hot, spongy and well flavoured and was just the right thing to mop up the sauce.

All in all the food was delicious and in our opinion better than the place we normally go to when we want a curry.


Now onto the really good news, the whole bill came to £35.35.  Yes you did read that right.  I have even taken a photo as evidence because we couldn’t believe it ourselves.   We will be returning thats for sure.

            
The restaurant also does takeaway but I’m not sure if they deliver.  Even so it’s worth the drive into town to pick it up.



The Gurkha Restaurant


Sharon x