Soaring peaks, majestic glaciers, mountain-top monasteries. Oxford has its fair share of mountain wilderness but I thought I was missing something. So I headed over to Yeti, a Nepalese restaurant on Cowley Road with a strong reputation as an Oxford institution.
For the mains my vegetarian dining companion was spoilt for choice, as can be expected from Nepalese cuisine. The answer, of course, was the Vegetable Thali, only available Sunday to Thursday presumably due to the amount of preparation involved. Thali (the name of the dish it is served on) is a traditional Nepalese and Indian dish that encompasses all the taste groups: sweet, salt, bitter, sour, astringent and spicy. Yeti’s thali features a central vegetable curry, well-balanced and spiced with a range of veg, surrounded by rice, dall (or dhal), greens and a bowl of achaar (spiced chutney), all on a handy tray. The achaar was particularly notable, fulfilling the sweet category with some great extra flavours.
Keen for meat, I went for Masu Gedagudi, a curry of tender lamb with a selection of extra beans and bits thrown into the mix. Advised to combine it with pilau rice and some chilli and garlic naan it was fruity and fragrant, full of coriander and ginger, a markedly different style to most Indian curries. My main was slightly below £10 while the thali, almost the most expensive dish on the menu, was around £12. After finishing up with some mango lassi we both agreed that the meal had greatly exceeded a normal curry, offering much more in terms of flavour and gastronomic experience for very good prices.
While the food is excellent and the ambience lovely (I can’t get enough of Nepalese traditional music), Yeti really wins out on the service. It is very rare for restaurant staff to go out of their way to welcome customers so heartily, with attentive and fun service from even the chef. Not many eateries will allow you to try raw ingredients or explain their recipes in so much detail, but this enhances the experience by so much. While other restaurants should be taking tips from Yeti, you should be eating there. That’s it.
Dave Decides: “You know what they say about big feet, they guarantee good curry.”