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Southwark WEEKENDER
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EVEREST INN - SE15
16 February 2007
Everest Inn
881-883
Old Kent Road
SE15 1NL
Tel: 020 7277 8090
www.everestinn.net |
PINNACLE
OF OLD KENT ROAD
When considering the epicurean hot spots
of Southwark, many wouldn't put the Old Kent Road on the map,
but just because it's low rent on the Monopoly board, doesn't
mean the dining is below par
Everest Inn recently took over the premises that
were once Gracelands, home of the Chinese singing Elvis. The restaurant
now plays to a different tune, authentic Nepalese and Indian,
and the food is worth singing about.
There's no pomp and ceremony with the Everest
Inn, what you see is what you get from the staff to the nan. The
Nepalese chef and wait staff chat eagerly about their mother country
with the fondness and fervour of a Lonely Planet author. After
one dinner at the Everest Inn I walked away with a full stomach
and an appetite for Himalayan hiking.
More than an unofficial, but friendly, tourist
information spot for prospective visitors to Nepal, Everest Inn
is first and foremost a restaurant. The recent Old Kent Road addition
is the forth in a small group of eateries with a tried and tested
method.
The huge selection of dishes is impressive, but
does make choosing diner quite an overwhelming experience. If,
like me, deciding on a dish when you're hungry is a trial, go
for a Nepalese culinary experience as many of the Indian options
can be found elsewhere. When approaching Everest, do as the Nepalese
do.
After a night dining in at the Everest Inn, we
discovered you need a mountain climber's appetite to survive.
The rations are impressive but the prices, alternatively, aren't
steep.
Before embarking on our main meal, we started
off with a Nepalese take on fish cakes and chilli king prawns.
Unlike the perhaps more common Thai variety, our Everest Inn fish
cakes were made with salmon and accompanied by an exotic, and
slightly addictive, strawberry chutney to neutralise the fiery
flavour.
Also on the spicy side of the fence were the delicious
king prawns. Powerfully piquant, but pleasantly bearable, the
prawns were a highlight worthy of a return visit.
The chef's recommendations were spot on with the
Everest machha special of marinated fish cooked with crusted mustard,
a hint of tamarind, garlic, ginger and coriander. With less of
a punch than our choice of starters, the aromatic main is pleasantly
tangy.
The mix and match menu means flavours can be blended
and shared. We matched the machha special with the vegetarian
main of aloo tama with black-eyed beans, potatoes and the unique
addition of bamboo shoots normally seen in South East Asian cooking.
Commonplace in the mountain terrain, our Nepalese spokesman assured
us that bamboo is a regular ingredient in native dishes.
The high point at Everest Inn is the service and
quality. The new surrounds are humble and unpretentious as the
focus is on the food. On the gastronomy scale The Old Kent Road
might just be moving up in the world, with Everest Inn at its
peak.
FOOD (1-5) 4
AMBIENCE (1-5) 3
PRICE VALUE (1-5) 4
DISABLED ACCESS YES
DISABLED TOILET NO
PRE BOOKING YES |
