Let's kick off the new year with Nepalese delights at Himalayan Wild Yak!
Tom Sietsema, the food critic at the Washington Post, singled out Ashburn’s Himalayan Wild Yak restaurant as one of the “40 Best Restaurants In and Around DC” in his annual Fall Dining Guide.
From Washington Post:
It took me all of one visit to fall under the spell of the place, which greets diners with the traditional sel roti, rings of fried rice-flour bread served with turmeric-colored radish batons. Cross a doughnut with a bagel and you get an idea of what to expect of the crisp-chewy festival snack.
The restaurant opened with butter chicken on its menu but slowly added more Indian dishes as the owners noticed Indian diners filling most of their seats. Chana masala thrums with ginger and garlic paste, while lamb korma — one of the lightest and most luscious versions around — features soft bites of meat in a dark golden gravy thickened with yogurt and cashew paste. Blistered in the tandoor, the fluffy naan helps erase the last of any sauce.
Every other table seems to be dressed with momos. Make sure you ask for some of these steamed dumplings, too. They show up as eight supple wonders on the rim of a bowl containing garlic-laced roasted tomato sauce, furrowed white triangles so thin you can see the outline of their fillings. There are five from which to choose. The restaurant’s theme has me springing for ground yak, deftly seasoned with coriander, cumin and garam masala so you can still appreciate the juicy texture and delicate beefy flavor of the mountain cattle.
Pick a meat and you’re likely to find it starring as a first course. Luscious chunks of pork, crisp from their time in a clay oven, resonate with mustard oil, ginger and garlic. (The tongue buzz comes from Sichuan peppercorns.) Chicken stir-fried with purple onion and bell peppers is finished with a chile sauce, sweetened with ketchup, that leaves a thrilling wake of heat. The appetizers cost a modest $10 on average but are the size of main courses. Those who don’t eat meat are accorded the same generous helpings. Samosa chat is big enough for a small party.
Most of the food is so riveting, you find yourself oversampling. (Insert raised hand.) “Very spicy,” the menu warns about pork curry, whose green and red Thai chile heat permeates each eye-popping morsel. But even the tamer yak stew, warm with cumin and garam masala and filled out with zucchini, sustains interest to the end.
Kurauni is the traditional Nepalese ending. Among the kitchen’s more labor-intensive dishes, this one involves reducing milk over low heat for five or more hours before adding saffron, cardamom powder and a touch of sugar. The surface of the pleasantly grainy confection pops with crimson pomegranate seeds.
With the help of a farmer in Pennsylvania — the source of some of the yak on the menu — and a taxidermist, there’s no forgetting the establishment, a sprawling bar and dining room with mountain views (courtesy of a colorful mural, that is).
Check out menu here:
https://himalayanwildyak.com/#menu
We ask that ALL folks honor their RSVP. If you are unable to attend after sending in a YES, please update your status so that others may join us. In the event our group incurs a fee for no-shows / late cancellations, your ability to RSVP for future events will be restricted. Thank you in advance for your understanding.
To enhance the opportunity for great conversation, we would like to keep the group small. Please feel free to sign-up to meet us along with up to 1 friend.
In the future, we will vary the days of the week and the types of restaurants so that we can attract many different types of diners.
PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE COMMITTED TO GO WHEN YOU RSVP FOR THIS EVENT. Feel free to make suggestions for future meet locations. All diners will pay their own tab.
If you are unable to join us in January we hope you'll stay interested and join us for a meal in the future. Looking forward to catching up with you for dinner at Himalayan Wild Yak!
