Dhruvika Bhanot measures the spiralling spice quotient of the restaurant in CP, which works and serves without a pretentious bone
If I have to describe my visit to the Yeti in Connaught Place in one word, it would be ‘worthwhile.’ The restaurant isn’t the most extravagant place in town. Rather, it scores in its simplicity. Whether in its décor or the cuisine that it serves, it is the Tibetan and Nepali culture that dominates. A dim-lit place but lively nonetheless. The ambience is relaxed and the predominant feeling is that one can come here to unwind. Maybe, I am looking too closely into this but the restaurant is not looking to impress, it is true to its roots without having a pretentious bone. The only disappointing thing about the dinner was that I couldn’t try more things from the menu and I’ll have to visit again for that. And about this, I don’t have any qualms.
Before my dinner at Yeti, I had never had experienced Tibetan or Nepali food and so I went over the menu several times to acquaint myself with the dishes. I didn’t want my lack of research to cause another crisis like the one I faced when I sat at a posh South-East Asian cuisine restaurant for dinner. But I was quite confident about Yeti’s food. I even said as much to my friends who accompanied me to dinner. And I was proved right.
We don’t usually order soups, rather purposely skip it. But it never hurts to take the road less-travelled, so we decided to order a tomato and chilli chicken. We weren’t disappointed. The vegetarian soup had tiny chunks of tomato which added to the taste.
Next up, we decided to order Aloo sadeko, a Nepali snack to our first round of dishes. It was served with three dips, peanut chilli, schezwan chilli and sesame chilli. The first is, hands down, the best one that I have ever had. It was as spicy as it could get. The dish could be eaten without the dips too but for me it was the other way round, for I was eating the peanut chilli with Aloo sadeko.
It was the spice quotient that remained a constant from the beginning to the end of the meal. The spiciness escalated quickly which isn’t a problem for me. I can eat spicy food through my tears. But go easy on the dips if you don’t fancy a hot tongue.
The beverage I picked for this dinner was blushing mojito — a perfect complement to peanut chilli – a sweet-tasting concoction.
Next up we had Chilli chicken which was hot and spicy or in my opinion, as good as it gets. It was tossed with bell peppers and onions and proved to be one of my best choices of the evening. Even the portion size was appreciable. The servers, quite helpful, readily guided us through the menu. In fact, it was a struggle to recall if anything had gone wrong with the dinner. Till now, not much.
We decided to order both vegetarian and chicken Yeti special kothe-styled momos. The dish certainly made me sure about one thing — one cannot ‘not try’ momos while one is at Yeti. They are too ideal to be missed. The chicken ones were big and juicy and I smothered them with peanut chilli dip. Again, one of the best momos I have ever had.
The only dish that wasn’t spicy, according to me was vegetarian Wai Wai noodles. They were loaded with vegetables and tasted fine, but I wish I had ordered the Chow Chow instead.
For desserts, we wanted to order the Yomari, dumplings served with nutella but we were informed that it usually takes 25-30 minutes to prepare it. It’s special so if it’s something you don’t want to miss, order it while you have the main course.
The service was impeccable, though not the quickest but certainly worth the wait. I am probably going to make another trip to the restaurant to experience the rest of the menu. One dinner isn’t nearly enough, especially if the variety demands for several of them. The food was undoubtedly amazing and if I am allowed to be corny — it was absolutely lip-smacking! It made us realise how even a few good dishes can make an evening meal scrumptious, while a huge spread with average ones might not work.