From initial impressions, you might not guess that the Everest Bar and Eatery serves some of the best Nepalese food in Cardiff.
This no-frills establishment, which is located next door to Live Lounge in Cardiff city centre, offers a big range of 24 draft beers for all tastes, including Madri, Guinness, Tiny Rebel and Staropramen; a menu of pub classics like steak and chips and fry-ups; and three shots for £10.
There’s karaoke, spotlessly clean functional furniture, crystal chandeliers, and a 90s leaning soundtrack featuring Whitney Houston, Goo Goo Dolls and Tracy Chapman.
But there are a few giveaways about Everest’s Nepalese inclination.
The first, of course, lies in the name. The second tell is the understated wall murals showing the mountain’s snowcapped peak and climbers trooping up its side. Finally, there’s a photo on the wall of co-owner Dip Prasad Pun receiving a medal from Queen Elizabeth for his bravery whilst serving with the Gurkhas in the British army.
Everest is owned by siblings Dip Prasad Pun and Jhalak Pun, who originally hail from Nepal, and are both former Gurkhas. Jhalak, who we met behind the bar during our visit, casually informed me that he’d climbed Everest a while ago, as though it was the kind of thing you might do with a spare hour on a Saturday morning. Warm and friendly, and built like a real-life Jack Reacher, I think he could probably have bench-pressed me with one arm.
To drink, we ordered halves of their eponymous Everest lager (£2.50). Crisp and malty it was a lovely accompaniment for our spicy-packed lunch.
Everest’s compact menu of Nepalese cooking offers dishes like momo, Chatpate (a crunchy Nepalese salad of puffed rice, dry noodles and vegetables), set thalis, Nepali soup, and chow mein.
My sights were laser focused on the momo. Available in chicken, pork and vegetable varieties and served with either chutney or jhol, I opted for the latter option.
It’s fair to say that they’re some of the best dumplings I’ve eaten in Cardiff. Ten beautifully steamed dumplings were delicately encased and filled with impeccably juicy minced chicken. Fragrant in their seasoning, I think they were most likely spiked with lemongrass and ginger.
The decuplet of dumplings were sat in a whopping bowl of thick, creamy, nutty and slightly fiery sesame and tomato soup, also known as jhol. It was a proper winter warmer of a dish and a very good feed for £13.
Mrs G very much enjoyed her mutton bhutuwa (£13.50). An offaly good mix of liver and kidneys were coated in an intense and earthy dry spice mix. A good squeeze of lemon provided zing whilst puffed rice offered contrasting crunch. A few of the bits of offal leaned towards the dry side so a couple of spoonfuls of jhol provided impromptu saucing.
Chicken fried rice (£9) was cooked with a delicate hand. The light and distinct grained rice had a beautiful wok smokiness, delicate spicing and was nicely flecked with tender chicken pieces and mixed vegetables.
We had a delicious lunch at Everest and their jhol momo is a Cardiff city centre cheap eat that’s definitely worth setting out on an expedition for.
The Details:
Address - The Everest Bar and Eatery, 8 The Friary, Cardiff CF10 3FA
Telephone - 029 2297 0309
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