My History with Momos. Lets Start the Buildup
Momos is a pet peeve among many of my favourite foods. Not everyone gets it right though it’s such a simple dish. Give me a well made one and I will be forever in debt to that person. Give me a wrong one and I will make you wish you were dead. The best momos I have had were in the northeast and for me momos are synonymous with pork just like a burger means a beef burger by default.. The rest are only sandwiches.
Some of the best places I have had momos are specific Tibetan places in Bangalore like Taste of Tibet, Momo Hut (another of their branch), La Phing. Here I eat the beef momos as pork is not available. No regrets. What I cannot stand or believe in is a vegetable momo. The first time I had momo was in Delhi a long time ago. There is this place called Monastery below the ISBT bridge and yes pork was available. This was where I purchased all those smuggled jeans and other fancy clothing without a dent in the pocket. Also in Sikkim House at Dilli Haat which was chicken but all these places paired the momos with a lovely soup (or just flavored stock but hey). The next set of momos I had was in Mundgod. a large Tibetan colony in North Karnataka. Yes I had the pork Momos there.. Kushal Nagar, another large Tibetan colony in Coorg has restaurants that serve lovely momos as well. Check out Potala Kitchen and Rigo. Read about them here
Northeast in Sikkim and Darjeeling, momos was a default dish along with all the others we wanted to explore. When I was in Chennai before the street side outlets only Mainland China used to serve dimsums with their fancy ass dips and sauces (which were really really bad). Bangalore still had some small hole in the walls run by Nepalese who were a million times better compared to this horror of a dish.
Oh the soup, that’s another tragedy altogether. Now that there is a burst of momo outlets everywhere, its like my wet dream come true but unfortunately not everyone gets it right and not everyone pairs the momo with a soup (or just call it a flavourful stock). That combination of soup and momos is like that perfect match in heaven. But no you don’t get it everywhere. There was one outlet opposite Bethany School in Koramangala but sadly they disappeared without a warning or trace.
I am like Sanjay Dutt in Zinda who can go to different shops and keep eating momos till my stomach bursts and still be happy about it.
Lets Get down to the Point. Lovely Momos ahead !
Right, after all this build up, what if I told you I ate the most perfect momos in Bangalore after a long time? Yes that moment when your tongue explodes with the sheer brilliance of the thin and light covering, the perfect filling and the even more perfect dip which was homemade with the heat of the naga chillies. The filling in this case was chicken but no complaints. I was excited to try the thukpa as well but sadly they ran out of it. That’s for another time for sure.. Maybe I could customize with just the momos and the soup (wink wink). Will update the post with the Thukpa experience.
Opened by a friend of mine who works at Big Brewsky, he has started a new line of business basically to save the staff who had to leave because of the pandemic and the hospitality industry was going through a bad time. This is a brilliant entrepreneurial effort.
With both Veg and Non veg options, there is a choice of toppings from BBQ sauce, Manchurian sauce to Schezuan sauce to put on the momos. Of course the home made dip impressed me the most. The lady chef is from Manipur and she has the momo down perfect. Light, easy on the stomach and not at all heavy with them being the right size with thin covering.
If you are in the Kasavanahalli Area, dont miss. You might even catch me !
Oh I make momos at home too (as I said since its hard to get the perfect one, you need to make em ! ). They might not be the most beautiful looking but it works well on the palate. Click here to learn how
Location to Khatarnak Street Foods
Very Close to and opposite Chef Bakers on Kasanavahalli Road. Its a yellow color food cart. You cant miss it! Click here for their FB Page
https://goo.gl/maps/ug544UbRHnhJQNTE7
Momos are indeed difficult to get right. A lot depends on the sauce. But I loved the origin story!
What a lovely initiative by your friend. It is people like him who will change the world i tell you 🙂
indeed finding a good momo is difficult, and being a vegetarian, the struggle is REAL!
The best momos I have had were in Dharamshala.