.png)
The biggest reason I love food and travel is because of my dad. Considering that he came from a lower class upbringing in Ipswich, England during an era when they rarely saw a foreignor, you wonder where he got his adventurous spirit from. He took the Canadian immigration deal back in 1958, moved around Canada and the U.S. a bit, then married a Filipina. He took a chance with a job in Saudi Arabia and I thank God that he did. Thanks to him I got a childhood of traveling the world and an excellent education.
During our travels we rarely stayed in a nice hotel. Dad also drilled in finances and saving money. Plus he liked the closer contact to cultures. So we would stay in B&B's in Europe or cheap, but clean, hotels in Asian countries. We always rented cars and drove all over.
Keep in mind that this was all in the 70's and the world still wasn't as ethnically mixed as it is these days. Chinese and Indian restaurants in Europe were rare and generally mediocre. But if we drove through a town and there was an ethnic restaurant, we'd stop for a change of pace. Back as a child I hated Indian food. At that time it was only curry and tandoori.
Nowadays we are especially blessed in California with all sorts of cuisine and quality cooking. I am trying to get a better appreciation for Indian food now that they offer a lot more regional dishes. I would like to get as knowledgable about Indian food as I feel about Thai food. I've also gotten a new Indian roommate, Veena. So I'm sure I'll be better educated thanks to her.
Sooooo... I selected the Katmandu Kitchen for this week's Dining Out Meetup. This place has a good reputation. We were also pleased to witness that it was a very busy place considering it was a Tuesday night. The place was full.
Katmandu says they serve Indian and Nepalese food. There is not supposed to be much difference between the two.
Most of us orderd Thali, which means a kind of combo plate. Those who orderd ala carte only got the dish and some bread. Most people ordered a tika masala. We also had some vegetarians in the group. We don't get many at our meetups and I guess it all depends on my restaurant choices. But they generally do show up when we have Indian, Chinese, or Thai.
I'm going to go ahead and post this and then ask Veena for her comments on some of the food. She thought they made their stuff on the sweet side and so she thought the place was just OK. Her favorite Indian place is Mehran on Fair Oaks Blvd.
