How can we not recommend Malabar when Lila, the chef and owner, insisted that he drive us back to our hotel after dinner because the cabs were not responding swiftly enough given the rain? We already enjoyed a very fine meal at Malabar, a family owned and operated Nepalese-Indian restaurant a couple of blocks from beautiful Lake Taupo. But service like this? Perhaps unheard of anywhere in the world.
We started with Suneheri Jinga, Northern India style clay oven roasted prawns alongside a small cucumber salad. Think a half dozen or so nicely sized crispy roasted shrimp with a garlic dipping sauce. Scrumptious. Make sure to ask for the extra hot sauce on the side. We then split a couple of main courses, the Dal Jhaneko, a yellow lentil dish with home grinded spices Lila learned as a boy in Nepal, and Himalayan Kukkad Curry, Nepalese home style chicken curry with four deep fried chicken "lollipops" on the side. The curry sauced chicken was delicious and the lollipops had a buffalo wing style crunchiness and barbecue sauce quality. Excellent. The Dal Jhaneko was a bit soupy--but that must be the style--which we spooned over the hot white rice that came with it. Very savory. We ate every last drop of it. And not to forget the naan. We ordered both the regular naan and the cheese and garlic naan, which was especially decadent and very, very good.
And then the ride home with wonderfully polite and self-effacing Lila. He and his wife came to NZ a few years ago via Nepal-India-Abu Dhabi because he found NZ to be a wonderful place to raise a family. And open a world class Nepalese-Indian restaurant. Of course, at the end of our ride back to our hotel, he absolutely refused a tip. read more