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Let’s get back to food now, shall we?
Himalayan food to be precise. The food of Nepal and its surrounding countries.
They call Mint an “Indian Bistro” — which is like calling the Hofbrau Haus a hot dog stand. As Heidi Knapp Rinella has pointed out, if they called it what it was, their business would probably suffer. So they rope you in with their Indian lassi’s and head you out straight to the Himalayas — where classics like momo dumplings and chau chau can be corralled. In between you can enjoy some righteous curries and stews, pristine paratha, and a dosa that could double as a umbrella. Beware however, a paper-thin Mysore masala umbrella, especially when it comes laced with lip-searing chile powder.
Not so assertive, but equally lip-smacking, are those momos — stuffed with ground turkey — they are probably the subtlest things on the menu, but no less addictive for it. No fiery heat resides inside these fresh-steamed puppies, just tender forcemeat begging to be bitten into. Chili heads should head straight to k-k-k-k-Katmandu — where a flame red chicken chunks await a good dousing (while you’re chewing on them) from a nice German pilsner after singeing your tastebuds.
The staff is exceedingly friendly and helpful to novices to this cuisine (who isn’t?), and they take your order on their iPhones — how cool is that? They’ve even kept a bunch of European and sub-continent beers on the menu — 63 to be precise — a legacy leftover from the prior incarnation of this place.
The abstruse differences between northern Indian and Nepalese cuisine may not be readily apparent to the uninitiated, but those in love with the soups, stews and curries of the sub-continent (which seems to include half the faculty of UNLV), will find precious little to complain about after one of these highly spiced meals. Our staff thinks even Tenzing Norgay would approve.
ELV’s two recent meals came to $59.95 and $42.13, respectively, and he left a $15 tip at each.
MINT INDIAN BISTRO
730 East Flamingo Rd.
Las Vegas, NV 89119
702.894.9334
It’s better, of course, at my house, but at least you had momo and chau-chau, which are, for the record, Tibetan and not Nepali dishes. That’s two more than Ms. Rinella wrote about. But if you want to taste Nepali food…..you know who to ask.
John, glad you found a real dosa at the MINT…Please don’t write anymore about tasteless dosas at the Mandarin Oriental. Mint has the best dosas in Vegas. Thanks for following up on my recommendation on dosas when I met you at the Epicurean2011.