Mount Everest - Indo Chinese Restaurant Ahmedabad

This again is a late post given the 10 review limit per month by Zomato. This is yet another place that claims to be “Indo-Chinese”. So what’s the difference between this and the several others already existing players in the market? Well, quite a lot!

First things first. The parking here is ample on weekdays but given the number of restaurants in the vicinity, it becomes a task on the weekends. But if you are willing to walk for say 30 seconds, I bet you should find some nook or cranny where you can squeeze your car! The place has opened up in the same spot that previously was occupied by the prahaldnagar branch of Wok on Fire (which happened to be one of our favourite places) and I did not realise that until the food was served to us. How did I figure that out so late you ask? Well, they had the same crockery (quite a Sherlock moment we had then)! Coming to the ambience. The seating is quite comfortable and the lighting is very soothing. For those who love taking pictures of their food, you’ll find the hanging lamps very helpful.

Coming to the food. We had two soups. One indian and the other Chinese. The cream of spinach soup was a revelation! And I am not exaggerating. We weren’t so convinced when we were given the suggestion to try that out but that turned out to be the best course of the meal that day. not that the other dishes were bad, just that this was extremely good! The other soup was the Chinese wonton soup and although it was a tad bit oily, we loved the consistency and the taste and the best part of this soup, obviously was the wonton. A really good start to the meal. Next came in the starters and the dahi kebab demand a special mention here. They were perfectly cooked. Crisp on the outside like a kebab and soft and juicy, almost crumbly to the point of falling apart, on the inside. The cigar rolls however were a disappointment. Too oily (for the obvious reason of being deep fried) but even the stuffing and the textures weren’t as they should be. But the biggest disappointment for us would be the momos. Now it so happens that I love momos! And seeing them on the menu I almost forced the others into submission to order that (given the place is Indo-Chinese)! They looked really great! We had ordered the assorted ones and the texture or the outside coating and the taste were very good. It was cooked perfectly and the presentation was spot on. So was the schezwan chutney that was served alongside that. But the stuffing was a disaster. It had mashed potatoes inside which took me by a surprise. And the worst part, the assorted platter did have variation in the stuffing, say paneer or mixed veggies but everything was added to the mashed potato mixture and we did not like that. It is the season of new potatoes now but when we visited the place about a week or so back, they still hadn’t arrived or maybe the restaurant guys had not started buying the new potatoes, and you know how the old ones have a sweeter tinge to them when compared to the new ones. Maybe the new potatoes could have worked, but definitely not the old ones. Period. So that was ruined for us.

The Karari roomali was spot on the first time but when we got a repeat, it was a tad bit raw at certain edges, so it wasn’t as crisp as the first one. But the taste was very good and we loved the crispiness of the first one. It went really well with their green chutney. We also had the aloo papdi chaat which looked really great but again, the potatoes were very warm and so all the green and the red chutneys that were poured over it became warm, so that wasn’t so appealing but the flavours were good. If only the potatoes had been cooled off to room tempretures, it would have been spot on.

In came the main course after that but honestly we were quite full by then, given we had so many dishes to begin with. So first came the Chinese main course which was the hakka noodes and I loved it! not oily, not spicy and perfectly cooked noodles. The freshness from the onion greens and the garlic was bursting and by adding just a little bit of schezwan sauce that was given on the side with momos, we had a superlative version of an already good dish! Loved it. I tend to forget the name of the subzi that we had for the Indian main course, which obviously had something to do with paneer! ;) that too was good when it came to taste and we alos liked their roomali roti! Sofy and tender and did not go dry in 5 minutes, like it does at so many restaurants.

For drinks we had a spicy amrud drink which was an instant hit among our entire group. Everyone loved it so much that we went for a repeat order. The spicy hit of tabasco with the sour guava flavor worked really well and the salt rimmed glasses just added both, charm and flavor. Absolutely loved it. The other drinks would be the fresh lime soda and the apple mojito both of which were average. Nothing special. On the contrary, there was so much apple in the apple mojito that it felt more like a liquid salad than a drink. And the mint leaves in there weren’t muddled so there wasn’t any fresh flavor, just felt syrup-y.

They also have desserts on the menu but honestly we were so full by then that we could not have had any more food. No. not even dessert. So all in all a great place with a huge space that can easily accommodate a large party and cozy enough for a small gathering. With a few misses and major hits, I think the place is definitely worth a try be it for its Indian cuisine or the Chinese. With some improvements, and luck, I think they’ll do really well as they have the taste that people in Ahmedabad would surely like! Go give it a try.

Bon Appetit!

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