One of my favorite things to do midweek is grab dinner with my best friend. Although we live in the same City, we are at least an hour (on a good train day) away from each other. She’s in Northern Manhattan, I’m in Southern Brooklyn. But since we work near each other, it’s easy to catch up over dinner.
Tonight, she suggested that we try out a Tibetan restaurant, Tsampa, in the East Village.
We started off with the Lhasa Momo, dumplings with garden vegetables and shiitake mushrooms:
These were delicious. The dough was thicker than on Chinese food dumplings that I’m used to and the filling was warm and fresh.
We ordered two dishes to split. One was the sauteed eggplant with tofu served with brown rice. This dish had some of the most complex flavors I’ve had in a while – spicy, sweet, sour, with a a great smokiness. I would certainly get this again.
The second dish was Gyathuk Ngopa – baked noodle with garlic -ginger and topped with chicken and vegetables:
The flavors of these dish were just OK compared to the eggplant but the noodles were great. They had an amazing texture – soft yet chewy. So cool…can I describe noodles as cool? #nerd
In addition to the interesting food, the restaurant has a super chill vibe. Dining by the candlelight with low Tibetan music in the background made me feel like I was in a yoga studio.
…A yoga studio where I could enjoy a meal? Million.Dollar.Idea.
