Throwing The Kid A Bone
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday March 5, 2002
When it's time to feed the little man meat.
Himalayan Char Grill
SHOP 18, CROWS NEST PLAZA, 103-111 WILLOUGHBY ROAD, CROWS NEST.
TEL: 9966 5540.
When passing family traditions from father to son, it is best not to throw him in at the deep end. Chucking a large lump of dead, bloody cow in front of one's 11-year-old is probably pushing it.
Better to find a sort of halfway house where he can stuff deceased animals into his face with abandon, but without displacing his braces in a cut of meat bigger than his head. Just such a place is the Himalayan Char Grill, where the plentiful carnivorous offerings are both gentle on the tooth and the wallet.
As it turns out, the place is next door to Osaka teppan yaki restaurant, a fun and raucous establishment I visited in February 2000 with Popsi Bubblehead and the young Austin, Calum.
How things have changed. Back then, I described Crows Nest Plaza as ``depressingly unprepossessing" and, although the physical parameters haven't changed, the place is positively abuzz with excitement and almost wall-to-wall with restaurants.
Talking of walls, the Himalayan Char Grill (Nepalese with a twist, it boasts) stands out from the crowd on account of it being bright lime. Wear an orange shirt and you will bring on migraines among the staff, so do try to be careful when deciding on your glad rags, please.
With Popsi under orders to set a good example for the young'un and ignore the vegetarian offerings, she set about her usual lark of not ordering an entree and then sticking her beak into my haku chwela and The Kid's Himali chicken wings. As a rule, The Kid has no culinary adventurousness but the word ``wings" allied to a little gentle persuasion along the lines of ``don't worry, it's just posh KFC" saw him enthusiastically tucking into marinated chicken wings deep-fried in a chickpea batter.
In fact, he was so enthusiastic that, later, as we're about to enter the harbour tunnel, I notice in the rear-view mirror that he is still sucking on a chicken bone.
My haku chwela is a plate of marinated, diced and chargrilled beef accompanied by a tomato and onion salsa. It is a slightly edgy combination and the beef is beautifully tender.
For our main courses, we ordered the simply named chargrilled lamb, the rack of lamb and the Nariwal chicken, this last one from the specials menu. Basically, almost a whole farmyard. Yum.
The chicken is a creamy concoction of thigh fillet ``simmered in caramelised onion and tomato base sauce". Coconut milk, garlic, ginger, five spices and basil join to make for a dish a little too sweet for my tastes, but which Popsi laps up. She also tries to get The Kid to partake by persuading him that the coconut flakes used as a garnish are, in fact, toenails. It doesn't work.
He is up to his eyebrows in the four lamb chops that make up the rack of lamb, while I am wolfing back the thinly sliced lamb backstrap.
The strap is delicious, let me tell you, and it comes with those traditional seared strips across its back that make it look as if it's just come off a barbie. Resting on a couple of potato cakes, it's a delightful feast.
In every dish the meat is cooked well, but is tender enough so that even old gums like mine can do it justice. It is the perfect entree to the grown-up world of great slabs of steak, though what The Kid will do with the bone in his first T-bone is anybody's guess.
Himalayan Char Grill
SHOP 18, CROWS NEST PLAZA, 103-111 WILLOUGHBY ROAD, CROWS NEST.
TEL: 9966 5540.
Open Mon-Sat for lunch, nightly for dinner.
Eat in/take-away. BYO
Tried marsala pappadums ($3), Himali wings ($7.50), haku chwela ($8.50), chargrilled lamb ($12.90), rack of lamb ($12.90), Nariwal chicken ($14.90).
Bottom line for three $59.70
© 2002 Sydney Morning Herald