Gundruk is at 2770 Arapahoe Rd #116, Lafayette (the site of the former Viet Kitchen and before that the Super Mini Walnut Café). It opened more than a year ago, and we have been there quite a few times, by ourselves and with various friends. However, after our first visit we were preparing for a long trip, and my restaurant report somehow slipped through the cracks.
When G and I first visited in May 2023, we tried some things
that were new to us: chatpate (crispy puffed rice and dried instant noodles
marinated with fresh vegetables and Nepalese spices) from the appetizer menu
and chicken momo from the Gundruk Special category on the menu. We also ordered lamb vindaloo (spicy),
an order of garlic naan, and rice pudding for dessert. I looked up chatpate online
and found that it is a common Nepalese street food, which surprised me because it
has quite a lot of ingredients. I saw photos of it being served in a paper cone that you could carry in your hand. It reminded me a little of tabbouleh, but I’m
not sure why—maybe the texture or seasonings.
The garlic naan was thick and chewy and delicious, to the
point where I thought it might be the best I’ve had. The lamb vindaloo was
mainly for G since I stick with a medium spice level, and he said it was
“first-rate.” The rice pudding was beautifully thick and custardy.
The next time we visited was in the fall, with our friend
Kat, who also thought the food was excellent. This time I had chicken tikka
masala, G had lamb vindaloo again, and Kat had aloo gobi curry and matar paneer
curry. These dishes were all fabulous. I’m sure we also had naan, but it didn’t
make it into the photo.
After that, we made several visits on occasions when I did not take photographs. Most recently, last week, I was there with a group of five friends, and we ordered samosas (2 per order), fried momo appetizer (6 per order), chicken coconut curry, shrimp tikka masala, lamb vindaloo, chicken momo from the Special menu (10 per order), grilled chicken tikka from the tandoori oven, and tandoori chicken. Everything was delicious, although we decided we liked the fried momo better than the steamed (or perhaps boiled) momo that came in the larger order. When I ordered the chicken momo last year, they came with a nice tomato-based dipping sauce; the momo we ordered last week came with both that sauce and a second one that was a kind of spicy chili, perhaps to pep them up a bit more.
Our servers were very polite and friendly. We asked if they
ever serve the namesake food, gundruk, which is a Nepali staple dish of fermented
greens and were told that they had offered it as part of the celebration of their
one-year anniversary, and most customers liked it. But they haven’t been
able to add it to the regular menu yet because they are trying to find a
reliable supplier.
In summary, Gundruk is well worth a visit if you love Indian and/or Nepalese food! As a side note, if you look online, it may appear that they don't have a liquor license because the online menu lists only nonalcoholic drinks. However, they do serve alcohol and were offering a mango margarita special when we were there last week. One of my friends tried it and said it was good, but I stuck with a Taj Mahal beer.
* LRP Redux: visiting all the new places that have opened since the end of the previous round of the LRP.
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| May 2023, clockwise from top left: chatpate, lamb vindaloo and garlic naan, chicken momo, and rice pudding |
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| Fall 2023: matar paneer curry, aloo gobi curry, chicken tikka masala, and lamb vindaloo |
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| Last week, clockwise from top left: fried momo, samosas, lamb vindaloo, chicken curry |
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| From last week, clockwise from top left: shrimp tikka masala, chicken momo, tandoori chicken, and grilled chicken tikka |
