Munching away in monastery.....

hi all,

The land of Tibet may be known around the world because of his holiness the Dalai Lama. the Potala Palace and the recent olympic torch controversy......all of these have been succesful in making waves and grabbing headlines around the world with varying degrees of success....but in a corner of Delhi lies a small colony of Tibetian refugees that has bowled me over.

The colony is poularly called monastery....the board outside the gate says it is a laddakh baudh vihar ( लद्दाख बौद्ध विहार) but it is tibetian refugees that make up the numbers here.

The place has a small but thriving market for t-shirts, shoes, jeans etc.....let me clarify that this is not original stuff but is usually dirt cheap and a shoppers paradise.... for- if you really know the art and science of bargaining you could get a discount of up to 40-50%

It is here that I have discovered a restraunt that has become my favorite joint for authentic tibetian food. The place is called Star Restraunt and is managed by an elderly gentleman....the ambience is...well....ironically chinese or maybe I am not able to distinguish tibetian culture from the chinese one.....nevertheless the focus is not on the ambience but the yum food that's served there.

It's not about chowmein (चाऊमीन- that's how several restraunts spell it!!) and momo's but several tibetian preprations like thupka, tingmo, shaplak.....etc .

The restraunt has both vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes on the menu. I can't comment on the non veg. one's (am a vegetarian), but the vegetarian one's often elicit the response - that's is so yum!!!

The fact that food is hygenic and economically priced adds to the brownie points.

After the meal you could also visit the nearby monastery, that houses a bueatiful buddha statue (I'm his namesake!!), or wander in the market.

So people if you have some time on your hand's and happen to be near Kashmere Gate bus terminus in Delhi do spend couple of hours and enjoy a meal at the monastery. Bon Appetit!!!!