Reviews on Montys Rathgar
Being a Rathgar resident and having only eaten in Monty's of Temple Bar for the first time a couple of months ago, I was very keen to compare it to the D6 version. I often drive by it and I like the fact that you can usually see a member of staff at the entrance to the garden at the front of the restaurant on quieter evenings. It reminds me of holidays and long summer evenings spent dining al fresco – which is, in fact, an option at Monty's as they have a great terrace. I managed to organise a number of pals and myself enough to book a table and ensure we all arrived on time, after which we settled down to our meal. I like the unique low tables – I think they add to the jovial atmosphere of an evening spent in great company. Not being connoisseurs of Nepalese cuisine, we opted for the tasting menu, which we were all geared up for. At € 75 a head it isn't the cheapest choice on the menu (or the most expensive) but if you want the true Monty's experience it's certainly a great choice. They even do it on a Saturday night – fair play, as Monty's gets busy and this is a six course tasting menu with wines. Here are all really interesting and complemented the dishes very well. As each of the courses was presented, l our staff explained our dishes in some detail and answered our questions, showing their knowledge and passion concerning the food. combination of the atmosphere, the décor, the friendly staff and that exotic cuisine and unusual seating means that dining at Monty's is more than just heading out for a bite. It's an experience. Did the Rathgar Monty's live up to my expectations as someone who had already eaten in the Temple Bar restaurant? The food is just as good, the service just as friendly and the atmosphere just a vibrant as their other place but an ever so slightly more relax ambience makes this Monty's even more special.
7 Steps to Heaven "Still considered one of Dublin's best kept secrets, Monty's is a small, unassuming Nepalese restaurant specialising in genuine regional dishes from the Indian sub-continent. The kind of place one could easily miss if it wasn't for the two scrawly dinner receipts stuck to the front window. One signed: "To Shiva & Lina. Thanks, Q", in other words Quentin Tarantino, and the other sellotaped to a photograph of that self-same couple linking arms with perennially sun-glassed Bono. Monty's set lunch costs a mere £7.50 and is considered by food to be the best buy in Dublin. The kind of place that even thinks of keeping a bottle of hand moisturiser in the ladie's loo, Monty's is a perfect example of how attention to detail and culinary confidence can transform a low-key setting into a top class Nepalese restaurant."
>>Back To TOPWhen Lucinda O'Sullivan visited a new version of an old disappointment, she was relieved not to have to cry out that the emperor had no clothes. Monty's of Kathmandu is a long established Nepalese restaurant just off Dame Street in Dublin . Critics, all needless to say experts on the nether regions of Nepal and the Himalayas , have waffled in flowing rhapsodies and flowery exultations about the delights of Monty's. But not yours truly ! My visit to the much hyped Monty's a while ago left myself and friend Rena singularly under whelmed. I felt like the little boy in the HANS Christian Andersen story, The Emperor's New Clothes but then, I often do !. On that visit, we were crammed in, the food was pretty unexceptional – no better than any average high street curry house – and the service was offhand, desultory at best. You can rest assured that my review is not posted with the other quotes on their website. It was the only Nepalese restaurant in Ireland , but now there are two – and they are both Monty's. The new Monty's of Rathgar is decidedly hip with a large ground-floor bar, and front patio area covered with black umbrellas. This time, our visit was a much happier experience all round - I may even get on their website this time ! . Upstairs has heavily carved dark wood and pillars with brilliant, rich paintwork in green, red and gold. At one end of the room, there's a traditional low-table seating area, which is great for groups to commune with one another. I probably wouldn't be able to get up without a crane, so I opted for regular seating, which was a small table in the middle of the floor, but I survived ! The menu is extensive with starters (€5.50 - € 13.95) including a Nepalese speciality, Momos, a type of dumpling that has to be ordered 24 hours in advance. Mains are between €16.50 and €26.50, but we opted for a six course tasting menu at €50 to really sample a variety of dishes. The first plate was Tareko Sabji, a quenelle of deep-fried julienned vegetables in a very light batter with cashew nuts and lovage seeds. With good flavour and a crunchy texture, it conbined well with the softness of its bedfellow, Aloo Kerau Chat Pat – diced spicy potatoes and peas, spring onions, ginger and coriander with a whopping zing of green chillies. The second plate had a brace each of poleko squid and Tareko Jhinga Macha. The squid were like two little hollow puff balls brushed with a tandoori paste. They had been whisked into the tandoori oven for a few seconds and the effect on the plate was slightly strange, akin to eating smoky mini balloons ! Tareko Jhingo Macha were two lightly crumbed king prawns. They were very pleasant. The third plate was chopped up chicken with more spices. It was kind of dry, but quite pleasant though not memorable. Next up came lamb choila, soft, spicy lamb balls with fresh chillis, ginger, onions, coriander and a dash of seto rakshi, which is a white wine. It was very nice and aromatic. The main course arrived as we were about to collapse and we were barely able to taste the flavours. However, the main event consisted of a very enjoyable Ledo Bedo lamb curry, not overly hot, plus a big dish of chickpea lentils with ginger and chat masala, which the waiter told us are very popular in Nepal . These came with delicious vegetables tossed in a spicy spinach sauce, plus rice and naan bread. We finished with a ‘carrot pudding', the Nepalese equivalent of carrot cake, made simply with carrots, milk, butter and sugar, cooked down for man hours. It was compressed and dense with a light natural sweetness – delicious and very different. With a bottle of Trimbach Gewurztraminer (€32), mineral water (€4.75) and optional service, our bill came to €150. Well, it seems Monty's won us over, for the sequel far outshone the original ! Monty's of Rathgar, 88 Rathgar Road , Dublin 6. Telephone : (01) 492-0633 www.lucindaosullivan.com
>>Back To TOPTom Doorley found the food at Montys of Kathmndu a welcome change from the usual 'Indian' fare. Years ago I used t frequent a certain licenced premises in Dublin where one of the regulars, a man I never actually met, would frequently hold forth on culinary matters. He was a large man with fists the size of small counties and pair of pendulous buttocks which enveloped the bar stool in the kind of embrace that would put you in mind of a neddle in a haydtack. His very act of sitting down at the bar looked as if he was defying nature. Anyway, he seemed to haoil from the fine old county of Louth and his speech was rich in the rolling R and narrow U of those parts. He first came to my attention as he told his drinking companion, a bald man who looke liked prematurely aged turf accountant, to look out for a particular wine "Its Robert Mondavi Pinot Noir Reserve,"he intoned gravely. "And Jaysus, do you wha'? Its a real knife and fork job." Ever since, I have applied that description to new World wines of a muscular sort. The comment I remember most vividly, however, concerned ethnic food. The prematurely aged bookie had said something to the effect that he wasn't very gone on Indian grub. Our friend stopped him in mid-sentence and inquired if he, the bookie, knew teh knife and fork masn, was going to tell him? The bookie did not. "I never fancied the Indian stuss," he said. "French, Eyetalian, even the odd Chinese, I couldn't get enough. But one day I had lunch in a great Indian place in Leeds and do you know what I did then? I went out and bought Mad Hoor Jaffrey's book. Mad Hoor Jaffrey has no time for curries. She's all for the real thing." Ms Jaffrey is, indeed concerned with authenticity and she comments in the introduction to her Invitation to Indian Cooking that what she found in Indian restaurants when she first came to Britain didn't have a whole lot of it. In those days, many of the people cooking in such restaurants were not chefs at all; they were merchant seamen and unskilled labourers who were simply trying to make a living. Britain now has a large Indian popoulation that it can sustain plenty of good ethnic restaurants where the clientele will know, like a shot, if the chaps in the Kitchen are chefs or road menders. In Ireland, its not quite the same. The average 'Indian' restaurant here is pretty basic, the food rarely exciting, the whole notion of regional Moukhay Khana subjugated to the tika masala tendency. Montys of Kathmandu (actually in Temple Bar) is run by Shiva Gautam, whose passionfor getting things right knows no bounds. He is constantly tweaking the wine list and he has commissioned his very own, full-blodded lager from one of our new micro-breweries. How many restaurants do that? Monty's is carefully positioned in terms of price.This is the kind of place you can drop into casually and that is just what three of us did during the period that is universally known as the 'run up' to Christmas. Not the best time to judge a restaurant, admittedly, and Monty's was bursting at seams with office parties, including one that seemed to have come from London. The culinary cannon at Monty's makes a change from the usual suspects and Kacela is a case in point: minced lamb, served raw and seasoned with ginger, garlic and mysterious but delicious spices. Not the kind of stuff you get in the neighbourhood takeaway and, in fact, a highly prized dish amongst the Newars of Nepal. That was one of our starters. The others were tareko sabji, not unlike a unlike a delicate form of onion bhajee but made from grated mixed vegetables scented with celery-ish lovage seeds, blended with batter and deep fried, and a mild dish of little lamb meat balls called masu ko bari. Normally, the Nepalese momo dumplings require 24 hours notice but a large party had ordered them in advance anf we managed to scoop up some some of them. They were plesantly tasty and filled with delicious lamb, well worth thinking of ahead of time. More, conventionally, we enjoyed some enormous and succulent tandoori tiger prawns which had been thoroughly marinated in thick yoghurt and spices. Chicken Gorkhali also utilised thick yogurt as the base of its vivid green sauce, which owes the its colour and flavour to green chillies and fresh coriander leaves with the yogurt and other spices, to a thick , smooth puree. And finally, a fairly conventional but quite delicious dish of tandoori baked chicken finished in a rich, buttery, creamy sauce. We consumed a copule of beers each and I can report that montys ownstuff really hits the spot with these dishes and came out with a bill for £86.20 (€ 109.45) before service.
>>Back To TOPExotic Meals made from finest sources Darina Allen Fresh spices, chillies, and Asian ingidients like soy sauce, lemon grass, nampla, mirin, garam masala, are hopping off the shelves in shops at a terriffic rate. Apparently, we're beoming more adventurous by the week. Once we get a taste of those irressistible spicy flavours of the East and Far East we're hooked. At last the ethnic restaurants in this country are begining to gain the recognition and status they deserve. Up to recently it has been a somewhat of a catch 22 situation. Many Indian, Chinese, Thai and Lebanese restaurants serve a diluted version of their native cuisine to suit what they perceive to be our unsophisticated tastebuds. This, however, is increasingly unsatisfying for the growing number of people who have tasted at source and realise they are being denied the authentic experience by this patronising attitude. However, more recentlya growing number of ethnic restaurants have been offering more authentic regional Moukhay Khana. On a recent trip to Dublin I sought out Neplaese food in the Temple Bar area, at Montys of Kathmandu. The owner Shiva Gautam is at pains to stress that he serves Nepalese, not Indian food. Shiva who is an engineer by profession, did his degree in London. He had lots of Irish friends who wanted him to visit. He fell in love with Ireland and eventually opened his restaurant, with his wife Lina to serve his favourite food from Nepal. All the chefs are Nepalese anf the kitchen is semi open plan so one can smell the tantalising aromas from the tandoori oven. I sat close to the window under the watchful eyes of the God Shiva and ate my way through about 10 courses, I simply could not decide what to order so I kept being tempted by yet another dish. Lamb Kachela, raw minced lamb flavoured with freshly ground spices, garlic ginger and coriander, was delicious. Crispy onion bhajees with crushed coriander seeds and a yoghurt mint raita and Aloo kerau papad roll are aslo worth seeking out. For the latter the poppadums were soaked in water then used as a wrapper for a filling of pea, spring onion, chilli, ginger, potato and fresh coriander. I tasted three chicken dishes, Chicken chata mari was served on an interesting rice pancake, Gorkhali chicken and the house special Tandoori Butter Chicken. More temptations kept coming , I also tucked with relish into choila, a spicy lamb dish follwed by Methi Gosth, tender lamb cooked with fresh herbs and fenugreek. Shiva very kindly wrote out several of his recipes for us to try, but if you'd like someone else to chop the chillies and grind those spices then seek out Montys of Kathmandu, 28 Eustace street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2. (opposite the Irish Film Centre), Tel. 01 6704911, Fax 01 4944359, email: montys@eircom.net. Web:www.montys.ie Shiva's Rice, Serves four 1.5 cups of Basmati rice, 2.5 cups of water Clean and soak rice for minimum 15 minutes before cooking. Drain and add the precise amount of water, cover and bring to boil. Once boiling reduce the heat to simmer and remove the cover, stir. After 2-3 minutes cover the rice and cook at the same reduced heat and cook until all water is absorbed. Turn heat off and leave covered. Chicken Curry, serves 4 1kg of chicken diced on the bone (1.5 inch pieces), 1 onion cut in julienne, 5 cloves of garlic crushed, 1 teaspoon of ginger paste, 200g (7oz) of canned tomatoes, 2 teaspoon of plain masala (ground cumin and coriander), 1 teaspoon of garam masala, 0.5 teaspoon of tumeric powder, 1 to 2 fresh green chillies finely chopped, 3 to 4 tablespoon of mustard oil or vegetable oil, 2 tablespoon of finely chopped coriander, salt to taste. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onions, fry for one minute and add chicken. Stir well and cook the chicken for few minutes. Add tumeric powder and salt and stir thoroughly and cover and cook for ten minutes. Once cooked add the spices, garlic, ginger and tomatoes. Stir well and cover and cook for 3 to 5 minutes and add 0.5 cup of water for the sauce and stir again. Once the curry thickens add teh coriander stir and leave for one minute. Serve with rice and Dall.
>>Back To TOPWith too many overpriced, mediocre restaurants in Temple Bar, Montys of Kathmandu is invaluable. Anyone who discovers Monty's of Kathmandu, a tiny unassuming little room in Temple Bar, usually wants to keep it to themselves. But the gossip is very, very good indeed: Monty's is hot. Whilst at first glance it looks a lot like Indian food, Montys speciality is Nepalese cooking, and its signature dishes - Kachela, which is raw minced lamb with garlic, ginger, and herbs, served with a shot of whiskey, or Momo, a dumpling served with Nepali chuney are subtle and beautifully delivered. Owner Shiva Gautam's mind is in the details, and his paneer masala, for instance, is all the more delicate and unusual for its main ingridient, home made curd cheese. With too many mediocre restaurants in temple Bar, Monty's of Kathmandu is invaluable. Don't miss their own SHIVA beer, brewed for them in County Meath.
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