New Indian Cuisine Restaurant to Open in San Angelo

San Angelo’s food culture will be expanding eastward in about three weeks, when the city’s only Indian eatery is slated to open its doors for a lunch and dinner service at Taste of the Himalayas, located at 3520 Knickerbocker Road.

Raj Neupane, a native of Nepal and one of four partners in the venture, has been in San Angelo for the past five years running two businesses. Like his clients, Neupane said, he is surprised a city of San Angelo's size doesn’t already offer the ethnic fare.

“I already have the business here and I have so many comments from the people,” he said, seated outside his shop at the mall. “They are looking for the Indian dishes and we, also, are looking for the Indian dishes for a long time. We’ve been in San Angelo for almost five years and nobody’s opening [an Indian restaurant], so I thought, ‘Why not me? Why not us?’”

Although he and his partners are actually from Nepal, Neupane said they’ve opted to offer Indian cuisine for the sake of familiarity. His chef, Devendra K.C., is also from Nepal and has 11 years of Indian culinary experience. The flavors, they said, are similar in the two countries.

“Nepal and India are border countries and our recipes are similar as the Indian recipes, but India is more popular,” Neupane said in his heavy accent. “Everyone knows India, right? It’s the same dishes.”

Traditional Indian and Nepalese cuisine, K.C. said, is full of aromatic spices, a variety of game and fresh vegetables. While most associate culinary creations from that particular region with a westernized orange curry powder, Neupane and K.C. say the dishes are actually much more complex and utilize a variety of ingredients not common to our area.

Garam masala, tumeric, cardamon and nutmeg are just some of the spices that lend the food its unique flavor, and K.C. says the menu will feature dishes and curries made with chicken, lamb, fish, shrimp and goat, as well as a number of vegetarian options. K.C. will be drafting the menu himself, he said, and plans to incorporate traditional and authentic family recipes and a few Nepalese and Tibetan specialties.

“We have some special [dishes] that Indian [sic] doesn’t do [in our region],” Neupane said. “We’ll be doing that too and it’s really, really, really good. In New York and some of those places, they line up long for those dishes. It’s really, really special.”

Taste of the Himalayas Indian Cuisine will be a dine-in restaurant with a full wait staff and comprehensive menu. During the lunch hours the owners intend to offer both a buffet and their regular menu items, while adhering to menu-only orders in the evening. Should they see a demand in the future, the restaurant may expand its services to delivery, however for the time being the fare will be served dine-in only.

“I have heard the people of San Angelo, they don’t know about Indian cuisine, and I want to say to them just try it one time. You’ll love it,” Neupane said. “You’ll never want anything else.”

Neupane and his partners hope to have Taste of the Himalayas open the second week of August. To keep up with their progress, visit their Facebook page.