Gurkha Authentic, delicious and healthy meals of Nepal, India and other countries in Central and South Asia

Gunja B. Chokhal came to Bulgaria in 2002.

In Bulgaria he likes the people the most and his favourite Bulgarian dishes are moussaka, sarmas and gyuvetch.

What he missed the most from his homeland is Nepal’s nature. His favorite childhood is called thali. In Nepalese cuisine, dishes always contain several different components. This dish has 7-8 components – beans and lentils, special rice called mansuli (mansuli), which literally means ‘grains of soul”, steamed vegetables and yogurt.

The restaurant was opened in 2009. Gunja named his restaurant “Gurkha” after the fearless Nepalese warriors who, like the Japanese samurai, are legendary. Gurkhas describe themselves: “Our hearts are the rocks in the Himalayas, Nepalese knives “Khukri” are our hands of bullets, our clothes are woven out of gunpowder and explosives, our feet are the barrels of guns, but delicious Nepali food – our soul.” Professor Sir Ralph Turner said about them: “You endure hunger and thirst and wounds without complaining; your battle lines are the last to sink into the din and smoke of battle. Bravest of the brave , most generous of the generous – no country has ever had more loyal friends than you!”

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Gunja himself comes from a family of gurkhas – his grandfather, his father, his uncle had been warriors and though he became chef, he carries the blood of gurkhas.

It is worth visiting the restaurant for the authentic Nepali and Indian dishes that are prepared carefully and from the heart, and are hard to find elsewhere. They represent 90% of the entire menu, and the rest is devoted to dishes from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Tibet and Thai cuisine. Gunja recommends Nepalese salad, Nepalese momo dumplings and lamb kathmandu.

In this restaurant they don’t adjust the food to taste Bulgarian. Everything is prepared from original Nepali and Indian recipes, there are three degrees of how hot and spicy each dish you order can be prepared.

Most visitors to the restaurant are vegetarians, vegans and yoga practitioners because Nepalese cuisine is very healthy and balanced. Other visitors are doctors from Tokuda and Pirogov, healers using alternative medicine, herbalists, and people who have traveled or lived in that part of the world or in England, and on their return here they are looking for authentic Nepalese and Indian food. The ratio between Bulgarians and foreigners is 50:50, most of the foreigners are Americans.

Interview: An Fam
Photos: Stefan Suchev
Translation from Bulgarian: Boyan Boychev
Illustration: Dmitry Yagodin for Compote Collective
November 30, 2013