By AMY PATAKI
DINING OUT
Tibet is hot again thanks to singing Buddhist monks.
Move over, Richard Gere. The Monks of Sherab Ling Monastery were nominated this month for a Grammy Award for their Sacred Tibetan Chant album.
The cause célèbre that is Tibet is even drawing attention to the food. Toronto now has three Tibetan restaurants, which seems like a lot only because most of the people I know have never eaten in any of them.
For those unfamiliar with the cuisine, consider these two points: the best food is to be found at Little Tibet Restaurant, and avoid the buttered tea.
Okay, there’s more to Tibetan food than that. The country is a mountainous plateau locked between China (which annexed Tibet in 1951) and India, home of the Tibetan government in exile and Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama.
These neighbours have influenced Tibet’s cooking as well as its politics. From the Chinese side come the stir-frying and steaming techniques. From India, fragrant cumin and turmeric turn up, but always in restraint. In fact, the simplicity of Tibetan food has been described as bland Chinese crossed with even blander Indian.
“Our food is very basic. We don’t put too many sauces on the dishes,” says Lhamo Chhoyang, chef of Little Tibet.
Little Tibet has been the exiled community’s culinary ambassador since 1993. The restaurant grew out of its basement Yorkville location 18 months ago and moved to hip Queen St. W. It continues to draw both those sympathetic to the Tibetan cause and vegetarians, even though meat is served.
(While Buddhism doesn’t allow taking lives, many Tibetans eat meat for survival.)
It’s a cheery room thanks to bright cobalt and yellow walls, upon which hang photographs of Tibet and posters advertising the upcoming visit of the Dalai Lama. Part of the long bar is given over to roadside commerce, with jars of homemade chili sauce and incense for sale.
You may have to seat yourself, since the staff recurrently disappear into the kitchen, but otherwise the hospitality is warm and genuine. Staff are happy to answer any and all questions about Tibet and its food. We learn many things from the maternal waitress, such as Tibetan doctors sometimes prescribe meat to vegetarians suffering from insomnia. (Take two steaks, and call me in the morning.)
Starters show the Indian influence. There’s a lovely warm potato salad ($4.60) generously laced with caramelized onions and enough chilies to set the lips atingle. Fresh coriander really comes through in a cold salad of chickpeas ($3.95) tossed with yogurt. Even better is the contrast of cool cucumber against crunchy red onion in the mix. Lentil soup ($3.50) is a thick, warming purée tinted yellow by turmeric.
The rest of the menu is not a little austere. Forget rich Mughal curries and Cantonese banquet dishes. In a harsh land, cooks make do with a limited repertoire of hearty ingredients, simply prepared.
Yet there is beauty in simplicity. Pork ribs, or tsik-sha ($11.95), need only a marinade of homemade barley wine to become extraordinarily complex in flavour and fall-off-the-bone tender.
Just a handful of ingredients — diced tomatoes, onion, garlic, sesame, beef — forms the basis for shap-ta ($12.95), a flavoursome stir-fry perfect for spooning over jasmine rice. Even the steamed bread called t. momo ($2.50) is an exercise in alchemy: wheat flour and water become fluffy, yellow buns resembling flowers.
In the pantheon of Asian dumplings, Tibet has a perfectly respectable entry in momo. These steamed or fried dumplings make a meal unto themselves at Little Tibet, served by the half-dozen with salsa and nicely dressed greens. Stiff steamed dough wraps a compact beef filling ($8.95), making up in oomph what it lacks in delicacy. A vegetarian version ($8.95) gets added flavour from a quick turn in the frying pan, although the slippery threads of carrot and cabbage inside are nicely spiced with Sichuan peppercorn. If you like Greek pastry, try the cheese and spinach momos ($9.95), a high-altitude version of spanakopita.
Translucent noodles, made from mung beans, are stir-fried with vegetables in phing-shets ($7.75). It’s too bad the noodles are overly soft and greasy, because each strand exudes pure mushroom flavour. Another disappointment is the dry chicken sautéed with crisp green beans in temae tse ($8.75).
About the tea. Tibetans are used to drinking strong black tea churned with yak butter and salt. It’s more like a soup, perfect for rehydrating and refuelling on a cold day. It’s also very much an acquired taste. So much so that at Little Tibet, you will be warned before ordering.
You can finish the meal with mango sorbet, but why? A more authentic dessert is a warm scoop of mindha ($4.75), a moderately sweet and infinitely soft rice pudding that is baked with cinnamon, brown sugar and dried fruits.
It’s a shame the roof of the world isn’t known more for its kitchen.
Little Tibet Restaurant
HOURS: Tuesday to Thursday, noon to 3 p.m., 5 to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, noon to 3 p.m., 5 to 11 p.m.; Sunday, 5 to 10 p.m.
SEATS: 36
CHEF: Lhamo Chhoyang
WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Stairs to washrooms
LOCATION: 712 Queen St. W. (at Claremont St.), 416-306-1896
