[CLOSED] Lomba The Gurkha Bistro (Woodlands)

Left most: chyau (mushrooms) @ $14
Middle: jimbu butter chicken set with bara @ $18
Right: lemon tea @ $3

We intended to come for dinner and on the day itself realised they close at 7.30pm. Luckily we made it at arnd 6+. Then they asked if it's our first time here and said the food usually takes about 20mins to be prepared. That was a nice heads up and it also implies everything is freshly made.

So we got the jimbu butter chicken set which seems to be the popular dish here. The server also kindly told us the "blackish stuff" on top is the jimbu which is a kind of herb and told us to stir in before eating. The dish was nice, close to Indian muslim kind of butter chicken but a bit lighter and less intense. Which is really great, and it goes super well with the bara, which is made from five legumes that were soaked overnight to be made into dough. The texture is almost like pancake and absorbs the curry rather well.

The chyau mushrooms is basically fried mushrooms with some other ingredients like peas and edamames and onions, etc.. The sauce is tasty but can be a bit heavy after a while.

Even the lemon tea tastes refreshing and we guess it's home made.

Overall a great meal, though a little pricey.

I stuffed my face with momos, roti, and butter chicken here, and everything was amazingly tasty without leaving you feeling heavy afterwards. The owner is lovely and will tell you proudly that she makes everything from scratch, uses fresh ingredients, and never microwaves premade food. The butter chicken uses no cream (cream isn't genuine), instead achieveing the creaminess using blended cashews and yogurt. You can literally taste the love in all of her dishes.

A real hidden gem - come here to get away from the chaos and have some amazing homemade Nepalese food.

Head to Bukit Timah Shopping Centre for Nepalese comfort food at this cosy family run eatery on the fourth floor. Share the mushroom Momo dumpling that's excellent dipped into chilli sauce. On mains, have the belly-warming Thukpa noodle soup or the Jimbu Butter Chicken Set — tender chicken chunks in a rich and creamy stew made of tomato, cashew nuts, butter, Jimbu a dried herb from the Himalayas that's similar to garlic) and ginger.
Photo by Burppler Xing Wei Chua

Visited this relatively new hole-in-the-wall eatery that is well hidden at Level 4 of Bukit Timah Shopping Centre serving up Nepalese Gurkha cuisine. Serving up various Nepalese delicacies such as Momo (Dumplings) as well as Thukpa (Soup Noodles), the Jimbu Butter Chicken is probably one of their signatures here.

Unlike the usual Indian variant of Butter Chicken, Lomba The Gurkha Bistro serves up their very own rendition using tomato, cashew nuts, butter, Jimbu and ginger — the resulting dish was creamy and rich, but significantly less jelak than usual without being cloying and overwhelming; bright and tangy and slightly nutty and buttery, with the Jimbu carrying a herby note that helps to take away some of the heaviness of the butter. The chicken chunks were also pretty tender, while the set comes with a choice of Chapatti or Rice — we opted for the former which was thin and chewy; a great pairing to the Jimbu Butter Chicken itself. Nepalese Gurkha cuisine is a tough find in Singapore; no doubt I would not be able to tell how authentic the food here is considering I have never been to Nepal before, but this is some honest home cooking right here that’s pretty worth going for the experience!

This photo prolly doesn’t do the food justice but to those who are wandering around the Bukit Timah shopping centre, do watch out for this small eatery at 04-12. The store is quite small but cosy ( 2 tables for 4 each, good for fam) and the warmth and friendliness of the owners ( small fam of 3) rly gets to you! What was memorable was especially the handmade “momos”- chicken or mushroom or vegetarian that looked like xlb, dipped in the chilli sauce gives it more oomph! Next is the “bara”- made of 5 legumes soaked overnight ( looks like a prata but has some potatoish feels to it! Thin and unique). We also tried the jimbu fusion set that comes with 2 flatbread looking sides! Overall really a unique hideout and worth supporting!