The tastes of Tibet and August

Earlier this week I was looking for restaurants to take the daughter of a friend out for dinner. She's a student at UW and I wanted to buy her a good meal before the semester starts and she's eating almost exclusively on the go fare. Plus, I wanted to give her the apples and apple cider doughnuts I bought for her at Lapacek's Orchard on opening day. I found Tibet Kitchen and thought it'd fit the bill with several vegetarian options and an uncommon cuisine. Well, not that uncommon, it turns out.

My ladyfriend did a search and found that there are, in fact, 4 restaurants in town serving Tibetan food. Not bad for a city of only around 300,000 people.

We began with the vegan momos that had these lamprey mouth-like openings on top. They were scrumptious, laden with cabbage. A tasty sauce burst out with the first bite. The dipping sauce had some nice heat.

The co-ed got one of the stir fries but I cannot recall which. She vacuumed it up in short order. I forgot just how much 20 year-olds eat.

My ladyfriend enjoyed a big bowl of mokthuk, Tibetan dumpling soup. She allowed me a sample and I can testify that it was delicious.

I went a bit overboard, I must admit. First, I got a big plate of cucumber salad which was crisp and cool with a hint of spice. Sorry cucumber fans, no photo. Next was a big ol' plate of sauteed baby bok choy. They did not pull any punches when it came to the garlic.

Finally, I got a big bowl of thenthuk, a noodle soup with plenty of flat noodles.

Also not shown was a swirl of tingmo, Tibetan bread. I know nothing about it but I can tell you that it had a nice grainy taste and proved to be the quicker picker upper as it absorbed the garlic sauce from the bok choy with ease.

Every bite was delicious and portions were generous. The co-ed went home with a full belly.

A return visit is in order.

With a surfeit of apples - Scarlets, I've been thinking about what to do with them. The first thing that came to mind was to cook them with pork. And so I paired the pork chops in my refrigerator with a Scarlet stuffing.

I threw them in the oven smothered in kraut.

I also made corn on the cob with the ears I bought at Lapacek's over the weekend.

My photo:

My ladyfriend's (better) photo:

While the corn wasn't mega-sweet, it was still delicious. And the chops turned out well. More apples next time. Still, a nice meal to welcome in the bounty of the early harvest.