On the way into Taste of the Himalayas in La Jolla, a patron on the way out told us that we had to get the tandoori chicken tikka. There was a strong scent of smoke in the place, which had clearly turned off its smoke detectors a long time ago, and we figured this departing patron must have known what she was talking about.

Thus, we began with the tandoori chicken tikka. It arrived like a plate of fajitas – steaming up the place to accompany the smoke. The chicken was good, although not exactly something I would declare every stranger walking through the door should order.

We also ordered a little something called Momo, which are a part of why this restaurant is called Taste of the Himalayas and not Taste of India. That’s because momo are Tibetan specialty (that have spread throughout South Asia). They are steamed dumplings that are generally filled with whatever is available. In this case, since we don’t live in the Himalayas and have choices, we opted for the chicken variety. They came with a “Himalayan” sauce that was pretty good and while I enjoyed the dumplings, our resident South Asian expert at the table let us know that they weren’t anything special.

As for my main course, I went with the Chicken Korma, because that is generally my favorite Indian dish. Taste of the Himalayas served it up pretty solidly.

Ultimately, Taste of the Himalayas churned out a solid meal. None of the dishes stood out to me in particular, but they were far from being bad. If you’re in La Jolla looking for Himalayan food, Taste of the Himalayas will do. But I wouldn’t exactly make it a destination.

Tara’s in Palms is another little restaurant I’ve driven or walked by many times and wondered what great things wait inside. Finally, I was craving some Indian food, so I took a step inside. Now, to be clear, Tara’s isn’t a straight-up Indian restaurant. Rather, it is Himalayan, aka Indian with a twist of Nepalese and Tibetan. I think this gives the place a bit more character than just plain Indian cuisine.

To start the meal right, I asked the waitress what beer I should order. She recommended a bottle of Old Monk beer, so I took her advice. This was a great Indian lager beer that was especially good, because it came in one of those tall bottles that you can only seem to find at ethnic restaurants.

With beer in hand, we decided to start the food off with some garlic naan (pictured above). This was quite good, especially when dipped into the strange Himalayan sauces on the table.

For the main course, we ordered two delicious-looking chicken dishes. The first was called Pokhareli Chicken, which was poached chicken with coriander, mango powder and cilantro. The chicken tasted great except for a couple problems. The first was that it came with come sort of reddish vegetable on top. This may have been tomato, but I really couldn’t be sure. All I knew is I had to remove it before eating. Also, the chicken was a bit difficult to eat because it still had bones. This didn’t effect the taste, but just made the eating experience a bit difficult.

The other chicken dish we ordered was the Chicken Korma. This was a special cashew nut based curry with coconut milk. I figured it would be kind of like Thai Panang Curry, because of the coconut milk, but it was very different in a good way. The curry was thick and sweet, but also had a spicy kick, and it was nice to have chicken without bones.

Overall, Tara’s was a great experience. The food was delicious and moderately priced. There was minimal vegetable contact and despite the bones, everything tasted great, especially with my Old Monk beer.