Restaurant

Gurkhas Boulder: A cultural nutrition review

Date of dining: July 14th, 2013
Address: 6565 Gunpark Dr #190, Boulder, CO 80301



Dish ordered:  Chicken Tikka from Tandoori oven.  This is breast meat.  The usual Chicken Tandoori is often leg meat or a less lean cut.  I have started to order Chicken Tikka at Indian Restaurants as a healthier option and I love it!Talking to the waiter (only person in the restaurant at the time - seriously, read the google reviews) the most popular dishes ordered are the masala dishes, korma dishes, and naan bread.  The place is very busy during the lunch hours and is dead for dinner.  This is because Gurkhas has a great lunch buffet and does not really advertise locally.  I have eaten here before with my wife and had a pretty poor experience because of the terrible customer service.  I think that they don't take dinners very seriously and don't devote many man hours to the service of their customers during those hours.

A little history: The tandoor oven is a clay oven that is used for cooking and baking.  The heat for the tandoor is traditionally generated by charcoal or wood.  The earliest Tandoor ovens were found in areas that would have been close to the Indus Valley Civilization in Pakistan.  The word tandoor comes from the Dari language meaning tender.  This makes sense, but often I find that tandoor dishes are fairly dry.  Some of the common Tandoor dishes are flatbread, peshawari seekh, achaari thumb ke sole, baluchi aloo, tandoori chicken, CHICKEN TIKKA, Kalmi kabob, and samosa.

Overall nutritional quality:  I would give this a high rating from the overall presentation of VERY lean meat and a very small presence of oils.  The dish was about 8 pieces of tandoor grilled chicken breast along with some grilled veggies.  These veggies would include onions, peppers, some sort of cabbage, and carrots.  For the restaurant as a whole I would give the food here a high rating.  There are so many veggies used in traditional Indian cuisine, that I think it would score very well in overall nutritional quality!

Restaurant Rating:  I love this restaurants food, but did NOT like the service and the decor!  I will be back because it does have great food, is quiet and is so close to home.  But I hope they do a re-model!  The service has been bad according to the reviews and I don't think that is going to change.  I will give Gurkhas a 7 out of 10.  Food would be a 9, service would be a 4 or 5.  Seriously, service was that bad!

The presentation:  I always love the food at Indian restaurants and this was no exception.  It was very traditional in copper plates and cups.  Rice was served on the side of my wife's and my own dish, and the naan was served in a wicker basket.  My dish came out on a sizzling cast iron dish that had a wood insulator beneath it.  I have ordered Chicken Tikka before and the presentation of this was exactly the same.  Portion size was AWESOME!  For a lean meat, I had plenty to eat after a nice workout, and a few pieces to take home and eat before bed.  I like large portions of lean meat and this was very satisfying!  I will order this plate again!


References:Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Tandoor. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandoor. Accessed July 1, 2013].