Low student prices and well made food make this local restaurant a hit
If you’re looking for great Indian food, go no further than Sherpa’s Adventurers Restaurant & Bar. Sherpa’s specializes in Himalayan food, and although it serves both lunch and dinner, the lunch specials are some of the best in town.
Located at 825 Walnut St. in Boulder, Sherpa’s serves lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and dinner from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. There’s an $8 lunch special, which is only $5.50 for students. The food is fresh and made to order, and the small, cozy feeling of the restaurant is highlighted by traditional Himalayan music to help set the ambience.
The lunch special offered two options, a vegetarian and a meat dish. The vegetarian dish was Tofu Aloo, which is tofu, tomatoes and peas in an onion sauce. This dish is also offered for dinner for $10. Both my dining partner and I chose the other option, though, and ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala. The tikka masala is marinated chicken, roasted in the Tandoor oven and finished with a mild, tomato yogurt sauce.
Another unique aspect of this restaurant is the Tandoor oven. This is a large, clay oven, fired in charcoal. Both the chicken and the naan were made in the oven.
Our chicken was served with naan, handmade bread that is slapped onto the sides of the Tandoor oven. The lunch special comes with the plain naan, but you can also order garlic, onion or cheese naan.
Basmati rice and a small serving of the dall, a Nepali lentil soup, were also served with our lunch course. The soup was a little too salty for my taste and was my least favorite part of the meal.
The chicken was tender and seemed to melt in my mouth with every bite. The creamy tomato yogurt sauce was so good that I used the naan to scrape every last bit of it off my plate.
After I was done scraping the sauce from my chicken dish with my naan, I was sufficiently full. It was time for dessert. My friend ordered the Kulfi Indian-style Ice ($3), which comes in either mango or pistachio. She ordered mango. It was beautifully presented in the shape of a cut-up orange, with tiny triangular pieces of mango ice. It was similar to sorbet, but not as soft. Each piece you put in your mouth takes a few minutes to dissolve as the spicy flavors that complement the mango are released.
I also ordered a chai ($2), which was a little different from the other chais I’ve had. It had a subtler flavor. The typical chai spices that are usually very prevalent, like nutmeg and cinnamon, didn’t jump right at me. Instead, they sauntered into my senses. The chai is a homemade, sweet milk tea made with herbs and fresh-ground spices. It was very soothing, but not overbearing.
I left the restaurant having paid $10, including tip, for a wonderful lunch. It’s rare to find a restaurant in Boulder that can offer such great, homemade food for such a cheap price. Sherpa’s offered the exact amount of food to leave me neither hungry nor too full to leave the restaurant.
The wait staff at Sherpa’s is extremely friendly, and some of them are from the Sherpa group in the Himalayas. Pemba Sherpa started Sherpa’s in September of 2002. Pemba grew up in the Everest region of Nepal without electricity, plumbing, running water or roads. He became a professional mountain guide at the age of 16, and in 1991, he decided to come to the US.
Pemba opened Sherpa’s as a way to establish ties with Nepal and started an adventure-guide company, Sherpa Ascent International, in 1994. While waiting for the food, guests are encouraged to check out the “traveler’s lounge” which has books to help plan your next mountain adventure. The restaurant also offers guest speakers and slide shows. Sherpa’s will help you plan any sort of trip you’d like, whether it’s a hike up a 14er in Colorado or a trip to the Himalayas.
Sherpa’s is a gem in Boulder and located so close to the Pearl Street Mall that it is a great place to go for a quick, inexpensive lunch with a friend.
Contact Campus Press staff writer Jenny Bergen at Jennifer.bergen@thecampuspress.com.
