Bhutan in a Pool Hall.
Off the side street of 54th and Queens Boulevard stands a pool hall and bar. Its outward appearance is nothing fancy. Its awning looks divey at best. When you pull the heavy wooden door to enter you’re automatically hit with the spiced aromas of Bhutan. The Weekender is part restaurant, part billiards bar, and all parts Bhutanese. It is one of the only spots in the city to specifically have Bhutanese cuisine without being jumbled together as an offshoot of Nepalese cuisine.
We arrived early in the afternoon before anyone was playing pool. The only other people inside the well-decorated interior were older ladies drinking soup who were possibly Bhutanese themselves and a small table of Millenial diners talking loudly about the correct pronunciation of Montreal. We had a light breakfast as we usually do on our Eating A-Z days so we were building up quite the appetite for The Weekender.
Everything on the menu was pretty mouth-watering. I wanted to order everything as I usually do but decided to try just a couple of popular dishes. We ordered aloo dum, shamu datsi, shakam paa, and cheese momo. I knew that things were going to be spicy, but I didn't quite know just how dang spicy things were going to get.
We started out with the cheese momos as an appetizer. Momos are chewy skinned dumplings that are filled with beef, chicken, vegetables, or cheese. You can find them in Nepalese, Tibetan, and sometimes Indian cuisine. Some momos are even filled with yak meat which is abundantly found in Nepal + Tibet. These steamed momos were filled with onions, scallions, cilantro, and mild cheese that was similar to mozzarella. Usually, when I indulge in momo I'll eat meat or veggie filled ones. The cheese momos didn't surprise me that they were delicious. Cheese + dumpling = tasty AF.
The aloo dum are slow-cooked spiced potatoes that kind of resemble home fries. This dish originated in India but has clearly crossed borders into Bhutan. This was the beginning of the heat that we were going to endure. They’re cooked with onions, chilies, cilantro, ginger, scallions, and a host of spices. If I had to give the aloo dum a spicy rating it’d be two out of five chilies 🌶🌶.
Next up was the shakam paa which is sundried beef with Chinese broccoli and other vegetables. The meat was exceptionally dried and jerky-like. It took a lot to chew it completely because it was on the harder side of dried jerky but was still pretty flavorful. The Chinese broccoli was beautifully tender and perfectly spicy. I’d give shakam paa three out of five chilies 🌶🌶🌶.
The spiciest dish of them all was the one that was the most unassuming. The shamu datsi was sauteed mushrooms with onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, and a heap of green chilies cooked in a cheese sauce. This was by far our favorite dish but was so hard to eat. We’d eat up the veggies with the silky cheese sauce and thirty seconds later our noses were running, eyes watered, and our mouths looked like we just got lip fillers. We did this in five minute intervals. Just taking turns soaking up our rice with the insanity of heat that was happening in that dish. This one was the spiciest of all and deserves at least a four out of five chilies rating 🌶🌶🌶🌶.
Speaking of rice, the restaurant served all our main dishes with Bhutanese red rice. Red rice is a nutty medium-sized grain that grows in the eastern Himalayas. When cooked it takes on a slightly sticky consistency almost like sushi rice. It’s actually the only agricultural product imported from Bhutan to the United States. They cook it unsalted which keeps it neutral as a base for all the other intense flavors that you’ll be eating during your meal.
Bhutanese was a heat seeking adventure that made me run to my freezer for ice cream to cool the burn bubbling in my tummy. Was all the spiciness worth it? Absolutely. The heat mostly sneaks up on you but doesn’t linger for long so you’re ready to take another mouthful of fire after blowing your runny nose for the twelfth time. I can definitely go for another round of red rice and shamu datsi, I’ll just make sure that I have a boba milk tea waiting for me at the end.
Friday’s Paid Newsletter: We continue Eating A-Z in NYC in Bolivia!
Cook. Eat. Repeat. Take Tums.
Natalie 💗✨
Can't wait to try this food^^
This looks awesome!!