Friday, March 5, 2004

To be consistent, Annapurna has a few more hills to climb

By REBEKAH DENN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Maybe it's our own snow-capped mountain, or the lingering effect of too many "Into Thin Air" readings, but Seattleites are infatuated with visions of Everest and Annapurna, sherpa-hauled meals at base camp and crowded teahouses after returning to the cities.

Some of those cravings can be indulged at Annapurna Cafe, a Nepalese-Tibetan-Indian restaurant on Capitol Hill. The dishes are more Indian than otherwise -- even accounting for the geography that makes some culinary mixing inevitable. But the menu does have enough twists to satisfy diners who, like my companion, remember eating steamed momo dumplings in Tibet when the filling was carved from a lamb trekked up on the back of a yak.

Annapurna's own doughy momos (think thick potstickers), filled with spinach (my preference) or chicken, are one of the highlights that elevate the restaurant above your average quick-bite Indian place. Take that recommendation only for what it's worth: The cafe's decor is nonexistent (a basement furnished with hard chairs and lime-colored walls); the service is spotty; and the food is never transcendently good. There are also several kinks to work out before I'd drive too far out of my way for an Annapurna dinner. The quality was inconsistent, even among the same dishes, and it was disappointing to find treats like a strong, creamy chai tea ($1.50) on one visit that turned weak on two others.

Still, it's an interesting and inexpensive menu, invented by a young brother-sister team from Nepal who are warm, informative, and clearly working hard to tweak their 6-month-old venture. If you're already in the neighborhood, Annapurna is a better and more unusual bet than many other restaurants at the same price point.

Overall, we didn't go wrong any time we ordered off the specials menu. Our naan was quickly dipped (and gobbled) in a big bowl of coconut curry sauce after we fished out the accompanying Goan style mussels ($11.95); okra masala had spice and crunch and not a bit of slime; and "barbecue" chicken ($9.25) arrived sizzling and moist.

	Bharta dip, left, and Tensing momo are favorites at the Annapurna Cafe, owned by brother and sister Kumar, left and Roshita Shreshta. The momos also are available in spinach.

Annapurna really shines with the unusual presence and freshness of its spices, with musically clear flavors of cardamom and cinnamon and garam masala. The big mortar and pestle on the counter clearly isn't just there for show. Then there are generous other touches like the real saffron threading the rice pudding dessert.

Chef and co-owner Roshita Shreshta said she's aiming for healthier fare than typical Indian restaurants, and uses some of her own family recipes. The bharta appetizer dip ($6.25), which tasted more purely of eggplant than most smoky-rich versions, is from Nepal's border with India, she said, where it's hot enough for the vegetables to thrive and for people to roast them in ovens outside the home.

The bharta may have been healthy, but Byriyani ($9.95) was an addictively oily, cinnamon-scented rice mix that would have been even better had the chunks of lamb on top seemed more than an afterthought. Like most Annapurna dishes, the byriyani is also available with tofu, chicken or shrimp.

Meats were generally intensely flavored and appropriately cooked, with the stars being the Lhasa chicken curry ($7.95) and Kukura Ko Masu ($7.25, billed as Nepalese-style chicken curry), which sent us into an appreciatively dizzy reverie of coriander and cumin. While the meat was uniformly good, the entrees billed as tandoori items were oddly lacking in any taste of the traditional clay oven.

Annapurna's menu volunteers that vegetarian items are cooked separately from meat, and it provides a fine (if mild) selection. The vegetarian Thali platter, a sampler mix ($10.95), included crisp tempura vegetables with fresh, gently-flavored chutneys, and a palak paneer with a mellow, soft texture but too much salt. Our vegetable thukpa soup ($5.25) was just bland.

Annapurna is a relaxed enough place to buy itself a lot of slack on how much service customers expect, but it's still too scattered to meet even that low bar. Drinks didn't arrive one visit until halfway through the meal; appetizers and main dishes frequently arrived at once, and our two servers on one busy Saturday could only look at each other blankly when they set down our entrees and we asked which dish was which. We didn't mind much, though, because gracious co-owner Kumar Shreshta soon arrived to provide details. Shreshta generally serves as greeter and waiter and is happy to talk about the dishes' provenance or his native land. Every meal was elevated by his love for the food and warm interest in serving his guests.

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