Best Bites: Tibet Festival
It's not every day you can enjoy Tibetan food in Burlington. In fact, unless you have a Tibetan mother cooking for you, there's only one day. This year, it was October 24. Next year, you will have to go, whatever the date.
I had been meaning to head over for the last five years and am thrilled that I finally made it. With a backdrop of "The Spectacular Yak Dance" and other Tibetan performances, I had a killer meal.
Food was available a la carte or as a combo. Wanting to try it all, I went for the latter.
Two varieties of Tibetan dumplings, (known as momos) were piled on my plate: beef and vegetarian. The vegetarian were filled with potatoes and a refreshing smattering of cilantro. Though my new Tibetan friend Tsering said she thought the potatoes, with their samosa-like filling, had more personality, I flipped for the beef. The finely ground meat fairly sparkled with ginger flavor. The juicy bites were slightly sweetened by the presence of microscopic onions. The dough of both varieties was thick and delightfully chewy.
Also included in the $8 combo plate was a choice of beef or veggie fried rice and beef, veggie or chicken chow mein. Don't worry, the Chinese-influenced dishes bore little resemblance to your usual take-out.The fried rice was buttery and rife with the bracing taste of fresh cilantro. A little bit of cinnamon made it even more unique. The chow mein, filled with carrots and yellow peppers, benefited from the addition of some homemade hot sauce — a thick tomato-based concoction with a sprinkling of herbs. The filling meal was the perfect antidote to Saturday's chilly rain. All I can say is I can't wait for mo' momos next year. Sorry.
Did you seriously just write "even more unique"??
Minus five points.
Posted by: Isaac | October 27, 2009 at 03:21 PM
I used to mooch momos from my Tibetan coworkers all the time when I worked for April Cornell. Wonderful food.
Posted by: Haik Bedrosian | October 27, 2009 at 03:25 PM