Dining · Chinese · Darjeeling
Kunga
Twenty seats, pine walls and momos ten to a plate: a Tibetan family's kitchen beside a Darjeeling taxi stand.
A Tibetan family kitchen on Gandhi Road
Kunga is a small, family-run Tibetan and Chinese restaurant on Gandhi Road in Darjeeling, below the Dekeling Hotel and beside a taxi stand. The room is tiny, about twenty seats at a handful of tables, with pine-panelled walls, Tibetan hangings and prayer flags, and the menu laid under the glass of each table-top.
Seating is short and the place is usually crowded, so Outlook Traveller advises timing a visit. Darjeeling Tourism’s guide describes it as a favourite with foreign visitors and busy all year round.
Momos and hand-pulled noodles
On the Tibetan side, momos arrive ten to a plate, steamed or fried, with chicken, pork, beef, vegetable or cheese fillings, and the noodle soups come in two shapes: thenthuk, with flat hand-pulled wheat noodles, and bhagthuk, with round ones, in a broth with tomato, carrot, spring onion, garlic and ginger. There is also shabalay, a pastry filled with minced meat, and salted butter tea.
Outlook Traveller names chicken momo, wonton soup, pork waiwai noodles and chilli pork with steamed rice among the most-ordered dishes. The Chinese half of the menu runs to fried rice, chow mein and chilli chicken, and portions are generous.
Sources: Outlook Traveller; Darjeeling Tourism; The Mango Road