I love momos, and I’ve long envied Queens NY’s “Himalaya Heights” neighborhood and Jeff Orlick’s annual Momo Crawl which last year hit 27 establishments, nearly all of them within walking distance of a single stop on the #7 Metro line.
San Francisco has a long way to go, but we have more places to scarf down some momos than you may know. At last count (the last thanks to @Mr_Happy’s report today) I have 10 on my list:
Cuisine of Nepal
Gorkha Kitchen
Newa
Little Nepal
Bini’s Kitchen
Red Chili
Royal Indian Cuisine on Fillmore
Urban Curry
Chullo Nepali Cuisine
Himalayan Pizza and Momos
Are there any more out there to add? (San Francisco only, please. I’m thinking of our own charter tour/crawl).
Cool! I had no idea there were so many in SF. Do you plan to stick to a benchmark variety or sample different filling types?
I’ve noticed that some places make them pleated at the top, like XLB, and other places pleat them sideways, or tael-shaped like potstickers or boiled dumplings. Any story behind those differences, or between Nepali momos and Tibetan momos?
Bini (she’s Nepalese) makes round ones. I had round ones at a Nepalese place in New York (Lali Guras) as well. Chez Gatze (great name!), a Tibetan place in Montreal, serves a mixed momo platter which includes a round one as big as a Cantonese pork bun.
You are right. I’ve added Tara Indian Cuisine, Om Indian Cuisine and Indian Palace. There were some false flags in the Yelp search as well.
I was focused on Himalayan venues, but,as Wikipedia puts it, “Till mid 2000s, momo was only limited among Nepali and Tibetan diaspora in India. However, by 2017, it has spread as one of the popular fast food in the Indian mega-cities.”
Here’s the current list of restaurants in SF apparently serving momos.
Cuisine of Nepal
Gorkha Kitchen
Newa
Little Nepal
Bini’s Kitchen
Red Chili
Royal Indian Cuisine on Fillmore
Urban Curry
Chullo Nepali Cuisine
Himalayan Pizza and Momos
Spice of America
Tara Indian Cuisine
Om Indian Cuisine
Indian Palace
I’m pretty sure all the ones I’ve had are made in house, but Given their popularity, I wonder if a few non-Nepali restaurants may have a common supplier.
Bini’s Kitchen, Howard Street, SF
2 Ledo Bedo combo plate with chicken Gurkha and pork chhoila, with 2 veggie and 2 turkey momos. Mains had nice building heat and tasted of fresh toasted spices, great rustic/homemade flavor but the pork and chicken were both way overcooked and tough. Veggie momo seemed to have just cabbage in it, turkey is more interesting. Lot of food for $15, I brought about half home for dinner. Forgot to grab some of the homemade chili paste on the tables they warn is super hot.