Thanis Lim

All Rounder Chef and Food Journalist

Brunei Restaurant Review: Gurkha Palace Seria

Was visiting Seria town one fine day and decided to pay a visit to Gurkha Palace, which is at the block just next to the Seria Kolomee Food Court. Drive around the town and you won’t miss its bright eye catching sign board. Nonnie King, your favourite Seria blogger wrote a blog post on this place before and I was itching to try it since I saw the post!

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The décor and ambience is pretty simple but the place is air conditioned. It’s pretty quiet even on a Sunday night.

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Seemed like a typical menu for an Indian restaurant ~~ there are lot’s of Nepalese names on the menu but comes with helpful descriptions to help you with the ordering. The staff will also help with recommending but I find it fun to read through the menu before ordering – always a good experience for the foodie.

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The adventurous foodie in me wanted to try Goat’s Ear and tongue, boiled goat’s head, fried goat’s intestines and stomachs but they were unavailable (NOOOOOOO) much to the relief of my dining partner! Deep fried chicken glizzard’s available though for fans of those but I had my eyes on other dishes.

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Nonnie also mentioned their brass utensils and plates (omg they’re heavy) which offers a unique dining experience – I know I am pretty sakai or suaku but have you ever eaten with brass utensils? There’s always a first!

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Brass utensils look pretty good ~~ and the tissues are needed because I ate mostly with my hands and the need to take pictures can get really messy.

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Spicy Nepalese style chicken wings! I must say I agreed with Nonnie – this is simply the best dish of the night! The chicken was well marinated, cooked perfectly and the glaze was NOM NOM NOM NOM good. It’s pretty expensive – $7 for 6 cuts (3 whole chicken wings) but I would order this again. Thumbs up for this dish.

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This is where I felt the Chinese influence came in. These really resemble Chinese dumplings but they are called  Momo – such a cute name! You can order them steamed, pan fried or served with a special sauce. I ordered the pan fried version which is very similar to our Chinese Guo Tie/Pot Stickers – called Kothe Momo in Nepalese. I had the mutton version. Unlike the Chinese Guo Tie, which is usually served with ginger in vinegar, these are served with a blended dahl like sauce, which makes sense because it balances the spicy mutton filling for these Momos – might be too hot for some to handle but I can handle the heat.

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We initially wanted to order Mutton or Chicken Gravy but decided to have a vegetarian option so we tried this Mushroom Gravy dish. It has a strong taste of spices but it’s not too hot. It’s really a combination of Chinese Indian ingredients. I did not like this very much but my dining partner likes it.

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This is Puri, which is a puffy pastry like deep fried bread ….

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and this is Aloo Paratha which is a wholewheat flatbread with potato and onion fillings. Both breads usually served with blended tomato with spices sauce (I’m unsure what it’s called). I find the sauce pretty salty but I’m liking the spices and sourness to go with the breads. If they could reduce the salt in this – it would be perfect – but I think most would be put off by it – nevertheless – the breads will go well with the other dishes – note that they’re fried and will be on the oily side – for those who don’t like greasy food – these are a no no – go for their plain or briyani rice.

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This is the Masu Ko Bhutuwa – meats marinated for hours with Nepalese style herbs and spices and fried. I ordered the mutton and I liked this dish – the herbs and spices are pretty good and it’s not too tough like typical mutton dishes. Could be better if it wasn’t as salty.

Overall, I felt it was a pretty interesting cuisine adventure. It has show how much influences from both China and India has on their cuisine. I think the food was more on the salty side – and should be eaten with rice – perhaps next time I will give their briyanis or other rice dishes a shot. Some customers tell me if you ordered their fried rice or noodle dishes – request for not salty – that’s a tip! More updates to come till my next visit!

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