Kyle Nabilcy
A fish dish at Ama Kitchen.
Fine fish: the salmon topped with chutney.
Ama, the new Tibetan restaurant on Willy Street, doesn’t feel like anything I’ve experienced before. And that’s especially remarkable, considering it’s from the family that, over the decades, brought Madison Chautara and Himal Chuli on State Street and Dobhan on Atwood Avenue.
Owner Rajan Pradhan extensively renovated the roughly 70-year-old setback storefront at 809 Williamson St. with first-floor booths, a small bar, a cozy lofted dining room upstairs, and tables tucked onto a landing along the staircase.
By some trick of luck, every one of my visits was to a quiet restaurant — yet within minutes, every time, the place was bustling and near-capacity. If your meals are anything like mine, enjoyment will come very naturally.
It was Pradhan’s parents who opened Himal Chuli, famously the first Nepali restaurant in the United States, in 1986. The through-line of heritage is obvious. It doesn’t matter whether you order your kebab with a smooth and rich bowl of dal or the verdant, herbal side salad; the meal is going to put a smile on your face.
Ama’s menu is similar to Himal Chuli’s, but more curtailed. There are also dishes from Chautara (which closed in 2013) and Dobhan (which closed in 2019). How does a restaurant with this many callbacks feel so new? Maybe, shame on me, I just didn’t spend enough time at the Pradhan family’s restaurants to get used to dishes like brunch’s phull mumari. Crispy-edged mung bean patties show up where you might otherwise expect crab cakes, offering savory depth and a new take on the usual texture. The filling in the Tibetan momo here is bison — new and worth it; the spice level is well balanced against the lean meat. Dinner’s dosa make an egg-filled appearance on the brunch menu, smaller but missing none of the fluffy appeal — a pancake breakfast via the Himalayas.
Shrimp biryani wasn’t exactly a flavor bomb, but its subtle seasoning allowed the nicely cooked shrimp to take center stage. The broiled salmon packed a bigger punch; topped with a delicately fruity chutney. This is one of the best pieces of fish I’ve eaten this year, no question.
Ama also delivers pitch-perfect lamb and tandoori chicken kebabs.
Kyle Nabilcy
Tibetan momo at Ama Kitchen.
The key to the Tibetan momo is the lean bison filling.
The handful of cultural nonsequiturs are charming, like Friday fish fry, huevos rancheros for brunch, and the Mediterranean flat bread starter. I’ll have to go back for the first two, but the flat bread, with its dollops of hummus, carrot and red pepper spreads, was as joyfully satisfying for me as it was when Isthmus reviewed Dobhan in 2006.
I found a slice of carrot cake quite at home on Ama’s dessert menu; the kitchen throws a little unexpected twist in there with flourishes of raspberry.
I’m excited to keep going back to Ama, for all the dishes I didn’t try and just to spend time in that beautiful space. There’s a lot of retrospection at Ama. The name is Nepali for “mother,” an homage to Pradhan’s mother who passed away in 2022. Maybe in spite of that eye to the past, but more likely because of it, Ama manages to conjure a whole new vibe, and it’s simply a delight.
Ama
809 Williamson St.
608-230-5308; amakitchenmadison.com
$8-$25
