Linda Falkenstein
The ping-alla appetizer comes in a crepe-like wrap.
Little Tibet has big aspirations. Despite its name, it’s not solely a Tibetan restaurant; it pulls dishes from Himalyan, Tibetan, Nepali and Bhutanese cuisines.
Granted, the lines between these cuisines waver. Momos, the South Asian dumpling, are hard to pin down to one country. They come from the Himalayan region. While they’re similar to Chinese jiaozi, they normally have beef or yak filling and Indian spices. At Little Tibet, the momos are classified as Himalayan; curries and stir-fry noodles as Tibetan; and the thali (a combo meal consisting of a curry, lentil soup, a seasonal green, pickled potato, roti, papadam and dessert) as Nepali. Bhutanese is the one cuisine that can’t be lumped in with the others — based as it is on extremely hot peppers and yak cheese.
But let’s start with the starters. Momos are available in beef, chicken or vegetable varieties and sometimes as a daily special, like a recent kale and paneer version. The beef is best, with a hearty flavor that stands up to the thick housemade dough. The chicken version is not as flavorful while the veggie, made with mild bok choy and potato, fades out completely in competition with its tomato-based dipping sauce.
Pakora is unlike the expected fried dough triangle stuffed with seasoned mashed potato. At Little Tibet, pakora is slices of potato dusted in a little chickpea flour and fried. This makes for a tasty fried potato but not the best appetizer.
I’d go with the pretty ping-alla, described as a spring roll but served warm. Stir-fried cabbage and shitaake mushrooms, carrots and mung bean noodles are rolled in a wrapper like a light whole-wheat crepe, fresh from the griddle. It’s like a really good moo shu pancake without the hoisin sauce. A light, slightly sweet mayo dressing is drizzled across the top.
The shogo phing sha entree tastes something like the ping-alla, but with beef. Chicken curry is made with thigh meat and the spices are roughly ground; especially noticeable is coriander. If you prefer a smooth curry with white meat, know that this is on the rustic side. The tofu stir-fried noodle is a plain stir fry, with thin homemade noodles, bits of pepper, cabbage, broccoli and tofu, but it’s mostly noodles and cabbage and, while it carries some heat, it doesn’t have much flavor.
Bhutan is a famously isolated country in the Eastern Himalayas. Its national dish, ema datshi, is traditionally a stew of hot red chilis and yak cheese. I’ve seen recipes for the dish suggest that Americans use a combination of feta, cheddar and farmers’ cheese; or homemade cottage cheese; or feta and cream cheese — in other words, there’s a bit of a range when it comes to the subbing of the cheese of the yak.
Little Tibet uses a combination of brie and blue cheese, which is quite pungent. This is also much more of a soup than a stew. It’s studded with strips of jalapeno, diced onion and a lot of diced fresh ginger. It’s spicy hot, and some spoonfuls are spicier than others. Ema datshi comes with your choice of a side of rice or two tingmo, a plain steamed whole wheat roll. Tingmo are bland by design, and after a laceratingly hot spoonful of ema datshi, you want your tingmo to be bland, bland, bland.
There may be a mini tingmo war going on in Madison, as State Street’s Hungry Badger Cafe makes the rolls dotted with rosemary. Little Tibet has thrown down the gauntlet on its Facebook page, opining “that is not how we do it here” and “sticking to our root[s].”
Other Bhutanese dishes at Little Tibet are kewa datshi, basically ema datshi with potato, and shakam datshi, ema datshi with housemade beef jerky. It’s concentratedly beefy, but if you don’t like the chewiness of jerky, stick to the non-meat versions. I loved the ema datshi, but it packs a punch and probably appeals more in cold weather.
Since this space’s long run as Mildred’s Sandwich Shop, several restaurants have come and gone. The Spot gave the interior a nice upgrade, and the small front room is cozy, with warm wood booths and meditative music playing. There’s more seating in back, and now that spring is here the back patio, a nice refuge from busy East Johnson Street, boasts three or four tables and colorful Tibetan prayer flags.
Little Tibet is owned by Nomgyal Ponsar and her brothers Tharten Tsering and Thinley Tenzing, who started the Little Tibet food cart three years ago. The restaurant seems to already have attracted regulars. It may take a while for you to find a favorite dish, but it’s a menu worth exploring.
Little Tibet
827 E. Johnson St.; 608-630-8232; facebook.com/littletibetmadison;
11 am-3 pm and 5-9 pm Mon.-Thurs. and 11 am-3 pm and 5-10 pm Fri.-Sat.; $5-$14.
Accessible entrance is around back via a ramp.
