I haven’t been to dinner to the new Taste of the Himalayas restaurant, which replaces CreAsian, but I did go to its Grand Opening which included a limited free buffet. From it, I can say that I’m glad to welcome them to San Leandro.
Taste of the Himalayas is a popular Nepali restaurant in Berkeley. They’ve taken over the old CreAsian space, a much welcome change as far as I’m concerned. While I liked CreAsian, it was too expensive and the menu never changed. Alas, they seem to be wary of their new venture in San Leandro, so they are keeping some old CreAsian dishes in the menu and they are mostly concentrating in serving Indian rather than Nepali food. I imagine that will change as they get more comfortable in San Leandro.
At the Grand Opening they had three meat curries to taste, their chicken curry (normally $14), lamb curry ($14) and the chicken nauni (not yet in the online menu). The regular curries were OK, the flavors were good and solid, but not compelling. However the meats themselves were spectacular, the chicken was velvety and the lamb was beyond moist and tender, without being fatty. These taste like high quality meats. The chicken nauni, on the other hand, was very, very good (though actually, the sauces mixed together tasted even better). It was similar to a tikka masala, only the chicken wasn’t smokey (and was moist) and the sauce was less sweet. Still, it was very balanced. Taste of the Himalayas does offer a chicken tikka masala ($15), and I look forward to tasting it.
Both the plain ($3) and garlic ($4) nan were nice, though the fact that they were hot and not burned helped.
I didn’t try the vegetarian offerings, so I can’t opine, but I heard the vegetable pakora (also not in the menu) was also very good.
According to their website, they deliver with a $25 minimum order.
CreAsian – Taste of the Himalayas
1269 MacArthur Blvd.
San Leandro, CA
(510) 895-8028
http://www.creasianhimalayas.com/
M-Su 11:30am to 3:00pm, 5:00pm to 10:00pm