dekeva's restaurant

this is one of those unmissable hidden gems that is located right in the middle of the darjeeling mall road area near ramada hotel. one of the very few places that serves excellent korean as well as tibetan cuisine, this cosy restaurant is an ideal place to break for amealwhen you're feeling tired and want a sumptuous meal. do not miss their chicken / veg / beef bibimbap as it is truly lip smacking! their dragon bao are to die for as are their momo's and their gyathug (any type), which is a thupka like soup with large noodles. their desserts are quite nice too and nomealis complete here without ordering a hot lemon with ginger and honey - a typically traditional addition to most tibetan restaurants in the hills. eat here - you will not regret it.

it was our first propermealafter a weeklong trek with dal bhat. so, we wanted to have something heavy, something non veg, something non dal rice. we went there pretty late around 3 pm and had to wait for half an hour more to get a seat. the person at the cash counter was as slow as one could be. there were éclairs near the cash counter, he wasn’t ready to give even that to us immediately. then after getting seat and taking the orders we finally got it. it was tasty alright, but we were too hungry to savor it. we also ordered a hot and sour chicken soup which was brilliant with lots of pieces.

most of the dishes were unavailable so in the minimal menu which was there we ordered dragon chicken and crispy chicken in hot garlic sauce. both were super awesome and crispy so absolutely no complaints there. as whatever we ordered were not available, we asked the waiter for suggestions. he suggested to go for ramen and bibimbap. we chose chicken for the former and beef for the latter. it was my long term wish to have ramen, so i was excited about it. i was very happy when i saw it coming in a huge bowl, but it ended up to be maggi with eggs. anyways i loved the taste, so no complaints there. bibimap on the other hand was lovely with a variety of greens, pickle and flavored rice. beef was not so juicy but still it was a refreshing dish. on a whole a satisfyingmealafter an arduous week.

it’s surprising to see how unfairly tourists have rated this lovely family run eatery. when you’re travelling you should take a considerate amount of time to try food. patience is key when it comes to having wholesome experiences. we really wanted to try the baos but unfortunately they were out of stock that is why i suggest that if you want to try the korean food you have to beat the rush hour or else you’ll miss out on a lot of lovely dishes. we ordered the pork bibimbap which was absolutely delicious, it completely stole the show. the fried momos were perfectly cooked and the dalley paste added the spicy zing to the taste buds, the passion fruit mint soda was so good we decided to order another serving. we ended themealwith the blueberry panacotta which was smooth and subtle, all in all we enjoyed a really wholesome meal.