tibetan kitchen cafe

excellent food; good value. we've had lunch and dinner at thetibetancafe several times now. the menu is not extensive, but concentrates on relatively few, well-made, dishes. it's by and large indian, usually with 3 to 5 curries (usually chicken,salmon, beef, pork, vegetarian) to choose from, as well as various other dishes. you have a choice of white rice or flavouful basmati. most dishes are seved with rich mini-naan or roti. the food is simply made, but very flavourful and very good. the staff are extremely friendly, efficient and seem to enjoy their work a great deal. definitely not a place that is out for the come-once-only tourist trade but is there for victorians. highly recommended.

upon arrival downtown about midday, we sought outtibetankitchen as it was featured on "you gotta eat here" but more importantly astibetanfood is not found on every corner. we were warmly welcomed by a member of the family who run this restaurant and who indeed are from tibet. we started with momo which are dumplings common to tibet, nepal and generally the himalayan region. these were deep-fried and filled with tasty pork but there is a vegetarian option and you could have them steamed also. they were accompanied by a spicy sauce. very nice! i was impressed with the number of vegetarian options here and asked if that was atibetanthing. the answer is not really. tibet is a generally cold country and their diet is more meat-centric because of the limited growing season. they are, however, catering to victoria's evidently extensive vegetarian community. good thinking. we tried one of tb's several lunch specials, pork curry with mustard greens, served with rice, pooris and lentil soup which was frankly delicious! at $14 this is a very good deal. we loved the curry. finally, we had chicken shepta. this was basically a stir fry on rice buttibetanstyle (with a generous addition of veggies as previously discussed). ginger, garlic, tomato paste, soy sauce and mild curry formed the sauce for this tasty and healthy dish.colorful and busy is how i would describe the decor, with a distinctive nod to tibet and the dalai lama. his words are posted here and there for our edification which is a good thing. comfy enough and with friendly folks, we recommend this place. expand your horizons and try something a little different.

i passed by this place several times always thinking how amazingtibetanfood must taste. the occasion came last thursday during lunch time, that blackboard displaying "lamb curry" just pulled me in.

the place looks inviting, yeah it's a bit cozy but at least you can snoop into other ppl dishes while having second handed delicious smell (i was salivating the whole time).

i liked the decoration; the dalai's lama altar gives good energy. i noticed lots of ppl go eat there by themselves, loner power.

food speaking: i'm a fan!

i had the lamb curry lunch that was accompanied with brown rice, a cup of lentil's soup, and those delicious breads. i burnt my tongue in desperation to eat that curry... it was worth! the dish was so aromatic. the flavours were terrific, there were plenty of lamb crumbs, the colour was beautiful, perfectly seasoned. all my senses got feed.

after that great meal, my hangover brain was tempting me last saturday to go try one of the soups. i ordered a thukpa with beef and egg noodles. not only did i resuscitate, i was also happy and satisfied all day long. ok, i also had pork momos. both things met my high expectations and made me regret not eating there before.

i'm sure i'll go or order from them pretty soon (they are in skipthedishes).

a delight!. have been wanting to trytibetankitchen so jumped at the chance when group-on available.
small quiant restaurant with warm, friendly top-notch service. we walked in during busy dinner rush without a reservation so instead of turning us away or forcing us to crowd his entrance he took down our number and called us when table available about 10 minutes later - now that's a restaurant staffed with people who care about it's customers! for meal experience... excellent! everything fresh, tasty and made in-house. any of the appetizers are a must try especially momos. the curry is delicious and flavourful. food definitely made withtibetanlove. prices are not cheap especially when wanting to share a bunch of different dishes but you are paying for a uniquely memorable experience and food is authentic and handmade bytibetanchef pemba. the cuisine is unlike anything i've ever tried (asian meets indian) and we will be back for more!

surprisingly disappointing. saw the rave reviews and high ratings and figured it must be decent, but it was the exact opposite. bland, tasteless, and overpriced dinner. this cafe boasts organic, fresh food - but the veggies (broccoli, peas, carrots) all tasted like frozen ones to me, with no flavour. perhaps other menu items are better, but what we had was pretty bad. we had the vegan momos (they were okay, but they were deep fried and would have been better steamed), masala chai (awesome), thukpa (tasteless), and shepta (better but still boring and overpriced). we had pork, which i understand is a naturally dry meat - but this was exceptionally dry, over cooked meat. i was recently in northern india (dharamshala) wheretibetanfood is abundant, and sadly this cafe doesn't even come close.

why had i not been here before?. i am ashamed to say i am a local and after 8 years in victoria (thanks to groupon) i found this little place in downtown. now, it is one of my favourite places. i have tried several dishes and not once i have left disappointed. all food is made from scratch with natural and organic ingredients. the fusion of indian,tibetanand even chinese cuisine is a very unique concept. service is always good and the price of the food is consistent with the quality. don't forget to get a dessert. they are very unique!

a nice spot. we had eaten once in atibetanrestaurant in portland (or) and when we saw the name of this restaurant, we decided we needed to try it. the food was quite good (and is a good value...our entrees were about $13 each in july 2012), and the service was prompt and very friendly.

the food was well prepared and flavorful. it's hard to put into words, but we all have had eating experiences which we find ourselves thinking "it's hard to imagine the food being any better." this did quite reach that level, but we certainly were not disappointed at all by our experience.

wow!. my husband and i live in california, travel quite a bit and use our travels as a way to search out delicious out of the way eateries...and in finding thetibetankitchen, we really feel like we struck gold! the staff was excellent, friendly and knowledgeable, the service, great. but the food! the lamb was utterly delicious, as was the mono served with it. we both decided we wished we lived closer, so that we could join them again and again! great value and comfortable attractive decor...

amazing. i was living 17 months out of my house which meant i ate out alot. thetibetankitchen is the best in victoria. it beats cafe brio, prima strada and no doubt bon rouge which is quite frankly the one of the worst kitchens i have ever been. i love thetibetankitchen it is amazing. i love everything about it. out of 100% this kitchen is 101%


-----02 jan, 2012-----

amazing. i was living 17 months out of my house which meant i ate out alot. thetibetankitchen is the best in victoria. it beats cafe brio, prima strada and no doubt bon rouge which is quite frankly the one of the worst kitchens i have ever been. i love thetibetankitchen it is amazing. i love everything about it. out of 100% this kitchen is 101%.

always happy to find atibetanrestaurant. we're suckers for momos, and can almost never find them anywhere. we ordered pork and veggie momos, steamed (much better this way). both delicious, though the veggie ones (if you like fennel) were better. the lamb curry was good, though the portion of meat was rather small. the bread that came with the curry was excellent. the veggietibetanpita wrap thinger was tasty as well. what really made the meal authentic, though, was the amazingly friendly service. the waitress was great to talk to and had good menu suggestions. if you've ever hadtibetanfood, i'm sure you'll be happy to find this place, and if you haven't, you should definitely make your way over and try it.

wonderful food.. wonderful hospitality.. this review is long overdue. this small homey place made such an impression that i'm writing this review 5 months after our visit, labor day weekend 2010. my wife, 2 kids (ages 9 and 5), and i were exhausted and hungry after a fun day of sightseeing in victoria. we found this place by luck using the proximity search feature on the urbanspoon iphone app. it was late on a sunday night and we got there just as they were closing, but the owner and her husband welcomed us warmly.

the food was fabulous - we all enjoyed it. i'm an omnivore, my wife is vegetarian, and my kids are good eaters but sometimes balk at spicy food. there was something to please everyone and both of my kids kept saying "yummy" including saying it to the chef/owner when she came our of the kitchen to make sure we were enjoying everything. once she met us and asked us a few questions, she brought all sorts of "extra" things for us to try - each was wonderful. thetibetancuisine here is similar to indian food (the owner is ethnicallytibetanbut was raised in india and is "indian" as well).

as for other details, it's tucked away on a quiet side street just a few blocks from the waterfront. the ambience is nice - cozy and clean. the owners were very gracious and chatted with me and my family well after the meal when they just could have easily ignored us so we woudl leave and they could close up.

our family enjoys going out to eat. on this trip, we ate everything from street food to fine dining at the empress. this was our most memorable and enjoyable meal of the trip. try it. you have little to lose as it's inexpensive and you might enjoy it us as much as we did.

great food! - you have to go!. in november 2010, i went totibetankitchen with my mother for lunch. both myself and my mother ordered the butter chicken lunch special, which came to a reasonable $20 in total. the butter chicken was amazing with just the right amount of spices. the portions were also perfect for a lunch. i definitely plan to go again in the near future.

feed tibet!. where is thetibetanfood? all i got was a re-hash of indian food i could go anywhere for,and with out the yelling from the kitchen that i could do without. i would try again, but this place needs a little more maturing.

excellent food !!!. being from india, we were in a search for a place serving authentic indian food.we happened to trytibetankitchen and to our surprise we had a wide range of indian cuisine being served. we went for the samosas,lamb,chicken curry with rice/puri.felt like home :) .great service too,
highly recommended ....
the indian group

first night in victoria, and we were starving. walked around a bit, hoping to avoid tourist traps, and ended up here,tibetankitchen cafe. before i go on, i have no experience with specificallytibetanfood. did i know if what i ate was authentic or not?