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IF, LIKE me, you have heard trekkers returning from Nepal complain about the paucity of good food there, a visit to Everest Kitchen in MacPherson Road will debunk that notion.

Not only is the food at the six-month-old restaurant palatable, some dishes are also really good.

Opened by Mr Dan Shahi, 35, a Nepalese, it is a revival of a similarly named restaurant near Race Course Road which he had opened in 2002.

He closed that in 2004 and moved to Australia where he worked in the catering business until his return to Singapore this year.

Incidentally, he is the man behind Gorkha Grill, another Nepalese restaurant, which opened in Chinatown in 1998. He sold it in 2003.

The current Everest Kitchen is a no-frills eatery, with some Nepalese wall and ceiling hangings decorating an otherwise bare-boned shophouse unit lit by cold fluorescent lights.

But the service is friendly and the prices even more so. Most dishes are under $10 and the servings are generous.

The food is prepared by three Nepalese chefs - one of whom had worked in the original Everest Kitchen - and one Singaporean. The menu offers a mix of Nepalese and North Indian fare, with the former marked by a little icon next to the dish.

Among the best-known Nepalese dishes is the momo (minced chicken dumplings). Here, you can have them either steamed or fried (both $6 per serving).

I tried both at two separate dinners and prefer the fried version. They look like fat Chinese xiaolongbao and taste like pot stickers, and are more fragrant than the steamed version. The skin of the dumpling also seems thinner when it is fried. Both versions come with a tongue-tingling chilli dip which is excellent.

The other dishes I tried, however, are mildly spiced although most of them are garnished with little fresh green chillis which are fiercely hot. They provide the food with a powerful kick that I enjoy, but avoid them if you do not take to fiery fare.

You would then have no problem enjoying dishes such as the kukhura makhani ($8), which the waitress described to me as something like butter chicken. And so it is, with tender pieces of chicken thigh simmered in a creamy, orange-hued gravy that is very tasty and goes well with either rice or naan bread.

There is a good selection of naan available, from the more common garlic and butter ones to those stuffed with potato and peas to one that is topped with dried fruit and nuts.

But I would recommend you try the jogi bhuka ($3.50), which is basmati rice cooked with carrots, spinach and yellow ginger powder. The vegetables give it a natural sweetness and there are enough of them in the rice for you not to have to order a separate vegetable dish.

Another must-try is the jheenge mewa ($12), which is prawns seasoned in wine and cooked in a mildly spicy gravy. The shellfish is fresh and there is enough to feed up to four persons.

The dish is served in a halved papaya, which not only looks pretty but also gives the gravy a slight sweetness. You can even eat the papaya for dessert afterwards if you don't find that too odd.

In fact, that may be a better idea than ordering dessert.

During my dinner, the eatery only had gulab jamun ($4) available. This popular North Indian dessert, which consists of round balls made with milk and ghee and soaked in syrup, is traditionally very sweet but most Indian restaurants here tone down the sugar level to appeal to local palates.

Everest Kitchen makes no such compromise however. So expect a sugar rush.