Mysteries of Khajuraho Indian Restaurant
Khajuraho is a bit of a mystery as far as Mongolian restaurants are concerned. It is shockingly nice yet remote, making one wonder how and why it is here in Ulaanbaatar. The restaurant is apparently a chain and has locations in Russia and the “Ural mountains,” according to their menu and the Russian website.
The front of the restaurant has back-lit Russian lettering and is monolithic in size. Inside, it is quite well-appointed, as one would find in a fancy Russian eatery. The restaurant’s interior is filled with artistic carvings and wall hangings that bring to mind a rich setting within India itself. Incidentally, the restaurant is named after a famous temple town near New Delhi, with “erotic” carvings—a famed UNESCO World Heritage site.
Having been to India, but not yet to the town of Khajuraho, I felt that I was taking a mini vacation from Ulaanbaatar in this quasi-India-Russian restaurant. So it seemed a bit mysterious, this fancy setting at the edge of town.
My party chose a variety of foods, in the chicken and vegetable category, which going by the Russian menu appear to have been: chicken cooked in ginger sauce with onions and garlic; traditional chicken curry; chicken tikka masala, vegetables cooked in Indian spices, cooked eggplant, and Palak paneer (spinach and cheese cubes), Samosa Chaat, various fried rice dishes with vegetables and spices, garlic naan bread and daal makhani soup.
The dishes were quite tasty and did not lack in imagination or ingredients in the slightest. This amazing assortment of verifiable Indian food situated in a plush, VIP setting brought giggled comments from our table along the lines of “this must be a money-laundering front…” Well, we were just being silly, but it was a most pleasant surprise the care, investment and quality observed in the dishes, setting and service.
The VIP table we sat at was set in a corner and was equipped with a red button for quick service. This service was rendered by a Mongolian woman dressed in a traditional Indian costume. The manager was also solicitous and visited our table a few times himself, allowing our group stay well beyond the listed hours of 10pm.
And how much did this fine meal cost? When the bill was tallied up, each portion for six people sharing several dishes and one alcoholic beverage each came to just 20,000 MNT. Living on a low budget, I can appreciate affordable fine dining such as this.
Looking over their facebook page, Khajuraho lists a business lunch that looks to be a Thali plate (small dishes with naan bread). I was not able to find this special on the Russian website and their facebook page did not list the price. Calls made to the restaurant this weekend went unanswered, but this is unsurprising as the brochure lists Monday-Friday working hours. For me, the Thali dish represents a delicious challenge to explore the restaurant again. Hopefully I have also inspired readers to make the trek to check out this new jewel in Mongolia.
The only way that one can view their menu is through their Russian website as the Mongolian website did not appear to work when I looked (not a shock in Mongolia). Thank goodness for google-translate of the Russian language. I definitely recommend that the restaurant fix this error. It would also be useful if they were to post menu items on their facebook page along with prices. This is something widely done throughout the world but does not seem to be done in Mongolia yet.
Khajuraho’s location: East Peace Avenue, past the Kempinski Hotel, opposite of the Ministry of Defense and on the same side as the Bayanzurkh police station, near a round-about. Hours: 11:30 AM to 10:00 PM. Phone number: +976 701 576 22
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