Gorkha Palace

Current Rating:
Rating: OK
Meal:  Dinner for 2
Price:  2100 yen
Payment:  Cash only (but credit cards will be accepted soon)
Dishes:  Chicken tikka, mutton biryani, kid's curry set
English Menu:Yes
Smoking:No

Prior Rating:
Rating: Not great
Meal:  Lunch
Price:  850 yen
Payment:  Cash only
Dishes: Masala Omelet (mine), Saag Chicken Curry (friend's)
English Menu:Yes

Smoking:No

Gorkha Palace is the latest edition to the panoply of Indian restaurants to be found in Yokosuka.  I am told it is owned by the same people who run Nirvana, which is one of the top two Indian restaurants in Yokosuka in my opinion.  That being said, I don't think any of the Indian restaurants in Yokosuka are much better than an "OK" rating, so my expectations were rather low to begin with.

I went to lunch with a friend and after our first choice was closed, we decided to try out Gorkha Palace on its opening day.  Of course, there are going to be hiccups for the first little while for an opening restaurant, so I may come back and adjust this review later if I see some changes.

I definitely want to commend them for trying some different items on the lunch menu.  There is what looks like a vegetable heavy Sizzler Chicken, which I am eager to try some day.  But I went with the other unusual dish, the Masala Omelet.  This was accompanied by a small curry which I was told I could choose (I selected the mutton and eggplant curry).





They were also supplying soup and salad as starters, neither of which were very good.  The soup was thin and seemed poured from a can, complete with canned mushrooms.  The salad was tiny and unimpressive.  I say, if you're going to put so little effort into the starters, dispense with them and concentrate on the main dish...but that's just me.

Masala Omelet

 The masala omelet consisted of finely diced vegetables mixed with egg and cooked flat.  I've had "omelets" like this before and it was as it looked in the picture, so I wasn't disappointed, but I could see someone used to a different idea of "omelet" (i.e. stuff wrapped in egg) would be unhappy.  There was a little heat to the mixture, so I assume some chillies made it into the mix, but it didn't have much else in the way of spice complexity.  In fact I joked that it could use some salt...until I tasted the small curry.  Holy cow...that was salty!  As in, *almost* inedible.  I poured it onto the omelet with the small rice and mixed it all up to try and distribute the saltiness about.  I ate it, but it wasn't good.  Speaking of the curry, despite my being told I could choose it, it appeared to be just some curry sauce.  There was no mutton or eggplant in it.  Fine...but they shouldn't have made me think I could choose it if they were just going to select it for me anyway.

My friend's Saag Chicken

 My friend's saag chicken dish was also very salty (he let me try some) and we were both quite unimpressed.  We were asked how the food was and we told them it was a bit too salty (being nice).  They apologized and said they would try better next time.  Well and good, but there was no attempt to make up for it now, so we finished up, paid full price and headed out.

Again, I understand there are going to be issues when opening, so I'll be sure to come back in a month to see if things have improved, but even if they do I can't imagine this place getting more than an OK in the future.  For now it's lodged in "Not great" territory, barely.  Had this occurred in a place that had been open for a while it would get a "Nasty" rating for sure.


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Update:  I ate here again tonight with my son and was pleasantly surprised.  We had the chicken tikka, which while not the best was decent.  I also had a mutton biryani and this is where the surprise happened.  I tasted cloves and cardamom, there were cashews and other things in it for texture, and the mutton was delicious!  I do declare that may be the best biryani I've had in Yokosuka proper!  So I'm bumping my rating up a bit to Ok in the hopes that this is a trend.  I'll be back again some time with my wife also to properly try the curries as well.