Indian restaurants are in short supply in Fort Worth, so any time a new one opens in Tarrant County, it’s cause for celebration — even if there’s a bit of a hike involved.
Definitely worth the drive is Mantra, a new Indian and Nepalese restaurant in Euless. It’s a family-owned spot in a strip mall that has undoubtedly seen better days. Look beyond its fading exterior, though, and you’ll find excellent Nepalese and Indian cuisine, nicely executed and easy on your wallets.
The lack of Indian-Nepalese restaurants in northeast Tarrant prompted owner Biswo Naharki to open Mantra last year; it’s his first restaurant.
He serves the majority of his dishes in a cool and unique way: on divided platters that resemble the school cafeteria trays of our youth. It’s a genius move: The trays bring out the colors of each item in a way that plain ol’ plates sometimes mask, creating images perfect for social media sharing, which is how people are discovering this hidden gem.
The menu is made up of terrific renditions of Indian food staples — samosas, butter chicken, chicken tikka masala, lamb and chicken korma, varieties of naan bread — along with lesser-known Indian dishes like mushroom matar, a curried dish made with mushroom and other vegetables, and dal makhani, a rich-flavored, lentil-based stew.
But equal space on the menu is given to Nepalese and Himalayan cuisine, dishes that aren’t that common in Fort Worth. There are vegetable and chicken momos, cooked in a variety of ways, from steamed to coated in chili oil; malekhu, a marinated deep-fried dish cooked in Nepali herbs and served with housemade pickles, soya beans and puffy rice; and mutton sekuwa, comprised of cubed mutton marinated with ginger and garlic paste and cooked in a tandoor oven.
There are more than a half-dozen breads, too, all made by hand. Among them is aloo paratha, a flatbread stuffed with mashed potatoes, then finished on a griddle. The restaurant’s kulcha bread is stuffed with onions and aromatic spices and cooked in a tandoor oven. For dessert, try the sweet naan, filled with crushed nuts, coconut shavings, and raisins.
Naharki says his family hails from various regions of India and that Mantra is his tribute to them.
“I wanted something that my family could enjoy,” he says. “But I also want to pay tribute to them and our heritage.”
13906 Trinity Blvd., mantrarestro.com
