KATHMANDU MOMO STATION
Hoppen Hierarchy:★★★⭑
Districts: Aksarben
Authentic Nepalese Dumplings
Perfect For: Casual Dining; Takeout; Vegan Options
Standout Dishes: Pork Momos; Chicken Momos; Ramen
Walk down the street in Nepal and you’ll run into more carts and hole-in-the-wall shops selling momos than teenage girls at a Jonas Brothers concert. According to Nepal native and co-owner Sagar Gurung, every other store on a busy street sells some version of this bedrock of South Asian cuisine.
It’s not a coincidence they’re so popular. Portable, filling, and delicious, momos are the ultimate on-the-go meal, what McDonalds only wishes it could be.
And that’s why Gurung had to bring momos to Omaha, and our city is forever indebted to him for making the introduction.
First, a definition: a momo is a Himalayan dumpling with a meat or veggie filling and Nepali spices, designed to be drenched in each stand’s unique hot sauce. I don’t blame you for not having any idea what one is. I didn’t before I first visited Kathmandu Momo Station.
Now I’m a momo junkie.
That’s the kind of devotion Gurung hoped momos would engender when he began making them for friends in Omaha. Listening to him talk about momos is similar to hearing Paula Dean wax poetic about her love of Southern food: at some point, the cuisine ceased being sustenance and became part of the individual’s nature. Gurung’s friends gave very positive feedback, so he started serving them at pop-up events. Omahans were inquisitive at first. Then they couldn’t get enough.
Quickly, Kathmandu Momo Station evolved from humble pop-up into a restaurant with two brick-and-mortar locations: the original opened in the Blackstone district in 2018, and the second was birthed in the Inner Rail Food Hall less than a year later.
The first location more closely mirrors the traditional momo dispensary: a long, skinny joint with only a few tables. Momos are mostly taken to go, often consumed while eating along the street. The menu is limited to three fillings: pork, chicken, and vegan, which can be paired with sauces of increasing heat: Mild, Sherpa, and Grim Creeper.
The Inner Rail location added other dishes, including wings, ramen, vermicelli salad, and more.
Regardless of location, the star of the show resides in the restaurant’s name. No visit to Kathmandu is complete without some momos, which can be ordered steamed or fried. A simple dough of water and sugar is rolled out, filled with a protein or veggies, formed into a half-moon shape, then steamed to doughy perfection.
While all of Kathmandu’s filled are delicious, I most recommend the Pork Momos. The pork is perfectly fatty, though not too much so, and bursting with flavor. The dough is tender and has just the right amount of chew, and the pork literally oozes flavor.
Nearly as delectable are the Chicken Momos, which arrive in golf-ball sized spheres compared to the pork moons. The chicken doesn’t have the fatty richness of the pork, so it doesn’t quite match its meaty brethren in flavor. However, it has plenty of herbs and garlic to prop up the blander protein.
The sauces are the rug that ties the momo’s room together. While plenty tasty on their own, the dumplings go to another level with the pop of the sauces, none of which I found to be too spicy. The flavors are pretty garlicy and consistent, just with increased heat.
Take things to the next level by ordering the Momo Soup, which dunks ten of the delectable dumplings into a rich, savory broth that has a good deal of spicy bite.
Much as I recommend the momos, it would be foolish to sleep on Aagya’s Burmese Ramen, a dish passed down through generations of co-owner Aagya Subedi’s family. This version of Burmese street noodle soup can be ordered with a variety of proteins and toppings at either mild, medium, or spicy heat levels.
The deep, complex broth is slightly sweet and tangy and, depending on the heat level you choose, can really pack a punch. The noodles are silky and chewy, more like thicker spaghetti noodles, and they soak up the broth nicely. The proteins are plentiful, and chopped daikon, peanuts, and onions add great texture.
Pro move: get an order of momos and dunk them in the ramen broth (that is, if you have enough willpower to not just lift the bowl to your lips and drink it).
Aagya brings another unique and stunningly delicious Burmese dish to the Inner Rail: the Tea Leaf Salad. What seems simple on the surface actually contains deep, complex flavors that’ll have you returning for forkful after forkful. This combination of nuts, cabbage, tomatoes, greens, fried garlic, and fermented tea leaves is the perfect side dish to a bowl of momos or ramen.
You’ll find plenty of dumplings around Omaha, with varying origins and levels of success. These are my favorite and it’s not relatively close. Each time I visit Kathmandu, I fall in love a bit more with momos—exactly the reaction Gurung took the immense risk of opening a restaurant to elicit.
I’m so happy he did.