Parkdale's Lali Gurans brings hard-to-find Nepali and Newari cuisine to Queen West

The scent of green chilies, sichuan peppers, cumin, and jimbu — a smoky onion-garlic spice — fills the narrow dining room at Lali Gurans, a Parkdale restaurant at Queen and Dowling serving hard-to-find Nepali and Newari food.

Co-owner Tsundu Gyatso, along with chef Choden Lama and business partner Pasang Tenji Sherpa, have filled the space with ornate cabinets and light fixtures shipped from Kathmandu. In summer, a bright back patio becomes the gathering place for large families.

The menu spotlights dishes rooted in the Kathmandu Valley. Choyela — a Newari specialty of broiled pork belly marinated in potent spices and chilies, served with puffed rice — delivers an immediate kick. The Thakali khana, a large platter of neatly arranged rice, dal, spicy chunks of mutton and chicken, bright green saag, pickled radish, potato, and gundruk (fermented vegetable), comes with warm ghee to pour over the lentils. Eating in the traditional manner, with fingers rather than utensils, becomes part of the experience.

Chef Choden draws families from across the diaspora — Scarborough, London, Waterloo, even Ottawa — seeking her homestyle cooking. Evenings come alive with the Lakshya Band, a trio of young musicians who serenade diners with original music and covers of R&B and pop classics several nights a week. The restaurant's staff are largely immigrants or international students from Nepal, creating what manager Rangshohang Limbu calls "a family."

Tsundu moved to Toronto as a teenager in 2004, settling in the growing Parkdale enclave of Little Tibet. Choden, half Tibetan and half Nepali from Kathmandu, spent years in Japan learning traditional Nepali and Newari cooking from family friends before the couple opened Lali Gurans.