August 20th 2013: Tibetan Dinner at Lhasa Cafe, Northampton

I met up with my friend for lunch today at the Blue Agave Mexican Grill and Cantina, a pretty nice Mexican restaurant located in the town of Framingham. We had to get back to work soon after, so we got down to ordering immediately, getting the Horchata for drinks,

my friend getting the Fish Fajitas (served with grilled onions, peppers and tomatoes, plated with rice, beans, sour cream, guacamole),

while I got the Pina Caribe (Sweet Pineapple, briny seafood, spicy sweet adobo served inside broiled pineapple with shrimp, scallops, clams, fish and spices), which came out fancy in a pineapple half shell.

The food was pretty good, especially my pineapple shrimp. I definitely recommend giving this place a try if you are in town.

I had also been informed yesterday that the pottery I made at the Celadon Studios in Northampton over a month back were ready to be collected, so I decided to head over there, and use my Groupon at Lhasa Cafe in town as well. Before that, I passed by a few places in Worcester.

Becker College

Ed Hyder's Mediterranean Marketplace

Our Lady of Mercy Church

When I finally arrived in Northampton, I stopped by the pottery place to say hi to my instructor and pick up my pottery, which I have to say looked really good, including the pieces that I screwed up. She definitely did a marvelous job making them look awesome.

After passing by the Police Department in town,

I headed to dinner at the small restaurant with Tibetan art and pictures all over the place.

For food, I decided to try out several Tibetan dishes, firstly the Bocha (Tibetan Tea lightly buttered, salted, churned with milk) for a drink. 

It was a little bland, although I could definitely taste the butteriness of the tea. That's why you always add sugar to tea I guess.

For soup, I got the Beef Tsam Thuk (Roasted Barley Flour Soup with spinach, tomato, radish, carrot and beef), which again was a little bland, though the flavor of the beef and vegetables really showed through. I guess this is kind of a pattern for Tibetan cuisine.

For appetizers, I got the Lhasa Shoguk (deep fried potato patties with garlic, ginger, served with special black bean house sauce). This dish was surprisingly pretty tasty. Maybe I should have put the sauce into my other dishes.

For my main dish, I decided to get some yak meat in the form of Yaksha Gyathuk (Hearty Yak Stew with noodle, cabbage, carrot, pea and spinach). The yak meat was pretty tender, but once again, the meal was pretty bland.

Finally for dessert, I decided to get the Bhaktsa Marhku (hand rolled roasted barley flour, brown sugar and cheese flavored pasta dish).

It did not look like much, but it was actually pretty good, although it was way too filling and I had to take some for leftovers.

With that, I took the long drive home. I was pulled over by the cops somewhere along the dark path for seemingly speeding, but thankfully they let me go in the end.