The White Yak Restaurant serves up some excellent Tibetan food in the Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia.  They serve a wide range of the Himalayan classics, including the Himalayan dumplings known as Momos. The history of the momo dates back to the 14th century. It is unclear whether the dish spread from Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley to Tibet or vice versa. The flavorful and spicy Nepalese momo is quite different from the Tibetan momo which is made with a thicker dough and very little seasoning other than salt.

White Yak also has several vegan options and serve vegan soy beef and soy chicken.  We tried the Shoko Sisi – shredded potato stir-fried with carrot and garlic – and the dried tofu with fresh shiitake mushroom and vegetables, both of which were excellent.  The house chili sauce is also really good.  

The Dumplings:  White Yak makes their Momo fresh, to order, and they are excellent.   They serve classic Momos, prepared either steamed or deep fried, with options for beef, chicken, pork, mixed vegetables, cauliflower or potato filling.  They also serve Momo Khotrak, which are the crispy, pan-fried, pot-sticker style variant of Momos, with options for beef, chicken or veggie filling.  White Yak also serves Momo swimming in the house chili sauce; Chili Momo with green and red chili added to the various filling options and are served with chili sauce, this dish is labeled “Very Spicy”; and Momo Firecracker, which are fried Momo with green and red chili added to the filling options, served with their house special sauce, and are labelled “It is spicy”. 

I tried the deep-fried pork Momo and the steamed vegan combo, both of which come with the house signature Momo sauce, which is creamy and mildly spicy.  The deep-fried pork Momo were delicious and so juicy they were practically soup dumplings.  Be cautious eating these Momo, if you are not careful when biting into them, you risk getting juice squirted on you.  All three styles of Momo in the vegan combo were excellent, with the savory, clean tasting Mixed Vegetable ones being the best.  The Potato and Cauliflower Momo were both seasoned with curry spice and both had a flavor that was reminiscent of a Samosa.  These two Momo were really good, but I could eat the mixed vegetable Momo all day.

The Location: White Yak is in the north-west Philly neighborhood of Roxborough.  Its at 6118 Ridge Ave, near the corner of Green Lane.