The British have long been fascinated by the Gurkhas, the mystical mercenary Nepalese attachment to the British Army. We are entranced by their order, their discipline, their alleged ruthlessness - we feel we owe them something, something more than simple respect. The Himalayan Gurkha restaurant in Tunbridge Wells is a Nepalese cuisine restaurant run by what appears to be a former Gurkha Major. I should say, at this point, that Nepalese cuisine, as such, does not have the huge distinction or difference from Indian food as, say, Indian food has from itself. There is a vast difference between the dosas of South India and the dry curries of the North, but Nepalese food seems to consist of a homogenisation of all Indian food with a couple of weird anomalies of its own.

Q and I ventured to the Himalyan Gurkha on one of our very rare free nights from the junior agents. To start I had the Potato starter (apparently the traditional food the Gurkhas eat) and Q had the Momo (stuffed dumpling with lamb). The Potato was bland, bland, bland - it tasted like the potatoes my mum used to make heated up the next morning in Scotland to go with bacon and eggs. I didn't eat it all. Q's Momo's were "alright" but she didn't feel that they were that fresh. Our main courses varied wildly. My "sizzling lamb" were burnt lamb strips, chewy and tasteless, but Q's chicken curry was okay and the aubergine bhaji was large, luscious and sweet. A high point was the magnificent naan - done Nepalese style - a vast puffy round, cut in quarters.

I doubt if we will be back. Rejected because they can do much much better. M