When Sagar Tamang arrived in Evansville in 2016 to join his uncle Pash, he couldn’t find a single place in town serving the Himalayan food he grew up on in central Nepal. Three years later, he opened his own restaurant to fix that. Today, Yak & Yeti has grown from a single storefront on South Green River Road into a three-location chain spanning Indiana and Kentucky.
Tamang’s path to the restaurant business started far from southern Indiana. He moved to Anchorage, Alaska, in 2009 before eventually making his way to Evansville, according to Evansville Living Magazine. Once in town, he partnered with Krishna Shahi, and the pair opened the original Yak & Yeti at 815 S. Green River Road, which served Himalayan and Nepalese dishes when it opened in 2019, according to a historical account shared on Facebook.
A Menu Built on Momos and Copper Pots
The restaurant’s identity is rooted in Himalayan staples served with regional flair. Traditional Nepali momo — dumplings filled with ground chicken, onions, ginger, garlic and Himalayan spices — can be steamed or fried and come in 15 varieties, per the same account from Evansville Living Magazine. One version arrives sautéed in chili sauce with onions and bell peppers, while the traditional preparation is served with jhol, a tangy tomato and sesame seed broth.
The kitchen also turns out chicken tikka masala, butter chicken, boneless chicken tikka cooked in a clay oven, and yak and goat meat dishes, including four versions of bone-in goat curry. Curry and naan round out the everyday menu, alongside a thali plate combining curry, rice, lentil dal and alu gobhi. For something more theatrical, the restaurant serves biryani baked inside a warm naan covering and plates Himalayan delicacies on copper dishware. Diners can wash it down with Himalayan masala tea, a caffeinated black tea-based drink the restaurant says promotes focus and calm, or visit the small bar area for draft beer and wine…