A pair of brothers originally from Nepal opened Delight Restaurant at 1130 North Avenue in Burlington on February 8. The menu describes the new restaurant's cuisine as "transcultural." It includes Indian curries and biryanis, Nepali dumplings and noodle soup, and Indo-Chinese dishes, such as fried rice and chow mein.
Owner Bharat Partel, 28, and his 24-year-old brother, Bikash Porthel, moved from New York City to Vermont about eight months ago. (The siblings spell their surname differently in English but pronounce it the same way.) During his seven years in New York, Partel worked in Indian and American restaurants, he said. He and his brother moved to Burlington to join friends from their home city of Ghorahi, in southwest Nepal, and to escape the urban grind. "It is quiet and peaceful here," Partel said.
Their roughly 60-seat restaurant was most recently Gurung Restaurant and Bar, which closed in November. The kitchen is staffed by two Nepali natives who also moved to Burlington from New York City: head chef Tej Man Gharti and his nephew, Jay Prakash Gharti, who specializes in cooking breads and meats in the restaurant's tandoor oven. Partel said they expect to redecorate as business picks up.