NEPALESE street food restaurant Marse has officially opened its store in Winchester.
Owned by Laxmi Lama and her husband Santosh Chumi, Marse opened at Unit 30, Middle Brook Street, at the Brooks Shopping Centre, on Saturday, March 19.
The restaurant and takeaway, which has a small amount of seating inside and out, serves dishes based on super nutritious ancient grains and diverse ingredients.
Everything is home made from scratch, such as mixed bean stew, steamed dumplings that come in meat or vegan options and Vietnamese summer rolls. Nibbles also include crispy onion nuggets and protein balls.
Marse officially opened its doors after months of renovations with a Ukraine fundraiser and the pair say they been overwhelmed with support.
Laxmi, 34, said: "Business during our first week has been incredible. The support that our customers have shown has been lovely. Everyone has shown so much support and it's nice to share the same street with other businesses who are focused on local sustainability.
"I feel we have stepped up a bit. Having our own space means we don't have to set up every time like we used to do on the market. We don't have to worry about the rain and cold either, so it's a lot nicer.
"We have been getting so many supportive messages from everyone. All age groups are coming to us, so it's nice to see."
On its opening date, Marse donated 20 per cent of its sales to Cook For Ukraine.
Laxmi said: "It's an important cause and something we feel passionately about."
Speaking previously to the Chronicle, Laxmi spoke of her love for Winchester.
The couple, who are originally from Kathmandu, Nepal, started selling food from a stall at Winchester market in the High Street in 2019.
She said: "Since then, we have only been trading in Winchester as we always wanted Winchester to be our home for business.
"We love Winchester for its history, art, architecture and the sense of community for small independent businesses with the aim of sustainability."
Marse is open from 11am to 8pm. To find out more, visit their website: marse.co.uk
Review from Chronicle reporter, Harvey Lindsay:
I was first greeting by the lovely smile of Laxmi, who welcomed me inside and immediately offered to take my order.
I had looked at the menu beforehand and prepared myself for a feast. And what a feast it was.
I had ordered the Marse Super Bowl, a bean stew, mixed with a combination of nine Nepalese beans, sweet and sour chicken and sweet peppers. I had also ordered the MoMo, which comes as steamed dumplings of chicken and cabbage and mushroom, served with puffed amaranth rainbow salad, homemade peanut and tomato MoMo chutney, and hot chilli sauce.
Being me, that wasn't enough - I also opted for the Parsnion Bhaji, a crispy nugget of onion, parsnip, fennel seeds and nigella seeds, served with tamarind sauce.
I took a seat outside of the eatery on a gorgeous spring afternoon and waited for my lunch to be brought out to me. Five minutes passed and Santosh brought the super bowl out, followed by the MoMo and the Parsnion Bhaji. Struggling what to tuck into first, I grabbed a dumpling with my fork and tried it without any sauce.
So far, so good. It tasted clean, I liked the texture and there wasn't any grease or unnecessary ingredients or flavouring, which highlighted the quality of the ingredients Marse use.
The super bowl was full of flavour and the chicken was cooked to perfection.
I really enjoyed the amount of sauce as it could have been too dry to eat, other wise.
That brings me to the bhaji. There were around five or six bhaji's in my dish, too many for some, but they went down really well with the super bowl sauce, combined with the rice and chicken.
Over all, the experience was very pleasant. Laxmi and Santosh were extremely friendly and welcoming, the food was delicious and most importantly, filling. I still wasn't hungry towards the evening, so a big thumbs up from the Chronicle.
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