Brothers open Laliguras Indian Nepali Restaurant on Church Street

Brothers who have lived in Bhutan, India and Nepal are bringing the flavors of the Himalayas to a long-vacant space on the Church Street Marketplace.

What is the place?

For nearly 50 years, a restaurant called the Scuffer — first, The Rusty Scuffer, and later, The Scuffer Tap & Table — occupied prime space across from Burlington City Hall on the Church Street Marketplace. The latter Scuffer closed in the fall of 2018, and the space sat unused for almost four years until June 24, when brothers Kabi and Raj Adhikari opened Laliguras Indian Nepali Restaurant there.

“When we looked at downtown, we liked the busy place” on the block near City Hall, Raj Adhikari said.

The American fare the Scuffer specialized in has given way to flavors from the Himalayas. According to Raj Adhikari, chicken and vegan tikka masala and goat and lamb curry rank among the most popular selections so far at Laliguras. The menu includes varieties of the rice dish biryani and the Nepalese dumplings known as momo.

Laliguras lacks a tandoor — the rounded oven used to bake naan flatbread — but the restaurant does make other forms of bread from the region, including paratha, the buttery, layered flatbread. The brothers were in the process in early August of getting their liquor license from the state. The restaurant has seating for 54 customers inside and 20 at tables outside on the Marketplace.

What’s the story behind it?

The Adhikari brothers, in their early 30s, are natives of Bhutan whose families fled strife in that country. They fled to India, then Nepal, and Raj Adhikari said the brothers worked in restaurants while they were in both of those nations.

They came to the U.S. — Raj in 2012 and Kabi four years later — and in 2018 helped open Everest Restaurant on Williston Road in South Burlington, an Indian/Nepali restaurant owned by a sister of the Adhikaris. Kabi is the chef at Laliguras and Raj helps in the kitchen and focuses on the business end of the restaurant.

Business was quiet for the first month or so, according to Raj Adhikari, but has recently started improving.

“This is a new restaurant, new name,” he said. “Right now it is picking up. Some (customers) are still finding it.”

Laliguras Indian Nepali Restaurant is named for the national flower of Nepal, a red rhododendron. “I never forget” that flower, Raj Adhikari said, though he hasn’t been back to Nepal since leaving a decade ago.

Hours and location

Laliguras Indian Nepali Restaurant, 146-148 Church St., Burlington. Noon-10 p.m. Wednesday-Monday. (802) 800-1238, www.laligurasindiannepalirestaurant.com

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Indian/Nepali restaurant opens in old Scuffer space on Church Street