BEING new to Swindon I was eager to get out and see what the town has to offer. I’ve been and admired the streets of Old Town, wandered aimlessly about the Brunel and Designer Outlet and even - not very successfully - attempted a spin on the Magic Roundabout.

After doing all that I thought I should treat myself and experience a nice restaurant in the town, but what to have? Flicking through my phone I could see that Swindon has a wide range of cuisines on offer, Italian, Mexican, Japanese even Brazilian.

But then I spotted Yak Himalayan Kitchen specialising in Nepalese and Asian cuisine. This caught my eye as I’ve never had Nepalese food, I’m not sure it’s something I’ve ever seen a restaurant offer before.

And I thought why not? New town, new experience!

The restaurant is on Devizes Road in Old Town and is easy enough to spot with the picture of Mount Everest on its sign, which is lucky for me as I’m still not sure where I’m going half the time in this town of roundabouts and bus lanes.

As soon as I walked in I was greeted by the friendly staff, they were expecting me - I had phoned to make sure they weren’t shut because of the snow - but I suppose the yellow weather warning we faced over the weekend is nothing compared to the Himalayas.

I was shown to my table straight away. The restaurant was cosy with only seven other tables in the whole place and it was quite busy with about four other groups making their own expeditions through the icy conditions to get some Nepalese cuisine.

It was bright and warm inside with the walls adorned with colourful Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags and Himalayan folk songs playing in the background, there was also a large green Buddha statue in the corner. If Swindon ever needed a Buddhist temple this place could be a front runner.

The menu had a good selection, suitable for everyone’s tastes, with seven different vegetarian options and an even wider range or pork, beef, lamb or Himalayan thukpa dishes. Thukpa is essentially noodle soup.

I decided on the bhaktapur chholia (£5.50) for starters and khasi ra hario bodi ko tarkari or Lamb Curry (£8.95) to you and me.

While I waited I was given a poppadom accompanied by a lovely chutney which was just what I needed after a long day in the office.

The service was very good, staff were attentive and always made sure I had everything I needed.

The chholia comes in either a chicken or lamb option, I chose chicken as I was having the lamb curry as my main. It also comes, like most of the dishes at the Yak with the option of being low, medium or hot on the spice-o-meter. Obviously, I chose hot.

The dish consists of roasted chicken with green fresh chilli, red onion, spring onion, coriander, crushed ginger and garlic with a touch of lemon. It was delicious and spicy.

It was served with a salad garnish and a side of Nepali chiura or rice flakes, which are like Rice Krispies without the milk. It was certainly different and I would have them again.

My lamb curry main was also equally as good and as you could probably guess I had it hot. I’m the type of person who would put hot sauce on toast.

The lamb was served in a golden chalice, like a meal fit for a king, which it was. The meat was tender and was full of flavour and spices.

At the Yak you order your rice separately and comes in one of six options . I chose the Himalayan fried rice (£3.00) which is fried in ghee and cumin and has vegetables mixed through.

It was very tasty and a good side dish although I would say the portion sizes are very generous, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I felt guilty for leaving half of it to make room for dessert.

Dessert was more Mary Berry than Dalai Lama with a choice of banana split (£5.00), ice cream (£3.90) or chocolate fudge cake (£4.90).

I chose the latter and I’m glad I did as the cake was delicious and came accompanied with chocolate swirl stick, strawberry, chocolate sauce and topped with powder sugar.

I had wanted to try the coffee liqueur but unfortunately I had the car. I enviously looked on as the table across from me toasted themselves with their drinks.

Overall the Yak had a nice atmosphere, good service and great food. I left feeling well fed and watered for my expedition through the ice home.