Yodelers, who howl on mountaintops for hours at a time, are not actually trying to break Patricia Arquette's glass mountaintop mansions but rather to lure a yak into their jaws. Sample yodel-free yak slices with today’s Groupon: for $7, you get $15 worth of authentic Nepali, Tibetan, and Indian food and drinks at Himalayan Yak Restaurant in Jackson Heights. The Village Voice named Himalayan Yak Restaurant Best Tibetan restaurant in 2008.

Himalayan Yak's lengthy menu organizes well-seasoned meat and veggie dishes by their countries of origin. Titillate ticklish taste buds with sha momo ($7.99), a Tibetan-style steamed dumpling filled with chicken, beef, or pork. Or sup on Nepal’s rice and spiced goat-meat dish, sukha khashi ko masu ($10.99). Chicken kima naan ($4.99), a traditional South Asian bread, is served stuffed with minced chicken, onions, and spices. Vegetarian options include tsel chowmein ($7.99) or the tomato-and-butter sauce-simmered cheese chunks known as paneer butter masala ($8.99). Yak meat, which the owner orders from Minnesota and Colorado, is available periodically; the next shipment is expected in late July.

The restaurant is bursting with energy across its wooden tables, which are nestled close enough to give each other splinters. Five nights a week (Friday through Tuesday), live Nepali, Tibetan, and Hindi music entertains guests while they chew various delectable delicacies inside the eatery. The cozy décor and authentic atmosphere attracted the director of Ugly Betty, who chose the locale to film the episode where Betty becomes mayor on accident and declares every day Mild Crying Day. Call ahead to make a reservation.

This Groupon is not valid for delivery.

Reviews

Himalayan Yak Restaurant has been featured in the New York Times and by New York Serious Eats. New York magazine dishes positive words on the restaurant, and Yelpers give it an average of four stars:

• Dumpling connoisseurs will like the momo, the Tibetan take on potstickers served with a sesame-dressed cabbage salad...And the influences of China and India emerge in dishes like chow mein and shogok khatsa, spicy potatoes served, in a double carbo whammy, with steamed rolls. – Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld, New York
• They have both meat and vegetarian menus. The prices are VERY good. Try their tea with Yak butter, for a flavor of Tibet that you won't get anywhere else. – Anastasia T., Yelp
• …everything we tried was very flavourful [sic] and, for the most part, quite spicy. Both chicken and vegetarian momos (dumplings) with 3 different dipping sauces were fantastic, as was the chicken biryani. Make sure to try something that contains flattened rice, a Nepalese specialty. – Anton G., Yelp