If you’ve ever walked into the blue building on the corner of 18th Street and Kalorama Road, you probably headed downstairs for Korean food and karaoke at Muzette. But upstairs is Himalayan Heritage, an Indian restaurant tastier and cheaper than Taj India in Georgetown.

The decor at Heritage restaurant is pretty, if not a little cheesy: Gold Buddha and Ganesh figures line the deep red walls, a thatched roof hangs over a few tables and white tablecloths and heavy silverware are disorienting once you realize nothing on the menu costs more than $20.

The entrees are the most expensive items, as usual: $15 chicken tikka, $16 chicken tandoori and lamb ko jhir – lamb marinated in yogurt and spices, grilled then sauteed – for the same price. My dates (two former roommates) ordered chicken masala and “sizzling” shrimp, jumbo shrimp marinated in honey mustard and cooked in a tandoor oven.

We sat down at 8:40 p.m. and waited about an hour for dinner, which felt a little too long in a restaurant that was two-thirds empty. Luckily, we had a lot to catch up on, but I couldn’t help noticing a few second dates around us who seemed to grow impatient. Instead, we had the two stars of the evening to preoccupy us: vegetarian mo and mojitos.

The mo, the Nepalese word for dumplings, were shaped like little volcanoes, steamed perfectly, stuffed with cabbage and carrot and served with a creamy chutney, which is like a curried take on Thai peanut sauce. For just $6, the serving was massive: We each ate four.

The mojitos ($8 each) were deceptively strong, topped with fresh mint and a cool way to relieve us of the spicy red sauce that came with the garlic naan ($3).

For dinner, I settled on two vegetable samosas ($5) and $7 stuffed chatamari, a flat bread made with rice flour and filled with with minced chicken, egg, tomato, cilantro and scallion. But I could have done without the chatamari– after the dumplings and samosas, I was just as stuffed as the doughy appetizers.

Himalayan Heritage is located at 2305 18th St. NW.