Nepal - specifically Kathmandu - is renowned as the budget eating capital of Asia. Sadly, its reputation is based not on Nepali but pseudo-Western food: pizza, chips (fries), "sizzling" steaks and apple pie are the staples of tourist restaurants. Outside the popular areas, travellers' chief complaint is the blandness of the diet.
Yet Nepal lies at the intersection of two great culinary traditions, Indian and Chinese, and if you know what to look for you'll find good, native renditions of everything from tandoori to stir-fried dishes. The simple cooking of the hills - Nepal's heartland - is essentially a regional variation of north Indian, comprising rice, lentils, curried vegetables and meats, and chutneys. In the Kathmandu Valley, the indigenous Newars have their own unique cuisine of spicy meat and vegetable dishes. In the Tarai,
roti
(bread) and the vast range of Indian curries, snacks and sweets comes into play, while in the mountains the diet is essentially Tibetan, consisting of soups, pastas, potatoes and breads.
Where to eat
Enterprising budget
tourist restaurants
in Kathmandu and Pokhara show an uncanny knack for sensing exactly what travellers want and simulating it with the most basic ingredients. Some specialize in Italian, German, Chinese, Tibetan, Indian,...
read more >>
Nepali food
Daal bhaat tarkaari
(lentil soup, white rice and curried vegetables) isn't just the most popular meal in Nepal - for many Nepalis it's the
only
meal they ever eat, twice a day, every day of their lives. Indeed, in much of hill Nepal,
...
read more >>
Newari food
Like many aspects of Newari culture,
Newari food
is all too often regarded as exotic but too weird for outsiders. It is indeed like no other cuisine on earth: complex, subtle, delicious and devilishly hard to make (most dishes require...
read more >>
A glossary of food terms
To begin, select a topic in the navigation bar to the left
read more >>
Indian food
A full description of Indian dishes isn't possible here. The ones you're most likely to encounter in Nepal are from
northern India
, such as
Mughlai
curries (thick and mildly spiced, often topped with boiled egg) and
tandoori
...
read more >>
Tibetan food
Strictly speaking, "Tibetan" refers to nationals of Tibet, but the people of the Nepal Himalaya, collectively known as Bhotiyas, together with the people of several other highland ethnic groups, all eat what could be called
Tibetan food
...
read more >>
Road food and snacks
There's certainly no need to go hungry when you're travelling -
fast food and snacks
are available at every stop. Since these dishes are prepared ahead of time, what you see is what you get. Common sit-down fare includes
pakauda
,...
read more >>
Fruit
Which fruits are available depends on the season, but there's usually a good choice. Lovely mandarin
oranges
, which ripen throughout the late autumn and winter, grow from the Tarai up to around 1200m and are actually sweetest near the upper...
read more >>
Provisions
Imported
chocolates
are sold in tourist areas, and waxy Indian substitutes can be found in most towns.
Biscuits
and cheap boiled sweets are sold at roadside stalls everywhere. Kwality
ice cream
, available throughout the...
read more >>
Drinks
Water
(
paani)
is automatically served with food in Nepali restaurants - sometimes it's been boiled, but verification is difficult, so it's best to pass unless you really know what you're doing. Various brands of bottled water are widely...
read more >>
Tobacco and paan
Nepalis love their
cigarettes
(
churot).
Even if you don't smoke, consider carrying a pack - cigarettes are much appreciated as tips. Factories in Janakpur and Birganj manufacture dozens of cheap brands, most of them from a mixture...
read more >>
