Eating in Kathmandu

                My favorite city in the world for eating is Kathmandu Nepal. This is probably not the city most people would expect me to name when one considers cities like New York, Paris, Rome, or even my hometown of Columbus. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of food when I was in the city, and as much as I’d like to, I can’t fly there to make up for it, so I will settle for describing it.  

                Nepali and Indian food are in themselves quite good, and should be sampled first by anyone who visits Nepal. Most Nepali meals consist of rice with dal (lentils) and a few vegetables like potatoes, green beans, and others. Madison, Wisconsin is the only city where I’ve found a Nepali restaurant in America, but there are probably others. Several years after I traveled to Nepal, I spent a summer in Madison studying Hindi and Urdu. I ate in that Nepali restaurant quite a few times and it brought back good memories.  A picture of the restaurant is included.

Chinese food like spring rolls are also common to Nepal, which isn’t surprising. What is surprising is the large variety of western foods to be found there. Kathmandu is a city that has for long attracted world travelers, adventurers, and hippies, and some stayed there. Unlike, India, the Nepalis learned to make aged cheese, which was different from the unaged panir that is used in India. I believe they learned the art of cheese making from the Danish. This accomplishment, more than any other, has made Kathmandu a culinary paradise for the world traveler. I had been in southeast and south Asia for several months before going to Kathmandu, so I was very much in the mood for some western dishes. I had a wonderful water buffalo steak there that I’ve always compared to other great steaks of my life (see my post on kangaroo). I also had one of the best lasagnas of my life there, as well as a great mousaka, a burrito, and several great pizzas. I believe things have changed since then, but in the 80’s the only kind of pizza one could get in India were chapattis with panir and sauce on them, which does not actually earn the name pizza. There were only 3 things that I missed about America during my 2 stays there. Classical music, hot baths, and pizza. In Kathmandu the third item was readily available (I did buy Mozart and Bach cassettes there, but I had to borrow a walkman for just one afternoon to listen to them).  One of the happiest faces that I ever saw was on a local beggar whom a friend and I gave half a pizza that we had left over.

Kathmandu is also famous for its pie shops. During my 2 months in the Kathmandu area I ate banana cream, chocolate, and apple pies to name a few. Again, I’d recommend getting to know the local cuisine first, but the rest shouldn’t be missed either. They are still Nepali businesses even if the food is not Nepali.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been to that beautiful area of the world. I’m sure that there have been many changes, but hopefully McDonalds and Burger King have not invaded Kathmandu.