What Nepalese food actually is, how it differs from Indian cooking, and — if you have never eaten it before — what to order on your first visit.
📋 Table of Contents
Where Nepalese Cooking Sits
Nepal sits between Tibet and northern India, and its food shows it. From the north come the steamed dumplings and the simpler, warming dishes; from the south the spice blends and the tandoor. The result is its own thing rather than a version of either.
The usual difference people notice is restraint. Nepalese cooking generally leans less on cream and oil than the Indian restaurant food most visitors know, and more on letting the main ingredient taste of itself. That is a matter of tendency, not a rule — plenty of Nepalese dishes are rich.
Momo: Start Here
If you have never eaten Nepalese food, order momo first. They are steamed dumplings, related to Tibetan momo and not far in spirit from gyoza, seasoned with ginger, garlic and spices rather than soy. They come six to a portion, and you can have them with a chicken or a vegetable filling.
They are mild, they arrive before the curries, and they give a table something to share while the rest of the order is still cooking. We also serve them in a soup curry — the Momo and Vegetable Soup Curry is the dish people most often come back for.
Dal Bhat, and What We Actually Serve
Dal bhat is the everyday meal of Nepal: rice with lentil soup, a vegetable curry and pickles, eaten twice a day by much of the country. It is the dish people mean when they talk about Nepalese home cooking, and it is worth knowing about.
To be straight with you: dal bhat as a set is not on our menu. What we serve is a curry menu — around twenty curries, three soup curries, naan baked to order, rice, tandoori chicken, chicken tikka and momo. Our two dal dishes, Dal Mutton and Dal Chicken, are lentil curries cooked with meat, so they are not the vegetarian dal of a dal bhat plate. We would rather tell you that here than have you arrive expecting something else.
Heat, and Asking for Changes
You choose the spice level yourself, so "Nepalese food is spicy" is not a reason to stay away. Ordered mild, butter chicken has no heat in it at all. Ordered at the top of the range, several curries will take the roof off. Tell us where on that scale you want to be.
The same applies to what goes in. Vegetarian dishes are on the standard menu. Our standard naan dough contains dairy and egg and several curries are finished with cream or yoghurt, but the kitchen will prepare dishes without them on request — and the same for nut-free cooking and allergies. Ask when you order, not after.
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