Winter Comfort Food Around Boudha

Pop up restaurants were all the rage in the ‘western’ pre-COVID world, but actually pop-up restaurants have existed in Nepal for decades!

Someone decides they want to try their hand at running a restaurant or café, may find some friends to help fund the rent of a space and fitting it out, finds a chef, and starts business. But there are so many small restaurants all over Nepal, most of them offering the same limited menu; momos, chowmien, thukpa, laphing; and sooner or later the chef moves on and the business closes down. The space goes up for rent and the cycle starts over, sometimes lasting months, sometimes only weeks.

Winter is truly with us, lockdown rules have faded away, I’m single and a lousy cook, so the search for winter comfort food has kicked in. Due to the pop-up nature of the small restaurant sector, I’m not claiming that these are the only options in the neighbourhood, but it dawned on me that I have a shortlist of goto outlets for particular things (apologies to vegetarians, all are non-veg items) and thought it was selfish to keep them to myself. I also realised that they are run by three different cultural groups, which just emphasizes that variety does exist if you search it out.

So in no particular order:

• Buff and egg bara – Lokha Newari Khaja Ghar

I have eaten Newar food at many different places, at weddings, at friends’ houses, at high-end Newar restaurants and the famed cubby hole behind Krishna Mandir in Patan Durbar. But by far the best egg and buff mince bara I have found is here. No recycled oil, so fresh it is crispy. In addition there are all the usual Newar options, bhatmaas (fried soyabeans), lungs, liver, tongue, feet as well as local liquid refreshments.

It is located on the Boudha main road, between Tusal Chowk and the Boudha main gate, just west of the Rashtriya Banjya Bank. A small bamboo arch down the side of the bank building marks the entrance.

• Shabalay – Tholedemba Sherpa Kitchen

A new addition to the neighbourhood, having opened in the last few months, Tholodemba has all the usual offerings, but has the best shabalay I have yet eaten in Nepal. Sha-balay literally means “meat + bread” and if I had to describe them I guess they are a samosa+cornish pastry hybrid. Having been spoilt by shakam shabalay in Bhutan and pork shabalay in Sikkim, my search for good shabalay has taken 8 years and has now been thoroughly satisfied. Crispy light pastry, stuffed full of tasty keema, light on unwanted filler onions, with two big shabalay per plate, they are a perfect accompaniment to a beer with friends.

Tholedemba is on the back road connecting Boudha main road to Dharatole, on a side lane leading to Khorlo Restaurant. If walking on the kora, you can use the cut-through arcade just after the Sakya Gompa, sign posted to Gangjong Momo. When leaving the building, turn left towards the main road and the first right before the Sakya monastery gate.

• Gyuma – Mitho Khaja Ghar

Run by a Tamang family, the gyuma is made in-house and so is not always available. Personally I prefer mine fried, which goes nicely with a glass of local raksi. The bara here is also good, but it doesn’t have the same crispiness as Lokha’s.

Mitho Khaja Ghar is at the bottom end of Phulbari road, near the stupa, in the same building as Ocean International Tours and Travel and Kora Restaurant and Lodge. On the ground floor, go all the way through to the back of the building and keep your fingers crossed that gyuma is in, or you might have to content yourself to seeing it being made.

• Kabsey Alley

A slight variation from these recommendations is Kabsey Alley. Kabsey are the fried Himalayan ‘biscuits’ found sold all around the kora. If you want to see how they are made and buy a fresh bag, if starting at the stupa, go up Phulbari and take the road to Tharig, New Dabzang and Pal Nye Gompas. Continue to the “Maoist steps” lane (pedestrians only) and you will pop out near Arab Bank. The last stretch of that road has a number of kabsey shops producing batches throughout the day, kneading massive bowls of pastry, twisting the different shapes and sizes and fried en masse.

P.S. You should note that all three are small family run places and may be closed for any number of reasons, so if one of them isn’t open, please go try another before it closes down!