Let's go to "Alice"

Buckwheat Momo (dumplings)

Namaste!

Last Saturday I had dinner at a new for me place, Alice restaurant. It looked rather cozy, with a mini-pond at the entrance, large children play area and comfortable cushioned sofas. They had quite an impressive menu featuring Nepali, Chinese, Japanese and Continental dishes some of which you would hardly find anywhere else in Kathmandu like cabbage, green and buckwheat momo, bacon wrapped grilled prawns or squid in chilly oyster sauce. We ordered mixed Nepali/Chinese snacks and Continental main courses. I really enjoyed all the Asian snacks but was quite disappointed with the main courses: Lamb Casserole in Spicy Red Wine and Chicken a-la Orange Mustard. The lamb was rather chewy and the orange sauce was too much acidic. There was one more negative point that I need to mention: in spite of the ban on smoking in public places there were people freely smoking at the restaurant and I didn't like it.

The best places to eat in Kathmandu

Crespelle from "Fire and Ice"

Namaste!

In Kathmandu there is a big choice of restaurants and cafes offering different types of food. Though food is very personal and subjective matter I would like to recommend a few of my favourite places that have never failed my expectations.

If you are a tourist most probably you would want to try traditional Nepali food. The best place for this is the "Nepali Chulo" restaurant (Lazimpat). Here you'll be able not only to enjoy typical dishes of Nepal but also to see small programm of traditional dances including the famous "Yak and Yeti" and "Peacock".

What to eat in Sri Lanka

Visiting another country, I always try the local cuisine, the more different dishes I can try the better. And Sri Lanka was no exception. Sri Lankan traditional main dish is "rice and curry": a huge portion of rice, fried in butter or cooked in coconut milk, with added raisins or green onions or nuts or turmeric - and a few dishes that make up the "curry". Curry is a savoury sauce of coconut milk in which meat, fish or vegetables are cooked. There are "dry" curries also and "dal" - soup made from lentils. Unlike the Indian version Sri Lankan dal is very thick, almost like porridge.

Nepali momos

If you offer to Nepali people to have a quick snack they will not hesitate in their choice - it will sure be momos, Nepalese dumplings, one of the fast, tasty and affordable meals. Usually momos are steamed, but there are options: fried or kote style - steamed and then fried. Any cafe will offer you at least a few kinds of momos. You can try momos stuffed with pork or chicken, served with spicy sauce. You can leave the sauce, because the stuffing anyway will be so hot that you think you can breathe out fire.

Indian roti

The Indians love bread no less than the Russians or Europeans. But Indian bread looks differently - in the form of flat bread - and called roti. Roti is a common name, but actually there are plenty of varieties. Basically, roti are made of wheat flour, but sometimes it is mixed with corn, rice or millet flour.
The most common and everyday roti are chapatis. They are prepared from wholemeal wheat flour, first on a dry pan, and then in open fire. For breakfast, many Indians love to eat puri - small roti, made from wheat flour too but fried in butter or oil. Also, fried in butter are huge, swollen bhatura. For this very tasty bread oil, yeast, and yogurt are added into the batter. Puff bread paratha is delicious by itself, but it is usually prepared with fillings – meat mince, potatoes, paneer, vegetables. It is tastier when served with yogurt.
Nan roti cannot be made at home, because their preparation requires special oven tandoor. Nan is usually seasoned with garlic, or coriander, or smeared with butter. Sometimes nan is stuffed with a filling: mashed potatoes, onion and lots of spices. And so-called Kashmiri nan is filled with a mixture of nuts and raisins.
Rumali roti - thin as paper, and the size of a handkerchief (hence the name - rumali means handkerchief).
There will be an opportunity - try them all and appreciate the diversity of tastes.

Eatable flowers

Namaste!

Yesterday I was surprised to find out that in Nepal people cook not only some grass like spinach, but even flowers. However, not any flowers, but only those of the orchid tree, which here is called Koirala, and the botanical name is Bauhinia variegata. This tree grows at altitudes from 300 to 1800 m, reaches a height of 10-12 m. The large flowers (8-12 cm in diameter) white or bright pink, appear in late winter when the tree drops leaves. They resemble the flowers of orchids, hence the name of the tree.

Street food in Kathmandu

Panipuri is a popular street snack in Nepal. It is a hollow, puffed, round dough with a crunchy shell. The shell by itself is not tasty, unless it is filled with a spicy potato-based mixture and masala water. The stuffing is prepared separately, and inserted into the panipuri through a hole made in the shell. Panipuris are eaten by placing the entire puri into the mouth in one go and biting into it. Very tasty but very spicy.

The Jalebi, Nepalese sweets

Jalebi are one of the most common and favourite sweets in Nepal. They are deep-fried yellow-orange loops dipped in saffron syrup. Jalebi taste best when freshly made as they are crisp and the filling is succulent and aromatic. When they cool they lose their crispness and the filling crystallizes but they are still delicious. I like to eat them with yogurt (dhai) to tone down their sweetness.