Arriving in Nepal from Iran and the Middle East was like entering another world. Suddenly we were back in Asia, surrounded by rattling green and yellow tuk tuks, women in colourful saris, and cows meandering up and down city streets.

We only had five days before we had to be in India, so we decided to visit just two towns and save a trek until next time. Our first stop were the fertile hills (I would call them mountains) ringing the Kathmandu Valley. Next we headed to the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, and instantly stepped in a traveller’s microcosm filled with internet cafes, bars, and all manner of shopping opportunities.

Wearing jumpers and feeling rain on our skin felt amazing - you never realise what small pleasures you will miss once you start travelling. But another delight was being back in a country where vegetarian food was plentiful. 

While vegetarian food is easy to come by in Nepal, vegetarianism seems less common than in India despite Nepal being a Hindu republic (with some Tibetan Buddhism thrown in). It’s less usual to see vegetarian or pure vegetarian restaurants advertised, for example, and talking to Nepalese people I got the impression that there was some flexibility around what was required of practioners.

It is, however, sobering to realise that many people in Nepal are vegetarian by necessity. The staple Nepalese dish is dahl bhat served with rice. In many poor households, dahl bhat is the only food that the family can afford to eat.

A highlight of any trip to Nepal is eating momos, Tibetan steamed dumplings stuffed with chopped vegetable and served with a delicious tomato chili sauce. Vegetarian versions are easy to find on almost every restaurant menu and make a great, healthy snack.

Curries are also a common feature of Nepalese food. It’s usual to eat a large amount of rice (to fill you up), supplemented by small curries based around a fresh vegetable ingredient and some spicy pickle or pickles. Some Nepalese restaurants offer thali sets with complementary refills, which are a great way to try different Nepalese food.

We had only a short time in Nepal so unfortunately we could only try a limited amount of Nepalese food. A highlight of our trip was eating at a restaurant called Thamel House in Kathmandu.

Thamel House specialises in traditional Nepali and Newari food, including many dishes that you won’t find in other restaurants. The restaurant is in an atmospheric 100 year old house, originally built for a wealthy family. There is a choice of seating areas, but I recommend the top room where you sit on the floor and eat from small wooden tables, nestled under a sloping, cosy wooden roof.

Thamel House’s signature meal is a vegetarian (and non-vegetarian) tasting menu, however we found the extensive list of dishes and price too daunting and opted instead to order from the standard menu (you may have to request this).

Each dish was delicious. To begin we were given a complementary starter of lightly sauteed fresh mung beans and lentils. The beans had not been fully boiled beforehand, so they were still quite fresh and hard to the bite.

We followed up with a lot of smaller dishes, including beautifully steamed momos filled with fresh vegetables, ginger and garlic, a delicious, creamy, black lentil dish called dahl makhini, and sliced mushrooms cooked in a creamy, garlic sauce.

The fried potatoes cooked in traditional spices (Alu Tareko) were one of my favourite dishes, but I also enjoyed  an entree of a green spinach like vegetable quickly cooked with spices.

We finished the meal with some complementary shots of a Nepalese rice wine (similar to saki) and a fragrant rice pudding.

Walking through the streets of Kathmandu I saw three or four vegetarian restaurants. I didn’t see one that was Nepalese however - they were all Indian or European-run restaurants serving world food. It struck me that Nepal’s spirituality attracts a lot of people sympathetic to vegetaranism - even if Nepalese people don’t always share this belief.

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