Nepal is a country where you will find 125 ethnic groups and 120 languages spoken, so there will be lots of food to explore and new things to try. Every ethnic group has their own authentic food.
Nepal is perfect for travelers keen on trying new food. The national dish of Nepal is “Dal Bhat," which simply means “Rice and Lentil,” but that’s not it. The dish is served with rice (bhat), lentil soup (dal), and vegetable curry, along with different side dishes including Nepali pickles, papadam, salad, meat (if you are non-vegetarian), and lastly, ghee.
Other popular Nepalese cuisines that are liked by many foreigners and are popular can be found in the Kathmandu Valley and other cities of Nepal. Here are some of our recommendations:
Sel and Tarkari or Achar
"Sel roti" means a sweet dish made of rice flour, which is the start of the festival for many religious groups in Nepal. Every household makes sel during big festivals, weddings, and other occasions. Sel is a perfect combination with tea, tarkari (curry), or achar (pickle). You can get this dish at a local shop or a sweet shop if you want to try.
Momo
Momo is a very popular snack item in Nepal and delicious, and you can find veg and non-veg options. Momo is paired with pickle; easy to understand, it is like dumplings, but it is totally different. Well-marinated meat or veggies with onion, ginger, garlic, and Nepali spices and wrapped with dough and steamed.
It's a thin dough filled with minced meat or veggies and eaten with freshly made pickles. While you can find different varieties of momo dumplings, the more popular ones among Nepalese are of water buffalo meat.
Newari Cuisine
Newari people are ranked as the 8th largest ethnic group in Nepal, and their food varieties are huge as well as delicious, but you have to be careful with the spice. This cuisine is on the spicy side, but the flavor will burst in your mouth, and there are a lot of options that are sweet, mild, and spicy, of course. Some of the popular cuisines are:
Bara (Wo): It is a traditional and flavorful lentil pancake native to Newari cuisine. The varieties you can find are plain bara, egg bara, and meat bara.
Chatamari: It is a rice flour crepe topped with different ingredients. It is also known as Nepali Pizza, as it resembles a pizza but originated from the Newar communities of the Kathmandu Valley. The varieties you can find in Chatamari are
- Keema Chatamari (topped with seasoned minced meat of water buffalo or chicken of your choice)
- Egg Chatamari (topped with cracked egg cooked directly in middle)
- Mix Chatamari (topped with minced meat, egg, and vegetables)
- Plain Chatamari (Served with no topping)
- Vegetarian chatamari (topped with onions, tomatoes, green peas and coriander)
Samay Baji (Khaja set): It is a platter consisting of different seasoned snacks in small amounts. It has a perfect balance of spicy, crispy, smoky, and tangy flavor. It consists of
- Chiura (beaten rice)
- Choila (roasted buffalo or chicken meat in fire tossed with raw mustard oil)
- Bhatmas sadeko (roasted soya bean tossed with ingredients like ginger, garlic, chili, and oil)
- Bara
- Khen (hard-boiled egg fired till golden)
- Alu tama (soup made with potato, bamboo shoot, and black-eyed peas)
- Alu sandeko (dry spicy boiled potato salad with sesame seed powder and local spices)
- Sag (spinach)
- Palu (thin-sliced raw ginger and garlic).
Yomari: It is a traditional rice flour dumpling that is sweet with fillings of kuwa or chaku(caramalized sugar)
Thukpa or Thenduk
Thukpa and Thenduk are 2 different things but kind of similar, as both have a soupy texture with vegetables and noodles. You can find veg and non-veg options. Thukpa has normal hand-pulled noodles, but Thenduk has small flat pasta-like shapes. It is a Tibetan dish and very popular in the winter season.
Ju Ju Dhau
Ju Ju Dhau is a creamy yogurt, which is also known as the king of yogurts, originating in Bhaktapur.
If you miss your country's food, then you can also find international cuisines in restaurants, but don’t forget to try Nepali food while being in Nepal.
Talking about accomodation in Nepal, you could find several options in cities like lodges, hotels, resorts, service apartments, hostels, and homestays, according to your preferences and budget. In the trekking trails and outside of the city area, you could find homestays, trekking lodges, and tea houses, which will make your stay convenient.
To book your hotel in Nepal, you can book online or ask your tour or trekking agency to book in the city. But in the Himalayan regions and countryside, they normally don’t exist online; they can be booked by agencies or guides during your tour or trek.
If you are trekking alone without a guide during the peak season, spring and autumn, then it might be difficult to get accommodations on the trekking trail. If you have a guide, then he could do the arrangement smoothly, as they have contact with the tea house. But trekking alone, you don’t have any contact with a tea house, and due to the large flow of tourists, it would be difficult, so make sure you won’t face those kinds of challenges.
If you want to know about the culture, lifestyle, and food of Nepali people, then it's a good option to stay at a homestay run by Nepali families. You can also find homestays in Kathmandu. Travelers who want to experience traditional as well as modern touches should consider boutique hotels for their stay in Nepal.