Restaurants in Around The Kathmandu Valley
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Flavor’s Café
Formerly New Orleans, this upscale place has changed its name but not its menu, which covers everything from Nepali choyla (spiced meat curry) to Cajun chicken and steaks. There’s wireless internet, and tables are set in a calm, covered courtyard, or upstairs on the roof, for stupa views.
reviewed
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Double Dorjee Restaurant
On the lane north of the stupa, this cosy Tibetan-run place targets backpackers and the dharma crowd with good prices, tasty Tibetan and Western food and soft sofas to relax in.
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Sunny Restaurant
Consists of two places; one atop the guesthouse of the same name and the other next door. Both offer a terrace and great views over the square, though the hotel restaurant is 10% more expensive. Local specials include the Newari set meal and Bhaktapur's famous speciality: juju dhau, 'the king of curds' (yogurt).
reviewed
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Café Nyatapola
Out in the square at Taumadhi Tole, this place is touristy and pricey, but what a setting! Tables are set on the balconies of a former pagoda temple – there are even erotic carvings on the roof struts. The menu covers the usual Nepali, Chinese, Continental standards and a portion of the profits supports a local hospital.
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Bakery Café
All the branches of the excellent Bakery Café chain provide work for deaf Nepalis who would otherwise struggle to find employment. Patan has two Bakery Cafés – one by the zoo at Jawalakhel and one opposite UN House at Pulchowk. Both have wireless internet access and momos, sizzlers, salads and sandwiches on the menu.
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Si Taleju Restaurant & Bar
A narrow, towering place with four floors, each with a different look and feel. Best is the top-floor dining room with jaw-dropping views north across Durbar Sq to the mountains beyond. You’ll find all your favourites on the menu – momos, chow mein, Indian curries and those ubiquitous ‘Continental’ dishes.
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Bakery Café
With branches on the edge of Thamel, on Durbar Marg and in Patan, this buzzy chain offers excellent value coffees and snacks for when you just need to take a break over an Americano and a plate of momos. The management have commendably hired deaf staff, which is perhaps one reason why the music is so bad.
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Museum Café
In the rear courtyard of the Patan Museum, this is a stylish open-air place operated by the Summit Hotel. Prices are a little higher than elsewhere, but the gorgeous garden setting more than compensates. The organic salads are grown on site. You don't need to buy a museum ticket to eat at the café.
reviewed
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Dhokaima Café
A pleasant cafe in the New Orleans mould, set inside a Rana-era storehouse by the Patan Dhoka gateway. Shaded by a sprawling walnut tree, the courtyard garden is a great place to enjoy such varied international dishes as Mexican nachos, Italian pizzas and Japanese edamame (soy beans).
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La Soon
Down a quiet side alley near Pulchowk, this charming garden restaurant and wine bar is run by a Swiss-Ghanaian couple, and the menu is an interesting fusion of Asian, French and African influences. The regular ‘Africa Nights’ with live music and fashion shows always pull in a crowd.
reviewed
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Café de Patana
Southwest of Durbar Sq behind a small Uma Maheshwar temple, this is place is a long-running travellers’ favourite. There’s a pleasant open-air courtyard and a rooftop garden (with one table right at the very top of the building). The menu runs to pizza, Newari dishes and cold beers.
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Museum Café
In the rear courtyard of the Patan Museum, this stylish open-air place is run by the team behind the Summit Hotel. Prices are high but so is the quality of the food, and the garden terrace setting feels elegant and refined. You don’t need to buy a museum ticket to eat at the cafe.
reviewed
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Zhungchuanluohuang Hotel
This place may be a bit of a mouthful, but it's a damn good-tasting mouthful. It's a bit unnerving to see Chinese characters in the heart of Tibetan Bodhnath but the food is tasty and authentically Sichuanese. Try the gongbaojiding - chicken with chilli and peanuts.
reviewed
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Rabsel Garden Café
For some peace and quiet, head past the row of chörtens west of the Shechen Tengyi Dargyeling Gompa to this garden oasis. The vegetarian-only dishes stretch to lasagne, quiche, soup with homemade bread and veggie wraps, and there are good daily specials.
reviewed
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Saturday Café
Looking more like something you’d find in Portland, Oregon, this multistorey cafe serves excellent vegetarian meals, snacks and cakes. There’s a bookshop full of holistic titles and it even serves organic coffee. Come early for a seat with a view on the rooftop.
reviewed
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Singa Ma Food Court
For the authentic tastes of Malaysia, head to this busy food court south of Pulchowk. The noodle soups, nasi lemak (coconut rice with anchovies) and beef rendang (dry coconut curry with lime leaves) are the real mamak (Malay Tamil) deal.
reviewed
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Tibetan Eating Houses
For those on a shoestring budget, there are plenty of small Tibetan eating houses in the streets behind the stupa that serve up authentic Tibetan thugpa (noodle soup) - any place with a curtain across an open door is probably one.
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Café du Temple
A tour-group favourite at the north end of Patan’s Durbar Sq. The rooftop tables are covered by red-and-white sun umbrellas and the menu runs from fried rice to daal bhaat, via chicken stroganoff. There’s a branch in Bhaktapur.
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New Orleans
Set around a lovely courtyard that is always full of expats with laptops, this branch of the popular Thamel bar and restaurant serves everything from Nepali choyla to stuffed pittas and Mongolian beef.
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Berg House Café
By the main junction on the highway, this colourful cafe is packed with fossils, gnarled tree roots and other found bits of bric-a-brac, and the traveller-oriented menu runs to pizzas, sandwiches and steaks.
reviewed
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Masala
Quality Indian food is surprisingly hard to find in Kathmandu, but this sophisticated place plugs the gap, with an excellent menu of Mughlai and tandoori dishes. It’s a stylish choice for a dinner date.
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Kathmandu View Cottage
Reached by turning north off the road into Chobar, Kathmandu View Cottage is a tasteful garden restaurant with tables in bamboo huts looking out over the rooftops of Kathmandu.
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Newa Kitchen
If you’re staying near the centre, the Newa Kitchen by the bus stand has a full menu of Nepali, Indian, Chinese and European standards and an internet cafe (Rs 25 per hour).
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Garden Kitchen
A partly open-air place near the Shechen Tennyi Dargyeling Gompa, serving the usual globe-trotting menu in pleasing surroundings. Reasonable prices attract many long-term dharma students.
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Kwalkhu Café
An island of calm in the courtyard of the restored Rajbhandari House, this peaceful cafe has a terracotta-tiled terrace and a solid menu of Nepali, Tibetan, Chinese and Continental food.
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