Eating your way through Kathmandu, starting with Newari food
Newari food is its own cuisine, unlike anything else in Nepal. Most visitors never try it, and the best of it is served in courtyards you'd walk straight past.
By the Lakeshore team · 6 min read · Updated 5 October 2026
Most visitors eat in Thamel. That's fine, but it isn't Kathmandu food. The valley has its own cuisine, built up by the Newars over centuries, and it looks almost nothing like the menu in a trekking lodge.
It's also the most social food in Nepal, built around sets of small dishes, festivals and drinking instead of a single plate of rice.
So this is what to order, and roughly where.
The Newari dishes to know
Samay baji is the set piece: beaten rice, choila, black soybeans, ginger, egg, greens and rice spirit, all arranged on one plate. People eat it at festivals, and more and more restaurants serve it. If you order one thing, order this.
Choila is buffalo grilled over a flame, then tossed with mustard oil, chilli and spices. Smoky and hot, it's the dish people remember.
Bara is a thick savoury lentil pancake, often with an egg cracked on top. Chatamari is a thin rice-flour crepe with toppings, unhelpfully sold as Nepali pizza.
Yomari is a steamed dumpling shaped to a point, with molasses and sesame inside. Most of it gets made for Yomari Punhi in December.
Juju dhau, or 'king curd', comes from Bhaktapur. It's a thick, sweet buffalo-milk yoghurt set in clay pots, and by itself it's worth the trip.
Where to look
Not in Thamel. It's handy and does an international tourist menu well, but that isn't where the valley eats.
Look in the old city south of Durbar Square, in Patan's back lanes and in Bhaktapur. Newari eating houses are often up a staircase or through a courtyard with no English sign, and that's a big part of why they're worth finding.
Ask your guide where they take their own family, not where they send tourists. Those are two different lists, and only one of them is any use.
The markets
Asan Tole in the old city has been the vegetable, spice and grain market for centuries. It's crowded and loud, and if you like food it's one of the better hours you'll spend in Kathmandu.
Go early. This is a working market that feeds the city's households, and by late morning the best of it has gone.
Spices, dried chillies, lentils and tea are all worth buying to carry home. Ask before you photograph a stall, because some traders mind, though most don't.
What to drink with it
Newari food is meant to go with a drink. Aila is the traditional distilled spirit and thon is a fermented rice beer, and the older eating houses serve both.
Strength varies and a lot of it is distilled at home, so pace yourself. Don't expect the next glass to match the last. Tongba is millet beer in a wooden pot, topped up with hot water and drunk through a straw. It comes from eastern Nepal, not the Newars, but it's easy to find and very good on a cold evening.
If you only have one evening
Have a Newari set meal in the old city or Patan. Order samay baji, choila and whatever the house does well, with aila if you want the full version.
Then walk. After dark, with the shops shuttered and the courtyards lit, the old city feels like a different place from the daytime one, and it's much quieter.
Finish on a rooftop looking over Durbar Square. Touristy, yes, and lovely too.
Walk it with us
Private departures on your dates, guided by the people who wrote this page.
Questions we get asked
Is Newari food vegetarian-friendly?
Partly. Bara, chatamari, black soybeans and the vegetable dishes are excellent, but several of the best-known dishes are buffalo. Say shakahari, meaning vegetarian, and they'll look after you.
Is street food safe?
Busy stalls with fast turnover, cooking the food in front of you, are generally fine. Skip anything that's been sitting out. The bigger risk is the water and the ice.
Can I do a food tour?
Yes, several run in Kathmandu and they're a good way into the old city's eating houses. We don't put one together ourselves, so ask us and we'll point you to one. If you're booking our Heritage Loop, a Newari dinner is already part of it.
What should I bring home?
Spices from Asan, Ilam tea, and Marpha apple brandy if you've been up to Mustang. They're cheap and light, and any of them beats a singing bowl.
Still deciding?
Tell us your dates, and we'll tell you whether Kathmandu Heritage Loop is right for you. If it isn't, we'll say so.
Nothing to pay online. We confirm your dates first.
Or call the office +977 61-457830