Dal bhat is actually very pleasant, and probably very healthy. The lentils are cooked into a soupy texture and spooned over the rice, and very often it comes with tarkari, or vegetable curry of some kind. We had some wonderful dal bhat in Aaptari, cooked by a team of village ladies:
The problem is, dal bhat day in day out is bland to the extreme, and I am truly curried out. During my little yogaing retreat in Pokhara, where I was essentially staying at a family's house, the monotony of dal bhat became all the more apparent. The yogi there believed in some mumbo-jumbo Ayurvedic cuisine, which basically entailed eating the same breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. It was actually some very beautiful food, but I was only there for 3 days and already got thorougly bored. Breakfast everyday was a very pretty muesli and yoghurt and fruit concoction:
Dal bhat for lunch:
And vegetable soup for dinner:
It was no wonder then that I did, to my shame, find much relief when the places we were staying in attempted to feed us 'continental' food, even if it doesn't really resemble what we would eat at home. They seem to think that us Westerners are obsessed with 'sizzlers', slabs of meat with chips and veg served on hotplates, no wonder there are no smoke alarms in Nepal:
Our resort in Chitwan National Park also humoured us with some barbequed chicken on our last night, which was actually very yum:
The place we stayed in Naranghat actually seemed quite ashamed of its Nepali offerings, and tried to serve us Chinese food almost every night. I suppose it must be the proximity to Tibet which has led to the popularity of Chinese food in the country, but unfortunately it is very Chinese takeaway in standards. The only saving grace is the momo, which is basically the traditional dumpling 餃子 but normally made with chicken rather than pork, and often served with some hot sauce (of course, curry has to be somehow incorporated):
Apart from the momos though, it was all sweet and sour with fried rice and fried noodles. I think I ate more sweet and sour in that week than I have had in my entire lifetime, bleurgh, bleurgh!:
And once we got back to Kathmandu civilisation, I have to admit I was happy to luxuriate in more Western options. The Thamel backpacker area has a lovely selection of roof-top terraces which are lovely both morning and night. We had lunch at Le Bistro bang in the middle of Thamel, with some hilarious consequences. This was their attempt at garlic bread:
But I have to admit that their creamy carbonara with mushroom was exactly what I wanted as comfort food:
My big recommendation for Thamel, however, is the more unassuming Roadhouse Cafe. A glance at the accurate English and variety on the menu will immediately tell you the place is owned by foreigners, and the quality of the food is as good as any bistro in London. There is a real wood-fire oven for their pizzas, and the menu has a nice Mediterranean selection from pasta to tzatziki and hummus to chicken caesar wraps, and Joe and I rejoiced at being able to have gorgeous fresh tomatoes in their bruschetta, which was the first time we saw bread which wasn't in the form of cardboard squares:
It was our last meal in Nepal before we left, so I really pushed the boat out and had a glass of wine with my vodka penne with shrimp. This was probably the best plate of food I had the entire time I was in Nepal, and just what I wanted - simple, light, delicious:
And as with all these Habitat trips, I end up craving home comforts like spag bol and shepherd's pie, but I got really lucky this time as my parents were round mine when I got home, and they fed me crab and roast pork and homemade soup :) Can't think of a better meal to go home to!
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