Food & Restaurants

Eating here is one of the easier adjustments. Vegetarian food is the default for a large share of the population, so no kitchen finds it unusual - and the ordinary caution about water and uncooked food covers almost everything else. The two real difficulties for a foreign resident are communicating a genuine allergy, and sourcing the specific imported things you miss.

For what Nepali food actually is - dal bhat, momo, Newari and Thakali cooking, where to eat and what it costs - restaurants and food covers it. This page covers the practicalities of eating here as an outsider.

Diets

Vegetarian is genuinely easy. A large part of the population eats vegetarian either always or on particular days, every menu has substantial vegetarian sections, and nobody treats the request as awkward.

Vegan is harder but workable. Dairy is pervasive - ghee, curd, paneer, milk in tea - and is not thought of as "non-vegetarian", so asking for vegetarian will not exclude it. Learn to specify no dairy explicitly. Kathmandu has a growing number of dedicated vegan places.

Halal meat is available, concentrated where Muslim communities live and in parts of the Terai; ask rather than assume in a general restaurant. Kosher provision is effectively limited to community arrangements.

Beef is not served - the cow is sacred and slaughter is prohibited. Buffalo, written "buff", takes its place. If you do not eat buffalo, say so, because "no beef" will be heard as a statement about the cow rather than a dietary limit.

Allergies, honestly

This is the one area to take seriously. Allergy awareness in Nepali kitchens is not at the level a severe allergy sufferer will be used to, cross-contamination is not systematically managed, and ingredient lists on local products are inconsistent.

If you have a severe allergy:

• Learn the word for your allergen in Nepali and carry it written in Devanagari to show.
• Carry your own medication, in date, and do not rely on being able to replace it quickly.
• Explain it as a medical condition, not a preference - a preference will be politely accommodated and then forgotten.
• Favour simple, freshly cooked dishes over anything with a complex sauce.

Nuts, mustard oil and dairy are the ones most likely to appear where you do not expect them.

Words worth knowing

Showing the word is more reliable than describing the problem in English:

Nepali	Meaning
Shakahari	Vegetarian
Masu	Meat
Buff	Buffalo
Dudh	Milk
Dahi	Curd, yoghurt
Ghiu	Ghee, clarified butter
Anda	Egg
Badam	Nut, peanut
Tori ko tel	Mustard oil
Piro	Spicy hot
Pani	Water
Malai mildaina	It does not agree with me

That last phrase does more work than any other. It frames the request as a physical problem rather than a preference, which is how it gets taken seriously.

Water and food safety

Do not drink tap water. Filtered water is standard in households and restaurants, bottled is everywhere, and most long-term residents install a filter at home. Ice in established places is made from treated water; in roadside stalls, assume otherwise.

For food, the reliable rule is turnover and temperature: a busy stall cooking in front of you is safer than a quiet restaurant reheating. Salads and uncooked items are the usual source of trouble in the first weeks.

Most new arrivals have a stomach upset regardless of care, and it usually passes in a day or two. If it does not, see a doctor rather than self-medicating from a pharmacy counter - healthcare covers where to go.

Alcohol

Beer, local spirits and imported liquor are all widely available in Kathmandu, with imported wine and spirits carrying a steep duty. Local options are much cheaper.

Two things to know. Sales are restricted on some public holidays and around election periods, which arrives without much warning - stock up before a major festival. And drink-driving enforcement is active, with checkpoints in the evenings and a low tolerance; transportation covers why driving here is best avoided anyway.

Homemade rice beer and spirits are part of hospitality in many communities and refusing a first offer outright reads badly. Accepting a small amount is the usual middle path.

Imported groceries

Supermarkets in Kathmandu carry a reasonable range of imported goods - cheese, pasta, breakfast cereal, sauces, baking supplies - at a significant premium, because everything arrives overland with duty attached. The larger chains have the widest selection, and specialist shops in the areas where foreign residents cluster stock the rest.

What is genuinely hard to find is worth knowing before you pack: specific dietary products, reliable gluten-free ranges, particular baby formulas, and branded medication. Bring a supply of anything you cannot do without and plan to carry it back on visits home. Shopping covers why the premium exists.

Cooking at home

Produce is excellent and cheap, markets are everywhere, and meat is best bought where there is turnover. Most rented kitchens have a gas cylinder rather than piped gas, and ovens are uncommon in Nepali homes - if baking matters to you, check before signing a lease, because adding one is a project.

Dairy, eggs, lentils, rice and vegetables are all inexpensive and good. The budget damage comes entirely from imported items.

Eating at someone's home

An invitation is a genuine kindness and worth accepting. Two things make it go well.

Observe jutho - food that has touched your mouth is not shared, so do not offer a bite from your plate or sip from someone's glass, and pour water without the bottle touching your lips. Culture and society explains the idea properly, and getting it wrong is the most common unnoticed offence foreigners commit.

Expect to be fed more than you want. Accepting a modest amount and finishing it reads better than refusing, and refusing outright is awkward. Eat with your right hand if others are.

Where this goes wrong

• Assuming "vegetarian" excludes dairy. It does not.
• Treating an allergy as a preference when you explain it.
• Drinking tap water, or ice from an unknown source.
• Not bringing specialist dietary or medical items. Replacing them here is unreliable.
• Offering someone food from your plate. Kindly meant, badly received.

Where to go next

Restaurants and food covers what to actually order and where. For the social conventions around eating, culture and society.