| ashu |
Posted
on 25-Aug-00 10:54 AM
One thing most of us miss in Boston is good Nepali khana, however defined. Hope this review makes some entrepreneurs in Boston to interested in opening up a Nepali restaurant
(serving momos and more!)
******************
Kwati and more
By Sujata Thapa and Ashutosh Tiwari
Kathmandu, wrote Pico Iyer in his whirlwind of a book, "Video Night in Kathmandu", is the place in Asia for the most delicious Western-style desserts. That was 12 years ago, when every unspecialized ‘touristy’ restaurant in town listed all kinds of dishes – Tibetan, Continental, Mexican -- on its menu. That is, all kinds of dishes, except the Nepali ones.
Why? Because, at the time, hardly anybody was confident about the prospects of unglamorous dal-bhaat, merely a variation on the standard North Indian cuisine, actually pulling in foreigners longing for a different taste.
Happily, that diffidence now seems to be a thing of the past. For the last several years, restaurants such as Bhanchaa Ghar (Kamaladi) and Bhojan Griha (Dilli Bazaar) have been attracting diners by stressing their Nepaliness through the ambiance and the cuisine. Some, such as Bakaina Batika (Ekanta Kuna), serving even Dhindo and Sisnu, have been quietly retaining the faithfuls, while others, ranging from Nanglo (Durbar Marg) to Aroma (Jamal), now routinely serve full-course Nepali meals of dal-bhaat-tarkari-achar-dahi for lunch or dinner.
Fortunately, though, as anyone who has travelled across Nepal can assert, dal-bhaat alone is not all that there is of Nepali cuisine. Indeed, the repertoire now includes, to give some examples, tasty and nutritious Newari, Thakali, Sherpa and (Dangaura) Tharu dishes that are served at a number of specialized ethnic restaurants in and out of Kathmandu.
At the most, these restaurants present unique cultural experiences, allowing one to leisurely sample, as it were, a particular slice of Nepal. And, at the least, they offer sanitized and pricey alternatives to road-side bhattis, bhojanalayas, momo- and bara (woh)-pasals where, as Nepali foodies never tire of telling others, how delicious a dish is is often inversely proportional to how clean the surroundings are!
In recent times, this enthusiasm for Nepali cuisine seems to grown so high that even big-name Kathmandu hotels now kick off day-long food festivals based entirely on it.
We visited one such event at Dwarika’s (Battis Putali), which hosted a day-long
a Kwati Festival on Tuesday, August 15. Those who know about Dwarika’s know that it is a hotel --favorite of the likes of long-time Nepal explorer Tony Hagen, respected for its loyalty to traditional art, and known in the heritage circles for its dignified Newari Malla architecture of handmade bricks, terra-cotta and carefully restored works of ancient wood.
And so, taking in the cool scenery of well-lit brick walls, peaceful cobble-stone chowk, and visually pleasing arrangement of the food and bowls, we started off our dinner with a range of appetizers: Bhatmaas, masyang, simi and badaam (all sandheko or lightly pickled) and alu achaar were tangy – seasoned enough to give an anticipatory zest to the tongue.
The vessels of the masala (spices) were all nearby, and sprinkling fresh-ground garlic, ginger, coriander and the like to suit to one’s taste was easy. Still, buff chhoyala and pieces of boiled chicken tasted somewhat dull. In retrospect, we could only attribute this to our being spoiled by Newar friends who have occasionally been feeding us sharper, more piquant versions of chhoyala at their homes.
This piquancy was important because Newari food is best enjoyed in a combination of salty, peppery, tangy and spicy hot forms. These forms end up leaving a lingering salty taste, and later help generate body heat that’s pleasant on rainy, wintry days. To cool off, however, there was ample serving of aila (or, in this case, Bhaktapur-made home-brewed grain alcohol) on a ceramic bowl.
One could feel every sip of the aila burning up the food-pipe for a few seconds, before coolly settling down with the momos, which we ate off a leaf-plate. Woh (or bara), fried on an open black pan, followed next, accompanied by tangy meat sauce. The consistency, the texture and the taste of the woh was surprisingly good, and could,
we decided, give a decent competition to the ones served in that famous shop behind Patan’s Krishna Mandir.
The main courses, Kwati (or Biraula or soaked legumes), a highly nutritious stew/soup of beans and grams, and Roti and potatoes were hot and filling. Barbecued mutton, chickenv (sekuwa), and vegetables, and baked potatoes with parsley butter complemented the main courses quite well – making us feel heavy and relaxed, like we had had a good Newari meal, which we did.
For desserts, we had malpuwa (a kind of small, spongy, sweet roti), mixed fruit and Bhaktapur-made curd – all of which drained the hot and tangy sensations off the mouth, leaving a sweet, pleasant taste.
Should Dwarika’s do such a food festival again? Yes. With enough prior advertisements, more Nepalis would visit the festival, enjoy well-made Newari food amidst the splendors of Malla architecture. Ancient heritage and fine dining, after all, go together quite well. Besides, Nepali missions
abroad too host Nepali food festivals
to generate interest about Nepali cuisine.
Her's hoping that that’s what Pico Iyer discovers next time he eats out in Kathmandu.
THE END
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 31-Aug-00 04:40 PM
Why are there only daal-bhat-tarkari?
---------- ---------- ---------------
The three item has been conspicuous and we
feel that ,though they look just like a
variation of some Indian-cuisine, they embody
our culinary unity across the nation.
Last time,I went to a friend's house in
Sauraha(Royal Chitwan National Park).I was
expecting some Tharu food(the friend belongs
to Tharu ethnicity),but,alas,no ghugi there,
I was served spicy chicken curry.The truth
that I tasted ghugi(paddy farm snail) first
in Nanjing,China should point to our ability in
selling or promoting ethnic food.
It may sound sadistic and radical:but there
should be pride associated with serving good
gourmet.In Hongkong & Canton, I have seen the
restaurant serving cat and monkey also.It may
sound terrible to us,but our antipathy should
not prejudice our knowledge of civilization
and should not try to negate the existing
reality.So ,my point here is with the
dominance of our major ethnic group, we are
implicitly enforcing our food as superior
food, that was the reason why my friend
probably hesitated from serving ghugi to me.
My point is we shouldn't hate other ethnic group's
viands, we should try to explore the better
aspects of foods from across the ethnic
horizon,including those who eats what most
of us never think(the beef by Sarkis).
Chinese Jiaozi(dumplings) are very famous
throughout the world.(My family is ardent
fan here).Still,they are same as Nepali Momo.
In Nepal, Newars are particularly rich in
food variety, can serve well any cognoscenti.
Our Tharus have their own victuals, and also
Sherpas who serve us saline tea.(I relished
the saline ghee tea very much in the height
of TingRi in Tibet while watching Mt Everest
from there!).Being a poor populace,we may
lack the mean to promote all the foods,but
they all deserve attention in the convenient
point of time.
The point about Pico Iyer's Video Night in
Kathmandu: Pico's other books couldn't reach
the same height as this book.The fact that
the book is a travel-log of his all Asia tour
but the title is dedicated to KTM also evince
his literary flirtation with KTM.As you
pointed,I also hope he is going to make it
again to KTM and print it in Time where he
regularly writes now.
I think I am always proud of the service our
catering centers in KTM provides.They have
this extraordinary knack of serving things
cheap and delicious.No foreigner who visited
Nepal ever complained to me about the service
of our purveyors.The Dwarika's are capable of
delivering excellent service,I know ,because
they provide the admirable milieu under the
lambent diffusion of light emanating from
the medieval-looking candelabrum of the wall
and they serve authentic Nepali food there
that make everybody proud of Nepalese food.
Ashuji,Go gaga over them...
Biswo.
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 01-Sep-00 11:10 AM
Biswa-ji,
I am impressed with your knowledge of Tharu food.
Ghu(n)gi, eh?
Not many people would know what ghu(n)gi
is.
I don't know about Chitwan, but the Tharus in the Far Western Nepal serve that well with Dhikri (rice-flour ko 'sausage-like' thing) and raksi (wine) made up of mauwa ko leaf. I will soon be making my last trip to Dhangadi in Kailali zilla, and my friend Dilli Chaudhary has promised me to feed me a proper Tharu meal, to celebrate all our work together on the Kamaiya issue!! That should be fun!!
On another note, about four years ago, with three other high school classmates, I started a group in Kathmandu to review and to write about restaurants and food.
We were, and still are (as I am in close touch with two of those three friends),
all enthusiastic amateurs, united by our friendship and our love for all kinds of food.
Luckily, at the time, The Kathmandu Post generously gave us space every Sunday to publish our reviews, and we had had, as I am finding out even now, quite a large following among the expats in Kathmandu.
One of Nepal's well-known English writers C K Lal recently told me that he used to enjoy reading our restaurant reviews regularly!!
In Boston and especially in New York, there are a number of established writers who write intelligently about food and dining out. In fact, I am big fan of every Wedneday ko New York Times, which contains a supplement on food and cuisine.
My point is that: Kathmandu too has a number of top-rate restaurants. That said, how come we don't have good restaurant reviewers who love fine cuisine and enjoy writing about
it? The tragedy in Nepali is that those who enjoy fine cuisine don't know how to write well, and those who know how to write well, don't know what fine cuisine is . . .
oohi
ashu
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