Kathmandu for first-time visitors

Best restaurants

Kathmandu's restaurants don't sort neatly, and this list of 12 doesn't pretend they do. It opens with a momo house on Pashupati Marga and ends at a bar whose kitchen lists everything from curry to cake. In between sit a French kitchen at Baber Mahal Revisited, a Korean barbecue open until 23:00, a fusion address on Freak Street, and a Thakali and momo station in Boudha. Two of the picks are in Thamel, and both are there for their Nepali cooking. The list is for visitors who want to eat the way the city eats on an ordinary weekday, and who would rather know a closing time than read an adjective. Every hour, street, and phone number below comes from a checked listing. The opinions are ours, and we have tried to keep the two apart. Where a kitchen's listing wanders across five cuisines, we say which part of it we would order from.