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Nepal has not developed a distinctive style of cooking and it's most popular food consists, more often than not, of Dal Bhat – lentils and rice . An exception is Newar cuisine that can be very elaborate and spicy. Rice is the staple food and some typical dishes include dal (lentil soup), spiced vegetables, chapatis and tsampa (eaten by the hill people), a raw grain, ground and mixed with milk, tea or water.
Sweets and spicy snacks include jelabi, laddus and mukdals . Some regional dishes include gurr , a Sherpa dish of raw potatoes, pounded with spices then grilled like pancakes on a hot, flat stone.
Tibetan cuisine includes thukba, a thick soup and momos (fried or boiled, stuffed dumplings). Meat includes pork, goat, chicken or buffalo, but beef is forbidden. There is a wide varied selection of restaurants in Kathmandu and Pokhara, elsewhere the choice is limited. A 12 per cent government tax is added to all restaurant bills.
The national drink is chiya , a tea brewed with milk, sugar and spices; in the mountains it is salted with yak butter. Another popular mountain drink is chang , a beer made from fermented barley, maize, rye or millet. Arak (potato alcohol) and raksi (wheat or rice spirit) are popular.
Nepalese beer is available, as is good-quality local rum, gin and vodka. Local whisky is not so tasty, but imported varieties are available.
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