A field guide to Newari thali

Walk into a Newari restaurant in Kathmandu — Bhojan Griha, Honacha, the small ones in Bhaktapur — and you'll be handed a brass plate (a tha:) with somewhere between ten and twenty small piles of food on it. Most visitors I take eat about three of them and ask what's going on with the rest. So here is the field guide.

The base

Chiura — beaten flattened rice. The white stuff in the middle. Functions as a starch. Eat with everything.

Wo / bara — a thick lentil pancake, around the size of your palm. Often topped with a fried egg or minced meat.

The proteins (the centerpiece)

Choila — grilled buffalo (or chicken), cut into thumb-sized cubes, tossed with mustard oil, garlic, ginger, chillies, and jimbu (a local herb that smells like nothing else in the world). The headline.

Sekuwa — skewered grilled meat. Charcoal smoke is the point.

Pakku — a slow-cooked, almost gravy-stewed meat. Less common but worth ordering.

The lentils, beans, vegetables

Bhuti — soaked and stir-fried beans (often black-eyed peas or soybean).

Pancha kol — a five-vegetable curry. Whatever's in season.

Bodi — a long-bean stew.

Aloo achar — Newari-style cold potato salad with sesame and timur (Sichuan pepper).

The pickles

Lapsi achar — a sour-sweet pickle from a small valley fruit, distinct enough that you'll either love it or be confused.

Mooli achar — radish.

Tomato achar — tomato.

(There will probably be more. Try them.)

The fermented and the strange

Saa-li / sukuti — dried, sometimes fried meat. Salty.

Chatamari — a thin rice-flour pancake with toppings. Sometimes called "Newari pizza" but it isn't really.

The drink

Aila — Newari rice spirit, served warm in small clay cups. Strong. Don't drink it like beer.

The end

Juju dhau — the King of Yoghurt, served from an unglazed clay pot. (See: a previous voice on the King of Yoghurt.) Sweet, set, custard-thick. End the meal here.

How to eat it

With your right hand. There's no fixed order. Take a small mouthful of chiura, mix it with a little of one or two things, eat. Repeat. Drink aila slowly.

Where

In Kathmandu, Newa Lahana (Kirtipur side) is the cheapest and most authentic. Bhojan Griha (Dilli Bazaar) is the most touristy but actually still good. Honacha in Patan Durbar is the move for choila plus aila plus a view.