Hello Everyone
The Newari people are the oldest inhabitant of Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal. They have vast culture and traditions and mostly they celebrate many festivals. With each festival, different food items are prepared. And each food items have different taste and flavour but are so much delicious. Other caste people love to eat their food. Due to the popularity of delicious Newari foods, Newari people have set up hotels and restaurants to provide all Newari food in a single occassion to other people. One of the best restaurant in the town is Lahana which is located in Kirtipur, south of Kathmandu. Lahana is a Newari word which means jewellery. Lahana is a place full with Newari cultures Jewellery.
When I went for the first time, there were many tourists enjoying the traditional food of Newari and was very fond of eating it and it was overcrowded but hopefully we got one place to stay. There were 5 of us. Decorated with traditional Gundri which is made of straw on the floor with cushions to sit on second storey building, one can enjoy the majestic and immense beauty Kiritipur. Kirtipur is a place with unique history. Enjoying the cool breeze of air and eating a Newari dish at the same time is the most enjoyable and unforgettable moments you can do with friends and family. The foods are served on traditional Newari dish made of copper.
This is an alcoholic beverage called Chhyang which is sour in taste. It is produced by fermentation of rice grains, millet and barley. This is mainly popular in Tibetan communities and Himalayan region of Nepal which has border to Tibet in North. In these place, Chhyang is served on glass drank by a pipe made from straw. It is said that Chhyang attracts the Yeti which is said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet. There is no evidence of its existence. The meat is especially tasty when you are eating it with Chhyang. This beverage is brewed especially in home by Newari people. It is their sacred drink. It is compulsory for them to take this in every social, religious and ritual ceremonies and occassions.
The food on the two small sized copper plate is Buff Choila. This food is easy to prepare and is very popular among Newari community. First of all, the beef meat is boiled with water on a pan. After boiling for around 20 minutes, it is taken out and dried. Then it is cut into pieces. After cutting into pieces, dry chillies powder, salt, garlic and ginger paste, turmeric powder, coriander powder is added into it and is stirred by putting mustard oil all around it. This is done until the ingredients is scattered all around the food. The four piece pizza shaped like food in a plate is Chatamari. It is a word to describe Newari pizza or Mini Rice Pizza. Chatamari is a rice flour based pancakes with chopped meat toppings of your choice and served with salt and pepper.
This is Spicy Peanut, in Nepali called as "Badam Sadheko". Peanut is taken in a dish. The finely chopped onion is put into it. Then dry chillies powder, salt, garlic and ginger paste, turmeric powder, coriander powder, tomato is added into it and is stirred by putting lime juice all around it. Then it is stirred to give a good mix of taste.
This food name is Bara. It is also like a pancake made from lentil of anytype like black lentil, green lentil. This food is served in Newari occassions like birthdays and wedding party to wish for good luck called Sagun. I also don't know how it is prepared but I know ingredients to make it which includes - black lentils, ginger paste, oil , salt, cumin powder, turmeric powder and asafetida. The ingredients vary from community to community and This food comes in many variety like Egg Bara , Meat Bara etc.
The last one is a Newari lunch set. I don't know its English name but in Newari they called it as Samay baji. The set is cheap one and there comes many food. They are flattened rice (called Chiura in Nepali), small bara , pickle, black soyabean, cooked green soyabeans with spices, sag (made from leaves of mustard, spinach and so on), potato pickle and buff meat. The food is the cheap one and your stomach can get full of it.
I was not full and I wanted to eat more but me and my friends were left with no money. Haha, I will have eaten more only if I had money. Money was all spent it on Chhyang to get drunked. Actually it was unplanned moment, we went there to party ourselvess when our exam was over.