Part of the "fun" while trekking in Nepal is sampling the different menu items available at all the lodges and tea huts along the trail. It's part of the challenge.
In general, the menus are quite similar from one lodge to another. One tends to find favourites and often one will stick to those most of the time. For example, we have found the "French fried" potato to be always well done and reliable so we almost always have a plate of those with every supper.
Other reliable choices include some variety of macaroni, or spaghetti, or fried noodles or rice. (We stay away from those containing yak or buff - more about those later)
We've had some fun, though, trying to interpret some translations. Or perhaps they are local favourites. Sometimes it's hard to tell. For instance, there was "sukuti" on tonight's menu. Last time we were here, we learned about "potato roasti". Basically a potato pancake. Then there was something we never did figure out, the " hot Paris". Your guess might be better than mine but perhaps it depends where your mind tends to wander.
Other interesting options like "Spaghetti Carbon Era".
Or, you could find yourself wondering about something called " Tamota Cheese Spaghetti ". It took a few minutes, but eventually it clicked.
Yesterday, I tried "tsampa", as a substitute for oatmeal porridge, which, the way, the lodge cooks do a very good job of preparing.
Tsampa is ground barley flour, cooked like oatmeal. Usually with apple chunks and milk. It's much smoother than oatmeal. Nice tasting. The other morning I watched as three women roasted barley in big skillets over open fires. The barley almost popped like popcorn, after which the kernels would be taken to the mill to be ground.
You will find very little meat on these menus. One occasional offering will be "buff", usually in the form of a curry or as part of a soup. Buff is water buffalo. Yak meat is another choice, but after one trial some time ago, I stay away from yak and buff.
Occasionally, you can get burgers. Chicken burgers, for example. When they're available, they're pretty good. I had one, though, that was served between two pieces of thin white bread trimmed into octagonal shapes. I'm still waiting for a chicken burger that is actually in a bun.
You can also get a cheese burger, but since I haven't tried one, I'm not sure that this literally means a slab of cheese between bread. Sometimes, a literal interpretation in the best one. Especially when one of the other choices is listed as a " Humburger".
We've seen " chowmein" on the menu various places. Ever hopeful, we tried it, but it's just spaghetti and fried veggies.
Some of the lodges have personal pizzas. These are generally pretty good. You can have veg, tomato and cheese, tuna, mushroom and mixed. "Mixed" shows up frequently, applied to macaroni, spaghetti and several other options. It seems to mean a combo of some sort but my mixed pizza last night had small chunks of fried yak in it. At least that's what I thought the pieces were. Yak tends to add a fairly strong flavour, not a taste I've learned to appreciate.
Eventually, we realized that there was a hidden gem on the menu that we'd missed, and that was Spring Rolls....veg, mushroom, tuna, chicken and mixed. These were actually very good. Very good. The only thing that would make them better would be plum sauce. And soy sauce, which one restaurant did actually have.
Thukpa is a noodle soup. Thick noodles. Good. Also the usual things like curries, rice.... What you'd expect in a south Asian restaurant.
And you can't claim to have visited Nepal without eating Momos. These are basically dumplings with stuff inside. Stuff like veggies, or potato, or buff, or yak. They can be steamed or fried.
A good option in the bread category is what they usually call Tibetan Bread. Round and flat, it's fried bread. Kind of like a donut, only flatter. Chapattis are also made fresh and are good with curry or with jam or honey. Any other bread is just bread.
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