A symphony of delicacies at Basantapur Food Court

My memories of Basantapur takes me back to the days when me and my siblings would visit the night market, buy small items and eat lots of street food. As I grew up, going to Basantapur always felt incomplete without the market like as if something is missing. Nevertheless, with the recent opening of the Basantapur Food Court, it somehow feels like my childhood days were back, getting to enjoy all types of food with the people I love.

It is a lively place to be, with a homely ambience, with stalls everywhere serving all the best food in town. I went too crazy and visited every stall I could, eating everything I wanted.

Say cheese

This was the first stall I visited and I came to know that they specialize in American and Mexican cuisine, personally being a chef and an avid lover of the North American Cuisine. This is the first outlet of Say Cheese and they plan to branch out to various other parts of the valley very soon. I got to relish their famous “loaded burger” which was oozing with the goodness of guacamole, mac and cheese, eggs and bacon. It was hands down one of the best burgers I’d ever tasted with such peculiar flavours of the special herb sauce and the chicken, which was marinated in buttermilk. Every layer of the burger was laced with cheese that just melted in my mouth and every element in the burger was balanced beautifully in a way, I just couldn’t get enough.

Another smashing dish from saying cheese was their “Akbare wings” which was a match made in heaven for all the meet and spice lovers. The outer layer was glazed with the richness of the spicy sauce and what impressed me was the fact that it didn’t make the chicken soggy in any way. The crunchiness and spicy combo were impossibly rich in flavours. The sweetness and spiciness and the succulent chicken was a match made in food heaven.

Jerry’s Bar

No food is ever complete without some delicious drinks to compliment it with. And at Jerry’s’ bar, I took all advantage of the virgin mojito and Khukuri hot rum punch. The lip-smacking virgin mojito drink was infused with fresh and healthy ingredients like Lemon, Honey, Mint Leaves, and Ice Cubes. The sweetness of the honey was balanced by the citric and tangy flavour of the lemon, which is the classic flavor of the summer that refreshes you and soothes your mind and body.

Drinking the perfect winter drink, the delightful kukri rum punch was deceptively simple yet felt soothing to one’s palate. The mix of honey and the rum was perfect to combat the winter cold in an instant and complimented some of the food that I was enjoying as well.

Syanko Katti Roll

Syanko Katti is a name that almost everyone in Nepal is familiar with; given their delightful rolls are everyone’s goes to lunch, including mine. To provide job opportunities to youths who are willing to stay in Nepal and promote the food and taste in Nepal, I must say, they are doing great things for themselves and others. I tasted their chicken roll, which I eat almost every day and the flavors, taste and the love in it is always the same. Soft roti that just melts in your mouth and smells of ghee and butter is irresistible to bite with the juicy chicken and the tangy onions. Syanko’s Katti rolls are my definition of comfort food and always reminds of homemade food.

Grills and mo:mos

As a Nepalese, I don’t think I need to mention that our love for mo:mos are unconditional. Grills and Mo:mos specialize in well the best rotisserie chicken and a variety of mo:mo, which can be enjoyed at the comfort of the Basantapur Food Court. The steaming hot mo:mos here were perfect from every angle and the achaar is the main highlight of it. The tangy and sour flavor of the achar with the hotness of the timur reminded of something homemade. The mo:mos were juicy and the meat was packed with delightful flavors. However, my favorite had to be their timur chicken, sizzling, and luscious with salty, spicy, and tangy flavours. It was a burst of flavors in my mouth and too soul satisfying. I am coming back for more.

Zomsar Laphing and Noodles Bar

Bringing the touch of Tibetan food here in Nepal, Zomsar Laphing, and Noodles Bar specializes in serving the best Tibetan foods such as keema noodles, laphing, big mo: mo, thukpa, and shyabhales. Big mo:mos in recent years has gained quite a fan following and is adored by many. The big mo:mo here has now been my favorite of all, the fluffy and soft bread of the mo:mo when to cut into half, oozed out of the juiciness of the meat and dipping in the achaar was everything I could ask for. These sensational pieces of mo:mos were belly filling and stellar in every way.

Shyabhales have been my favorite for as long as I could remember. Eating them in the school canteen was one of my fondest memories. Shyabhales are hard to find in most eateries here and when I found out that they served shyabhales, I could not contain my excitement. The shyabhale was crisp on the outside, with juicy meat on the inside and the amazing achar packed with flavors was a cherry on top. The food here took me back to memory lane.

Newa Nasa

Newa Nasa focuses on Newari Cuisine; it features the best of all Newari Cuisine such as Yomari, Chatamari, and Newari Khaja Set etc. They have multiple outlets around the Kathmandu Valley and here at Basantapur Food Court bring the best of all of our outlets.

No Nepalese food is ever complete without some our favorite Newari food and here at Newa Nasa, I enjoyed the best of Newari cuisine and my favorite, Newari khaja set. It had all the amazing ingredients like mula ko achar, aalu, anda, baara, taama, saag, bhatmas, bodi, choila, and chiura. Mixing them all together and relishing them was like going straight to food coma. The choila, in particular, was the highlight of the dish and all the other elements in the dish balanced out beautifully giving excellent unmatched flavors.