This is not about brining lost horizon traditional eating into scene. This is rather following foot step of Nepalese eating Habits. I was invited in this Small Newari Restaurant hidden inside Dharmapath. The Map description is very difficult to make you understand. Location wise, it is right behind the Juda Shamser Barun Yantra. The small path opposite of Peanuts. The narrow path connected with Fuji films and local cigarettes vendor. Once you reach there just ask for layaku, you will be led to the place.
"The service is not 5 Star but friendly nevertheless"
I was told this place served good food at reasonable price. The first thing I saw was a courtyard typical of newari style. I saw one wooden table with Pepsi umbrella and some students chatting around. The music of Carlo Santana “Maria Maria†could be heard from outside. The tall small building with newari architect with two entrance, one going straight to first floor and one with saloon ( wild wild west) door leading to a small bar under the stairs with couple of tables. We sat down in one of the tables in a cozy ambience. The light hanging from the wall gives you a nice romantic feeling accompanied with bamboo art work framed picture of john lenon. I saw a huge TV above the door showing the DVD of Carlo Santa on concert.
"I was told by my friend that the place had regular visitors; Professors, Doctors and Professionals."
Later I met some of my lecturer mates as well. I was starving and given my size I could eat a horse. The 2 page menu was simple and easy to follow, one side consisted of -as usual -popular Nepali food like Hot and sour soup, Momo, chowmein etc. The next page was fully dedicated to Newari food lovers. The prices were very affordable starting from the range of Rs.15 to Max Rs.70. We started off with Kachila ( minced buff marinated with herbs ). Kachila is raw buff meat which can be compared with steak tarter of the French. It was perfectly done with the taste of seasame oil, salt, pepper and cumin. It cost us only Rs. 20 and was rated **** out of 5 stars. The second tasting was on Jibro Sadeko (boiled and marinated buffalo tongue). I have never been a big fan of tongues except for..well… you got the drift !!!! Anyways, I was asked to try this and since then I go there quite often for this particular speciality. Perfectly spiced again with sesame oil, tomato, chilli and onion. The taste is amazingly beautiful and the meat is very soft.Well! of course, you can’t miss the Mixed Chatamari while visiting newari Restaurant. We ordered chatamari (Newari version of Pizza), instead of flour dough, it has a rich base. To be honest with you, I hope this explains the beauty of the food which is served with timbur tomato sauce. Once again layaku got **** out of 5 from my taste buds.
"I do visit Layaku twice a week for Chatamri. "
As we were getting into the vibe of the place and surrounding, we ordered some ayla ( Nepalese rice wine). Wow!!! same as Tequila or arrack of Arabia. It just can't get any better with newari food. Then we went for khago ( guts of buffalo). It was served deep fried with nice achar made from tomato and timbur ( seuchzen Pepper). We ordered more than 4 plates of khago fried as to go with the rice wine. Sorry to say but **** again out of 5. The owner of the place recommended "c" momo. I guess "c" stands for Chilli. The chilli momo was sautéed with Bell Pepper( capsicum), tomato and onion and topped with hot spicy sauce . That was something new, the presentation was really impressive I have to rate it **** out of 5.
Well we went through almost more than 15 different varieties of food along with ayla. The best part was the amazing food and ambience and the price for all this, only Rs. 900, priceless, wouldn’t you say?.... and then again how would you know…. If you want to experience the real newari food with the right music and ambience then Layaku is the place for you. Let me Remind you one thing, don’t treat Layaku as cheap eatery and start a fight. The owner Aman is double black belt in Tai-Kwan-Do, he will handle you better on that front..........C'mon don't be serious, it was Just a joke.......Well he's a very friendly guy with lot of thinking going around his head.
Overall I would like to thank my friend for showing me this hidden treasure. And thanks goes to Layaku for giving us good food and ambience for a reasonable price. I have been so inspired , I think a Newari Restaurant in Hong Kong or Europe is not a bad idea. Newari khaja is served on small portion same as Spanish Tapas. Layaku is a must visit once in your life time.
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