Kathmandu reborn: where to stay, eat, drink and hang out in Nepalese capital rebounding from earthquake and turmoil

If anyone doubts that – as Rudyard Kipling once mused – “the wildest dreams of Kew are the facts of Kathmandu”, they need only take a squint at the 2018 version of the Nepalese capital. While this century didn’t get off to a good start, the city being roiled by civil war, the murder of almost every member of the royal family, a devastating earthquake and a ruinous trade stand-off with India, Kathmandu has bounced back to become one of Asia’s coolest spots.

It all starts in Thamel, the cosmopolitan neighbourhood that puts a whole new slant on higgledy-piggledy. Campaigning travel writer Norman Lewis titled one of his anthologies The Happy Ant-Heap (1998), and the phrase slots the tight-knit web of winding streets and alleyways into the neatest of nutshells.

Thamel’s a bazaar, it’s a buffet, it’s a labyrinthine global rendezvous with every sort of place to catch some zeds, from doss house to boutique hotel. Wi-fi and ATMs have added 21st-century gloss, but otherwise the area still has the free­wheeling ambience that lured hippies travelling the overland trail between Kabul and Kuta half a century ago. Trekking gear, high fashion, knock-offs and second-hand clothing are all up for grabs; minimarts do a roaring trade in Khukri rum and Himalayan salt; souvenirs run the gamut from hand-carved walking sticks to erotic statues; and teenage touts gabble the virtues of artworks they swear blind they painted themselves to fund their schooling.

Among the shops, a smorgasbord of cafes and restaurants trumpet Kathmandu’s genius for cooking. Given that the national dish (dal baht) is little more than rice and lentils, it’s perhaps no surprise that the capital has taken just about every form of international cuisine to its heart. A 10-minute stroll takes in joints serving up pizza, Thai, French, Mexican, Tibetan, barbecue and health food. And, slightly late in the day considering that Nepal produces more than 400 tonnes of coffee a year, Kathmandu has latched on to the global fascination with java.

All our beans are sourced direct from small co-operatives in Nepal and can be traced back to the farmer who plucked them,” says Birgit Lienhart, who runs the laid-back, super-sustainable and ultra eco-friendly Kar.ma Coffee, in Patan, south Kathmandu. “Every stage of coffee production, from the actual farming to the women sorting the beans to the roasting, grinding and packaging is done by hand and gives employment to local people.”

If the coffee scene is changing, then the city’s accommodation is undergoing a mini revolution. Gone are the days when Thamelites would put up travellers for free if they paid for their dinner on site, but plenty of hostels still offer a bed for the night for less than HK$100.