10 Best Cafes & Restaurants In Boudha, Kathmandu
Boudhanath – Boudha for short – is our favourite suburb in Kathmandu for many reasons. Along with being cheaper, the slightly quieter and less touristy vibe allows you to roam the streets without being hounded to buy something from every vendor as you do in Thamel.
We spent three weeks in Boudha, slipping easily into the chaotic Kathmandu lifestyle, and found an eclectic range of restaurants and cafes along busy roads and hidden down narrow side streets surrounding the famous Boudhanath Temple.
While some of our favourites are well-known establishments, we discovered several restaurants and cafes in Boudha that were full of locals and tucked away from the regular tourist routes.
Each restaurant listed below hooked us for one reason or another. And while most feature local cuisine as their main focus, there are a few alternative options to shake things up a little. So without further ado, let’s get stuck into the best restaurants and cafes in Boudha.
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10 Awesome Cafes & Restaurants In Boudha You Don’t Want To Miss
Lavie Garden
Location: Click here for directions
Price: $$
Best For: Indian, western style breakfast, social dinner
Favourite meal: Paneer veg biryani, mutton rogan josh, pomegranate pani and puri
Located just up from Ananda Treehouse Homestay, Lavie Garden is a sprawling outdoor restaurant with various seating options and a casual vibe. We chose the Lavie Garden for the first time thanks to its close proximity to our homestay, but we returned multiple times after tasting the delicious food!
The Lavie Garden boasts a large menu, which can sometimes be a downfall, but this time it works. You’ll find a majority of Indian dishes, along with Nepalese, Western and Italian options.
We were hooked on the Indian dishes, many of which we had never heard of before. Their naan bread was easily the best we ate in Nepal – which is saying a lot after eating at the Third Eye Restaurant, one of our favourite restaurants in Thamel.
The only downfall to the dishes we tried was the inclusion of bones in the chicken dishes – which proved to be very annoying and messy to deal with. So remember to check with the waiter whether there are bones in the dish before ordering to avoid a messy experience.
Ananda Treehouse Cafe
Location: Click here for directions
Price: $
Best For: Vegetarian, breakfast, healthy meals
Favourite meal: Pancake set breakfast, fresh veg sesame noodles
Ananda Treehouse Cafe was our absolute favourite breakfast hangout. We stayed at the homestay located above the cafe and couldn’t recommend it enough. The owner and staff are incredibly friendly and the quiet, relaxing vibe in the cafe had us returning every morning.
The pancake set was our go-to, which included a delicious pour-over coffee, buckwheat pancakes, sauteed spinach and an omelette. But it’s not only breakfast that they do well, their affordable menu is completely vegetarian and offers incredibly tasty and healthy options for lunch and dinner as well.
One thing to be aware of with Ananda Treehouse Cafe is the small space. There is only a small amount of seating so we recommend planning your visit outside of the usual eating hours.
Ramsterdam
Location: Click here for directions
Price: $$
Best For: Live music, local snacks and beers on tap
Favourite meal: Buffalo momos, badam sadeko
If you’re looking for a place to relax with a beer and listen to good music, then you must visit Ramsterdam. This hip bar offers a quirky vibe with a leafy outdoor courtyard and a cosy interior cluttered with music memorabilia. On Friday nights, Ramsterdam comes alive with live music from 6:30 pm and on Saturdays, you can join in on the open-mic night.
The menu consists of tasty local dishes, with a few Western options thrown in. We tried the buffalo momos, dhal bhat and the badam sadeko (a local vegetarian snack) which both became favourites.
You’ll also find the famed Sherpa Brewery beer on tap and we can honestly say that we loved the Sherpa IPA and the Himalayan Red.
Organic Smoothie Bowl and Cafe – Bouddha
Location: Click here for directions
Price: $
Best For: Smoothie bowls, healthy salads and Western-style breakfast
Favourite meal: Avocado salad, guacamole toast
If you need a break from traditional Nepalese and Asian cuisines, then this is the place to go. A modern and spacious cafe down a small street near the Boudhanath Stupa, Organic Smoothie Bowl and Cafe has a wide variety of fresh salads, countless smoothie bowls and fresh juices.
We tried the Oasis smoothie bowl, the avocado salad and the vegan sandwich. All were amazing, huge and well-presented. We couldn’t believe how much good food we were getting (western food I might add) for such a small price.
Yak Garden Kitchen
Location: Click here for directions
Price: $
Best For: Nepalese, cheap dinner
Favourite meal: Veg thukpa
The Yak Garden Kitchen is located in a backstreet behind the Boudhanath Stupa and doesn’t look like much from the quiet side street. But when you walk through the cramped front room, it opens up into a vibrant courtyard filled with fairy lights and plants, providing a relaxed vibe to enjoy delicious local cuisine.
We were stoked to find a large menu featuring incredibly cheap meals from Nepal, India and Tibet. We ordered the veg thakali set and the veg thukpa (a traditional Tibetan noodle soup) and were blown away by the taste – especially as it cost us under 500 NRP for both meals!
Kar.Ma Coffee
Location: Click here for directions
Price: $
Best For: Pour-over coffee, healthy bowls, healthy treats
Favourite meal: Korean-inspired kimchi noodles, wellness bowl, oat cookie
Found in a small courtyard full of an array of retail and food shops, you’ll find Kar.Ma Coffee at the back with comfortable seating scattered throughout. We came here after learning that our much-loved coffee at Ananda Treehouse comes from Kar.Ma Coffee – and of course, we weren’t disappointed.
The small cafe exudes a good vibe with lots of fresh and healthy meal options, delicious cakes and addictive pour-over coffee. We visited multiple times and tried the muesli bowl, the wellness bowl and the Korean-inspired kimchi noodles – all of which we loved.
But perhaps my favourite thing from Kar.Ma coffee was the slightly healthier oat cookie and cakes on offer that tasted delicious, but didn’t have quite so much sugar pumped into them!
Utpala Cafe
Location: Click here for directions
Price: $
Best For: Vegetarian, cheap breakfast buffet, local and Indian breakfast
Favourite meal: Gobi Paratha, aloo dum, roti and masala omelette
Located just next door to Kar.Ma Coffee, the Utpala Cafe is run by the Kanying Monastery and offers a peaceful vibe with a vegetarian menu full of local dishes. But the main reason the Utpala Cafe stood out to us was thanks to the incredibly friendly and kind staff.
We came for breakfast and enjoyed the local aloo dum, roti and masala omelette and the gobi paratha. While the espresso coffee wasn’t as good as Kar.Ma Coffee, it was still worth ordering and the large courtyard offered a lovely sunny place to sit and while away a slow morning.
For the best bang for your buck, visit on a Saturday morning for a breakfast buffet that begins at 7:30 am. The buffet costs under 500 NRP each and offers a wide range of local dishes, waffles, omelettes and fruit.
Once you’re finished eating the yummy buffet, you can wander around the farmers market which also happens every Saturday, starting at 8 am. There were some fresh fruit and veggie stalls, honey and natural herbal remedies and other stalls. It isn’t very big and doesn’t take long to visit each stall, but it was a nice way to start the day and get some goods from locals.
Shambala Cafe
Location: Click here for directions
Price: $
Best For: Nepalese dishes, coffee and cake
Favourite meal: Buffalo keema noodles, dry dipping momos
What looks to be a tiny cafe from out front opens up into an enclosed courtyard. Shambala Cafe offers traditional Tibetan and Nepalese meals, along with sandwiches, pastries and cakes. We were pleasantly surprised to find yet another cafe that offers delicious coffee, you can even choose from a wide range of frappes if you’re searching for something sweeter.
This is a great little spot to sit and sip coffee and indulge in a cake while watching passers-by from the window.
We sat out the back in the enclosed courtyard and tried the dry dipping momos and the buffalo keema noodles. This was the first time we were hit with something slightly too spicy for us, but the flavour was worth the spice!
Nani’s Kitchen
Location: Click here for directions
Price: $$$
Best For: Nepalese, views of the Boudhanath Stupa
Favourite meal: veg momos
If you’re staying near Boudhanath Stupa and have the funds to do so, it’s worth having at least one dinner in a rooftop restaurant overlooking the magnificent white domes of the Stupa. But be warned, you will pay at least double!
We chose Nani’s Kitchen for our splurge and while we were shocked by the price at first, (we didn’t research well enough it seemed) the food was full of flavour and the portions were thankfully large. Nani’s Kitchen has a beautiful sheltered outdoor seating area that overlooks the top of the Stupa and the bustling square below.
The menu was extensive, with local Nepalese dishes as well as Tibetan and Indian. We chose the veg momos and the royal set. The momos were actually the best vegetarian ones we tasted in Kathmandu (even though they cost 615 NRP) and the royal set was massive! We were plenty full after sharing these two meals.
Again, the only downside is the fact that we paid 2,650 NRP for one starter and one large main. But for a once-off, it was worth it – especially for the views of the Boudhanath Stupa which comes alive with lights at night.
Malaya cafe
Location: Click here for directions
Price: $
Best For: Local food, afternoon drinks, sunny courtyard
Favourite meal: Cold noodle salad
If you’re looking for a sun-filled courtyard to while away an afternoon, then you must visit Malaya Cafe. With a modern vibe and delicious food, Malaya Cafe is a popular place to go for afternoon drinks or a group brunch.
We went to Malaya Cafe for lunch and even returned for dinner as we found too many dishes on the menu that we wanted to try. The menu is mostly Nepalese, with several dishes we hadn’t yet heard of.
Our favourite meals were the shabhalep (a meat filled pastry) and cold noodles, which had amazing flavour but they were incredibly spicy – which wasn’t written on the menu, so beware!
Final Thoughts On The Best Places To Eat In Boudhanath
The best thing about Boudha was the sheer amount of restaurants and cafes that offered cheap and tasty local dishes. We almost ate Nepalese food every day and found it super easy to find somewhere new and appealing to try.
We hope you find this list of the best restaurants and cafes in Boudha helpful for your visit. If you have a favourite that we haven’t included in this list, please feel free to drop a comment below and let us know!
Happy Travels 🙂
