The Ganj is blessed with numerous good quality restaurants that reflect the international community that visit or spend time in the village.
In 18 months in The Ganj, I have never suffered food-poisoning or Delhi Belly from its restaurants – no mean feat in India.
As Lonely Planet likes to state, places change, good becomes bad, and crap becomes awesome (or words to that effect).
Back in February i conjured up “The Strawberry” Awards. These were an acknowledgment of a Good Food Guide to The Ganj in a tribute to the non-celebrations of Losar – the Tibetan New Year.
As I am departing before the arrival of the next Losar, I thought it would be worthwhile to reflect on the original “Strawberry” winners and update the restaurant and coffee-shop guide for discerning palettes visiting The Ganj.
Bhagsu Road
Llamo´s Croissant - advertised above the door as “Traditional French with an Amdo Twist” has a decent vegetarian menu and lots of home-made bakery snacks. The sun-roof is a great place to mellow out.
Nick´s has just been refurbished. Its vegetarian menu offers a variety of goodies including pizzas, Tibetan favourites and Lonely Planet continue to rave about the chocolate brownies and ice-cream. They also offer the best quiche in town.
JJI Exile Brothers offers a variety of vegetarian treats and does a very decent breakfast. The three brothers are excellent hosts.
The Jungle Hut has a wide-ranging veg and non-veg menu and still offers amazing views down the valley. The tandoori and curry dishes are good.
Jogiwara Road
McLLos suffered somewhat after a recent change in management; however i´m delighted to report normal service has been resumed. This remains a classic Ganj restaurant with an extensive multi-national menu. Pizzas are popular as indeed their curries and Chinese dishes. Their mutton roast is a classic. The roof-top terrace is a great place to hang out in the sun.
Malabar - Karhi chicken was a tasty bargain for only Rp75 and the addition of two pieces of garlic parathas, banana lassi and lime soda the total bill was a very reasonable Rp150. The Afghani chicken is also excellent. They will ask you how spicy you would like the food.
Snowlion Hotel and Restaurant near the old bus stand offers predominantly Tibetan cuisine and is popular and reasonably priced. The noodles are particularly popular.
Jimmy´s offers a good selection of Italian food and the roof-top sunroof offers an excellent breakfast. Their coffee is good and the truffle cake sublime. One of just a couple of places that i reckon i could get Pa to eat in.
Thongka´s is entered up the stairs of the pink building on Jogiwara Road. It offers cheap good Tibetan classics and the rooftop offers superlative views. When available, the fried mutton momos are awesome.
Oogo´s offers an almost identical menu to Jimmy´s. The food is always tasty, but lacks the ambience of Jimmy´s and staff sometimes gets stressed out.
Ashoka isn´t the cheapest eatery in town, but it does offer consistently good curries, tandoori and offers a number of Israeli dishes.
The Peace Café is a Tibetan run vegetarian place offering large portions at cheap prices. Particularly popular for breakfasts.
Carpe Diem, close to the steps leading down to Yongling school offers an adventurous menu, including Italian, Mexican, Indian, Tibetan and continental. The lasagnes (veg and non veg are popular and the chicken taco, different, tasty if not particularly authentic.
The Taste of India remains the top curry house in town. The food is consistently good and their tandooris are sublime.
Lung Ta Japanese vegetarian restaurant offers a choice of floor cushions or tables inside and out. Reasonably priced and always tasty it offers udon (Rs40), kakiagag (Rs60) and veg curry (Rs50). My particular favourite the creamy potato croquets are excellent. A side portion of wasabi is worth the extra Rs.10. It is open between 12pm – 8.30pm (closed on Sundays), but closed for December and January.
Seven Hills of Dokebi Nara Korean restaurant is a classic Ganj restaurant. The food tastes authentic and the menu extensive. The yang nyum tung dat (fried chicken in hot sweet sauce) , chicken bulgogi and omu (veg egg fried rice in tomato sauce with omelette wrap) are highly recommended. The restaurant boasts a large open fire which is lit during colder nights. A little pricey but worth it.
Oasis cafe offers reasonably priced snacks and does a good breakfast. It has nice comfy chairs.
Mai Thai restaurant serves a mix of vegetarian Thai dishes and a few Indian favourites including a very tasty chicken biryani.
Temple Road
Kailash Hotel at the top of Temple Road is popular and has a nice roof-top. I have eaten there twice and have been disappointed on both occasions.
Meeting Point cafe offers drinks, snacks and light refreshments with good views from the sun terrace. Although not the cheapest place in town, all profits go back into the Tibetan community.
Palwan Dhaba not only offers the best non-veg momos in town, but has plenty of other reasonably priced Indian dishes.
Moonpeak Thali is a stylish new restaurant on Temple Road. Thalis are its speciality with prices ranging from Rs100 for the veg, Rs120 for chicken and Rs140 mutton. My particular fav is the Mutton in apricots which at Rs170 is the most expensive dish on the menu – but so worth it.
Namgyal´s cafe by the Tsuglagkhang temple offers an excellent selection of vegetarian dishes. Worthy winners of the Top Pizza award, they also do yummy savoury pancakes and a mighty fine banana lassi.
Chonnor Lodge, close to the Tsuglagkhang temple still remains the Ganj classic. It might be more expensive than most of the restaurants, but all the dishes are high quality. As well as offering the best mutton in town, their soups, potato dishes and hummus plate are all excellent.
Boom Boom V down the Jogiwara Road has remained closed for the last seven months. Call in advance 91-981 603 6424
Pema Thang Reataurant and Guest House on the central junction between Jogiwara and Temple Roads offers fairly good pizzas and satisfactory momos as well. Lots of people rave about this place, but having eaten here twice i am not sure that it deserves such high accolades.
Café Life in The Ganj
Like all good travellist towns, there are many coffee shops scattered along Jogiwara and Temple Road. All serve South Indian coffee and usually have fresh baked goods for accompanying treats.
First Cup – situated close to Gu Chu Sum, it is quiet, has a range of treats and offers good coffee and hot chocolate.
Coffee Beans Lounge – found underground close to the old bus station on Jogiwara with computers and large screen TV, this places serves great coffees and exotic slush-puppies (fruity ice-based drinks). Winner of the “Strawberry” award in February, it has been usurped by the One Two café.
Moonpeak and Mandala´s Cafés – half way down Temple Road, these two places have a nice sun-terrace, regularly busy and now offer wi-fi and both have similar menus at similar prices too.
One Two Cafe – this new hot-spot is Tibetan run and found next to the Dalai Lama (Tsuglagkhang) temple. This is clearly the swishest coffee-house in town. Chairs and tables both inside and out and wi-fi is available. The coffee is good and they will harbour my somewhat stranger requests. It is particularly popular with monks.
Tenyang coffee house close to the temple remains a favourite both for coffee and most especially those wonderful banana/chocolate lassis.
And the Awards at the end of 2009 go to:
Best Curries - Taste of India
Best Banana Lassi – Namgyal Café
Best Coffee House – One Two Coffeehouse
Best Cake – Truffle cake at Jimmy´s
Best Mutton with Noodles dish – Snowlion Hotel
Chicken Biryani – Mai Thai restaurant
Best Quality Food – Chonor Lodge
Best Chinese food - McLLos
Best Pizza – Roquefort, Walnut and tomato - Namgyal Cafe
Best Chicken Momos – Palwan Dhabar
Best Italian food - Oogo´s
Best Roast Mutton - McLLos
Best Mutton Burgers – my own home-made ones - well done Aubs!
Best Tandoori - Taste of India
Best Chocolate / Banana Shake – Tenyang Cafe
Best Location for Views – Jungle Hut
Best Grocery Store – jointly awarded to Mega-store (Bhagsu Road) and UK Store (Temple Road)
Best Chocolate Balls – The Chocolate Log
Quiche – Nick´s Italian Kitchen
Wow! Awesome .. thanks a lot ..
ReplyDeleteit my kind of research. A pleasure to share
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info. We visited Mcleod from 10th to 15th June. It was a very good experience from travel point of view, food-wise there were setbacks. Jimmy Kitchen we ordered a pizza (I am not hundred percent sure about the name, maybe it was :Chiconara"). Pizza was worst I have eaten in my life, my nephew vomitted 10-15 minutes after eating it and was feeling dizzy most of the afternoon. I will suggest people to avoid Jimmy's Kitchen from my experience. Secondly toilet had the sign "No Water", I asked the owner that if I can pee in there - he said will be a problem. People who were using it without asking him had no problems. Also please avoid an Indian Restaurant "Hira Yaar" at Bhagsu - There was some sort of stench in restaurant area and the food was below average. Oasis Cafe - Food was good(Israeli, pizza etc) but service was poor and if you believe the cashier he will always overcharge you, we made a point to compare the cashier and menu prices and everytime he smirked by saying it's confusing. Rest avoid eating at Triund top - Beside rip off they compromise on quality, on the way all cafe's are good. Next time I am planning to stay there for 5-6 months on a long term rental. Thanks Aubrey for giving me an opportunity to share my views. Regards, Ben
ReplyDeleteThank you for the feedback Ben. Sorry to hear of your poor experience at Jimmy's.
ReplyDelete