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🇳🇵 Nepal /Culture & Society

From sisno to sorbet: Inside Tusa’s effort to reimagine Nepali food

From Kathmandu Post · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • Tusa Dining, a new restaurant in Bhaktapur, Nepal, aims to reimagine Nepali cuisine by blending local ingredients with modern culinary techniques.
  • Founded by three chefs who honed their skills abroad, Tusa seeks to address a gap in their knowledge of traditional Nepali dishes and promote a deeper appreciation for the country's culinary heritage.
  • The restaurant features an open-plan kitchen, a reading area for hospitality students, and architecture designed to complement its progressive Nepali food, challenging conventional notions of fine dining.

Finding Tusa Dining requires navigating the narrow lanes of Bhaktapur, a city steeped in medieval Newa architecture. This new establishment, founded by three chefs – Parashuram Pathak, Sagar Shrestha, and Rupesh Bohara – represents a symbolic new beginning, as indicated by its name, 'Tusa,' meaning 'sprouts.' The founders, who gained professional culinary experience abroad, recognized a personal gap in their knowledge of traditional Nepali dishes beyond a few common ones. This realization became a turning point, leading them to open Tusa in 2024.

The restaurant's ambiance is designed to evoke a sense of grandeur, with a central pavilion bathed in sunlight and a mini-bar offering drinks made from exotic seasonal berries. A unique feature is a reading area stocked with cookbooks signed by renowned chefs, fostering a space for hospitality and culinary arts students to engage deeply with their craft. The open-plan kitchen allows diners to witness the culinary process, a concept Bohara likens to a performance, viewing the kitchen as both a stage and a workspace.

Many of the fine dining places in other countries are located in secluded areas. While all three of us could answer questions about French cooking with ease, we struggled to name our own country’s dishes beyond the usual few.

— Rupesh BoharaOne of the founders of Tusa Dining, explaining the inspiration behind the restaurant.

The building itself, restored by heritage conservationist Rabindra Puri, a UNESCO prize winner, features architecture intentionally designed to harmonize with the presented cuisine. Bohara describes the food as 'modern-progressive' Nepali, a departure from typical fine dining. Tusa's philosophy combines indigenous ingredients with contemporary cooking methods. While the menu evolves seasonally, some dishes are reinterpretations of Nepali classics, and others fuse diverse ingredients. The owners acknowledge that balancing experimentation with authenticity remains a challenge as they aim to elevate Nepal's nascent culinary scene.

To cook in this open area is to perform as a chef.

— Rupesh BoharaDescribing the immersive experience of the open-plan kitchen.
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Originally published by Kathmandu Post. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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