Thakali food comes from the Thakali people of the Thak Khola valley in Mustang, high in the Himalayas along the Kali Gandaki river. For more than 300 years, they have perfected recipes that blend Himalayan spices like jimbu and timur with hearty grains and fresh vegetables.
Shaped by the mountains
Mustang’s climate is harsh: cold winters, thin air and short growing seasons. That shaped everything about the food. Families dried vegetables and meat to last through winter, fermented greens into gundruk, and relied on grains that grow at altitude, buckwheat and millet. Chyangra sukuti, dried mountain goat meat, is one of the most famous results.
A cuisine of the trade routes
The Thakali people lived along historic trade routes between Nepal and Tibet, and their kitchen reflects it. Thakali khana feels like a bridge between the two, with locally grown produce meeting ingredients and ideas carried along the salt trade.
Food at the centre of celebration
During festivals like Toran La, the Thakali New Year, these meals become the heartbeat of the celebrations, bringing communities together and honouring ancestors. A shared Thakali meal has always meant more than nourishment. It is hospitality and identity on a plate.
Bringing it to Thamel
At Thulo Thakali we cook from family recipes passed down through generations, using ingredients like jimbu, buckwheat and gundruk. Our home in Thamel is contemporary, with concrete, teak and a glass-roofed atrium, but the food on the plate is the same comforting Thakali khana served in Mustang kitchens.
