Staples and Specialties
Dal-Bhat-Tarkari is the staple food of Nepalese people. It is eaten throughout the country. It is served in the most Nepalese houses in both lunch as well as dinner. Dal is a soup made of lentils and spices. It is served over boiled grain. Bhat is rice and Tarkari is vegetable curry. The most common vegetables are spinach, squash and potato. Typical condiments are a small amount of extremely spicy chutney or achaar. These can be made from fresh ingredients, or may be a kind of fermented pickle. Other accompaniments may be sliced lemon (kagati) or lime (nibua) and fresh chili peppers (khursani).

Nepal is a country of multi ethnic people. Each ethnic group has their own special cuisines. The food of Newars, the local people staying in Kathmandu is more famous among foreigners as well as other Nepalese. Newari cuisine consists of over 200 dishes. Among them over 80 varieties are of buffalo meat dishes. Many Newari dishes are only eaten at particular celebrations. However a few top end restaurants in Kathmandu offer a good range of Newari cuisines.

Nepal is also best places to try a range of Tibetan cuisine, though most dishes are just variations on momos (dumplings; fried or steamed) or noodles (long or short) and end up tasting remarkably similar.

Snacks
Nepalese snacks include maize popped or parched called khaja: beaten rice (chyura), dry-roasted soybeans (bhatmas); samosa - turnovers stuffed with meat or vegetables; biscuits (packaged cookies) and Indian sweets. Instant noodles manufactured with Indian spices are coming into widespread use.

Non Alcoholic Beverages
Tea (Chiya), it is the national drink and usually taken with milk and sugar; Lassi, a refreshing drink of curd (yoghurt) mixed with sugar and water, juice of sugarcane (sarbat) and buttermilk (mahi).

Alcoholic beverages
Raksi -- spirits made in rustic distilleries; Chang, homemade beer made from rice; Tongba, millet beer especially found at higher elevations.

Desserts
Nepali enjoy a huge range of sticky sweets, mostly milk based, of which the most visible are Barfi (milk boiled down into a fudge), Rasbari (milk balls- similar to Indian rasgulla), Lal Mohan (deep fried milky dough balls), Kheer (rice pudding) and Jelebi (orange figure – of – eight deep fried syrupy sweets).