Kathmandu's restaurant scene is better than it has any right to be. Dal bhat — the national meal of lentil soup, rice, and vegetable curries served with refills until you surrender — is available everywhere and is genuinely sustaining. Thamel has restaurants covering every cuisine imaginable, of wildly varying quality; the better options are on the side streets away from the main drag. Newari food, the traditional cuisine of Kathmandu's original inhabitants, is harder to find but worth seeking out: bara (lentil pancakes), chatamari (rice flour crepe), and kwati (mixed bean soup) appear at local restaurants around Asan and Indra Chowk.