RESTAURANT TUSA, KATHMANDU

At first, Tusa regretted to inform me they were already booked for the weekend I’d requested a reservation for. So I was surprised when I finally arrived at the restaurant, just off of a Bhaktapur Pokari (Brick Kingdom Fountain) to see such a quiet establishment capable of holding so few lucky guests. 

The immaculate new rendition of a traditional Newari courtyard, adorned with hand-carved wood-framed windows and doors, is not just beautiful but an instant reminder of how much has been lost here in such a short time. 

Bhaktapur was one of the three kingdoms in Kathmandu and is thirty minutes and 10 miles from the tourist center, Thamel. Bhaktapur is filled with red brick Newari architecture with hand carved ornate dark wooden doors and windows. The area is known for both intricate brass works and pottery, from the disposable cups and bowls both tea and yogurt are often sold in, to the semi-permanent pots for plants, to heirloom quality enamel table and decorative  wares. 

Kathmandu is no longer an unspoiled city. Having all the shiny new glass and steel cubes from which to choose, the atmosphere at Tusa is more welcoming, more warm and simply more cozy. 

Tusa serves a chef’s tasting menu that, before drinks, is three times the price of a nice dinner elsewhere is in the city, though nowhere else will one find a Nepali Chef who trained at Noma with Rene Redzepi, or has his passion for local produce and protein sourced from Nepal’s 118 diverse ecosystems and five disparate biomes. The addition of bleeding edge gastronomy to the traditional rice and lentils, barbeque, curry and crispy snacks, rounds out a cuisine that even Indians vacation here to savour. The restaurant stands out for its reinvention of traditional Nepali favorites combined with never before tasted masterpieces like the nettle sponge cake or roasted mutton sekuwa.

The dozen dining chairs are tapestried in an azure fabric so gorgeous I had to ask — and yes, it is from Chef Parashuram’s hometown in Solukhumbu, Khadberi. When I mentioned that the first time I landed in Tumlingtar, which is about 240 miles from Kathmandu, there was no runway, it seemed to pique the chef’s interest. It indicated I was not a recent visitor discovering Nepal.

One other family was at a nearby table and it became clear that even though our forty-five minute journey to get there had turned into an hour-and-a-half ordeal in traffic and pedestrian paths, our strict seating time had been close enough, it seemed clear to me, to the other family’s to allow us to catch up fairly quickly to the chef’s tasting menu. 

I watched the chef and his team assemble and plate each of our tables’ identical menu separately, by varying degrees of minutes until our first dessert, a signature nettle cake with outstanding jaggery frosting, was served only a minute after to the family next to us. For the chef, and his food, those precious moments were vital. Had we been on time, the other family’s tardiness would have doubled the chef’s work nonetheless. The restaurant offers two seatings and requires a fifty percent deposit online, yet, I’m sure, the best laid plans for timing rarely work that way during the monsoon season when the streets are so clean and bare.

Upon sitting, we were greeted by a small watermelon juice flavored with notes of citrus, perhaps lime or local kumquat. The juice was simple and refreshing, but the citrus quickly and easily brought it — and our expectations for the meal — to the next level. Sometimes the simplest preparations are the most unforgettable. 

From the fiddleheads with crisp beets to the mutton chops dressed with flemished twine to protect one’s fingertips, the meal was divine. At no point were we bored or rushed, just hungry for more. Photographs of famous chefs, along with stacks of their cookbooks, decorate one wall in a dining room more akin to a modern kitchen in some rich Nepali’s Santa Cruz, California dream house than a restaurant in Kathmandu. 

Cheeses from around the country and a tour of the prep kitchen downstairs finished off one of the most memorable dinners I’ve ever had in Nepal. 

Tusa is an easy choice for anyone looking to celebrate something, have a romantic dinner or just experience the very best the country has to offer. The restaurant was less than six months old when I went, but it won’t be much longer before everyone knows the name Tusa. And I won’t mind waiting for a reservation a little longer now, to ensure an extended and bright future for Chef Parashuram and his outstanding restaurant.