A few words about Bread in Kathmandu

[Thomas Tingstrup]

Had a terrible experience yesterday - the sandwich I got was terrible (sweat and at least 3 days old). And extremely expensive.

Why are most of the bread in town so expensive? And why is it so bad?

I've had this discussion with other restaurants who try to make bread something special.

It's NOT and will never be. 

It's easy to make - and cheap (its cheaper to give away than the peanuts you get with your beer).

We make all our bread ourselves - and several times a day! 

And we're very generous with it!

Thomas/Tings

PS
We don't sell bread - I just don't understand why it's so miserable in Nepal :-(

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[KT2020]

I don't know how it happened, but there are many asian countries where people prefer or think that bread should be sweet.
I've have burgers in other countries that used sweet rolls - yeugh!

As a result local people have now got used to sweet bread and expect it to be sweet.

I was in my preferred bakery last week, which makes 'european style' bread. It's still not perfect, but it's the best I've found that's also local.
But more to the point, as I was ordering a local man came in and asked the saleswoman about the different types of bread on the shelf.
He asked her "is it sweet?" and she and I both turned to look at him and tried not to chuckle.

If you know you don't want your bread that way - we just have to make sure we tell people when we shop why we're not buying their product.
That's the way consumer influence works - whether you're boycotting goods from the Occupied Territories, buying Fairtrade or avoiding products made in sweat shops.

If you do know a good place where I can buy bread- please let me know and I'll come and try it out

Thanks

[Elmaande]

Yeah, I don't know what it is but even the bets bread in Nepal has a strange sidetaste to it. I can't tell what it is, it seems like a spice almost, but i think it might just be the taste of the flour? or the tins the use are not clean?

[eramazon]

vienna bakery and hermann bakery (both in jamshikel) have good, european style (and others) bread... including gluten free breads, from time to time.

[A Summers]

This post made me laugh because it's so true. If you are in a culture and order what the local people eat you will not only save money but you will also have a decently prepared meal. The Nepali/Newari do not include such things as white or whole wheat bread, cheese, liquid dish washing detergent, olive oil and many more things. All these things are imported and have to sit on the shelf until a tourist comes along.

I like the veg burger and so often the bread crumbles before I can get it to my mouth. It's a mess. Then when you go looking for a grocery store to buy it all of the markets run out of bread, or other item, at the same time so you just cannot find wheat bread in any of the 5 grocery stores in Bhaktapur/town you are staying in. By the way, the grocery stores are little more than cookie stores.

Check out my blog for other insights into Nepali culture at http://FrugalTravelsNepal.blogspot.com

On Friday, July 18, 2014 9:09:18 AM UTC+5:45, Tings Tea Lounge & Lounge Hotel wrote:

[Kerry Aryal]

Hi. I lived in Kathmandu for 5 years and never had any issues with finding good bread. Hermann's multi grain and wholemeal loaves are as good as you can buy in the UK.

[Tylor Durden]

Had the worst experience of my life yesterday - I almost decided to end it all right there. I stood sobbing in a cafe. Unable to think, unable to hope for a better tomorrow. I too had a sweaty sandwich (how I don't know).

What is bread? Where does it come from? Why did Jesus like it so much? Why do I like it so much?

I've had this discussion with other restaurants who try to make bread something special - such as the body of a divine savior....

It's NOT and will never be. 

It's easy to make - and cheap. When will these people learn? Bread is like beer and peanuts - other things I like to eat.

I make all my bread myself and consecrate it - several times a day! No Sweat!

And then I eat it all myself - so you can't have any

Bread,

Sally/Swings

[Jacob Kasell]

omg, people. 

there are decent bakeries scattered throughout town: le sherpa in lazimpath for the best baguettes, hidden bakery in jhamsikhel for italian loaves, european bakery in baluwatar for whole wheat rolls, akuj cafe in ghairidhara for croissants, fuji bakery in patan dhoka for hotel bread, plus many more.

and if your fear of sweaty loaves forces you to stay home, shivering under your bed, you could always make your own: http://www.steamykitchen.com/168-no-knead-bread-revisited.html

Desværre har jeg ikke fundet nogen, der sælger rugbrod endnu. eller hvordan man selv kan bage det... any hints?

oh, and i have given up trying to find an acceptable hamburger bun. don't even try.

-daddy yak

[Uzair Sawal]

this thread is on a roll. i loaf it!

anyway, not really a bread person but the burgers here really knead to get good buns. oh well, lets wheat and see.

[Partha]

Every place has its own food culture and what ever is imported gets twisted, modified, influenced and that's how varieties come into existence. For example Naan, the Indian flat bread can be found all across the Middle-East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Mongolia and parts of China and Russia. All slightly modified to suit ones palate and culture. There can be numerous reasons why the locally baked breads are not at par with what you find back at home. Some of the most obvious reasons are our palate, availability of ingredients, inadequate baking skills, climatic conditions, and most importantly it is not our staple food. It is very important to understand these facts and then respect our culture, our way of life. It is then you will enjoy what is served on your plate. Expecting us to bake your perfect loaf is like we expecting you to make our perfect "Sel Roti". Its great that you are baking your own bread but complaining about whats available is simply ignoring context.

[KT2020]

I don't think the people contributing to this thread are ignorant of context.
It's partially a lighthearted whine coupled with requests to know alternate bread suppliers!

But your line of thinking prompted me to think again, what is irritating about not having the bread I'm used to?
Actually, it's not the bread in itself, it's the fact that the bread is called 'white bread', 'brown bread', wholegrain' - giving a false sense of what's being offered.
If someone sells me a naan, roti, chapati etc etc then I know what I'm expecting.
If someone labels their product as 'ciabatta'- I expect to get a ciabatta.

Same goes for pasta, pizza etc etc. Don't call it chow mien if it has no relation to chow mien, or carbonara is the sauce is red.

As it happens I'm still searching for my perfect loaf in kathmandu - it's part of the adventure!