At Nepalico in Shibuya’s Sakuragaokacho neighborhood, the walls, troweled by hand in uneven strokes, have a soft yellow glow. A two-headed madal drum, the instrument that accompanies weddings and festivals in Nepal, is suspended overhead. Photographs frame scenes of market vendors selling vegetables, with large heads of cauliflower strewn across the earthen floor, while snow-capped Mount Everest lingers in the background.
Owner Padam Devkota, 45, along with his Japanese wife, opened this restaurant in 2010 to transport diners to the rural Nepal of his childhood.
Born in Gorkha, the district from which the eponymous Gurkha soldiers originate, Devkota grew up in Jarang, a village in Gandaki Province. In his household, his mother and grandmother made dal bhat tarkari (often simply known as dal bhat) — a traditional, nutritious Nepali meal and an Everest base camp favorite consisting of rice and lentils stewed with spices and side dishes of vegetables, all served on a round thali platter. Their version was light on chili and garlic, a choice that reflected their Brahmin caste, which tended to eschew ingredients that were considered “impure.”
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