What to Eat in Gangtok Today?

Momos and thukpa

Momos are everywhere in Gangtok, from MG Marg cafés to steamers on street corners. They come steamed or fried, filled with vegetables, chicken or pork, and served with a red chilli dip that can be very hot. Thukpa is a noodle soup with vegetables and often meat. It is the thing to eat after a cold morning at Tsomgo Lake. Both come in vegetarian versions almost everywhere, even when a menu lists the meat first.

Gundruk and sinki

Gundruk is leafy greens, usually mustard or radish leaves, that are fermented and then dried. Sinki is the same idea made from radish root. Both go into a sour, thin soup eaten with rice. It is Nepali home food, and it is the taste most visitors don't know before they arrive. Order it once with a plain meal of rice and dal.

Sel roti

Sel roti is a ring of rice batter, fried until crisp outside and soft inside, and lightly sweet. Families make it in large batches for Dashain and Tihar in October and November. At other times you find it at snack counters in the morning, often eaten with tea.

Phagshapa

Phagshapa is a Bhutia dish of pork strips stewed with radish and dried chillies, with little or no oil. It is plain, filling home food, and few places outside Sikkim make it. Nimtho is the place in the list that cooks it, along with a full Sikkimese spread.

An organic state

Sikkim declared its farming fully organic in 2016. In practice, that means local vegetables, greens and rice from the hills rather than trucked-in produce, at least in the simpler places.

How to eat here

Eat early. Many kitchens close by about 9 pm. Carry a refillable bottle, as Sikkim bans polythene bags and some villages on the road north turn away disposable plastic bottles. The restaurant list shows which kitchen is known for which dish.