Submit your Article

Sometimes I’m just a little slow on the uptake. Although I’ve been there for four years I have only recently really discovered Flat Iron Grill (or FIG as they affectionately call it). This small but light and airy 30-seater restaurant is to be found inside the Ambassador Hotel on the corner of Lainchour and Lazimpat Road. Serving amazing, meaty sandwiches, burgers, and wraps, they also serve salads, soups and a mouth-watering array of pastries. There is a nice breakfast menu (7-11am).

What I really wanted to know was about their meat, of which I had heard wonderful things. I talked to the joint owners, Shibani Simha-Swiger and Raju Rijal. “Originally my husband and Raju established FIG around five years ago and we had just started selling goods at the 1905 Farmers Market when the earthquake hit,” explains Simha-Swigar. She goes on to tell me that they cure and smoke their own meats from animals they select at source.

Although the butchering is not carried out by them, Brian Swigar has trained the butchers in how to cut the meat. Having designed their own smoker, FIG smokes and produces, in its kitchen in Kaldhara, ham, holiday hams, pulled pork, chicken, sausages, bacon, mutton, pastrami, and pork hamburger meat. All the meats are produced fresh every week in order to keep standards consistency high. Cured for seven days then hung in a smoke house for eight hours this slow smoking produces sweet, savoury, and
smoky meats.
Along with locally sourced organic vegetables and cheese, they produce homemade potato chips, breads and pastries. Everything comes from Nepal, with the exception of mortadella and salami imported from Italy. All these items can be found either on the menu, or be pre-ordered (24-48 hrs in advance) for collection. Lunch boxes (from Rs 500) can be ordered, as can platters for private parties and meetings.
Now to the desserts! There is a collection of around 10 pastry items. They tell me their best sellers are the éclairs and the bearclaws. I must admit I had never seen a bearclaw—having only heard of it through the TV when someone orders ‘coffee and a bearclaw’. Sure enough it looks like the claw of a bear (with a bit of imagination) and tastes delicious. The other favourite of mine is the buckeye. Which is a sweet from Ohio, where Swigar is originally from. It’s basically peanut butter wrapped in chocolate. To die for!
Products from FIG can be found at the Le Sherpa Farmers Market on Saturdays and the Yellow House Market on Sundays. All of the above can basically be had, or ordered and collected from the markets. Additional items found at the markets are sausage rolls and blueberry muffins. And interestingly what can also be found in the restaurant are beers from the Great Divide Brewing Company based in Colorado. These are perfect to wash down a good pulled pork sandwich or buffalo chicken wrap. And if you don’t drink beer, they service fresh organic Nuwa coffee and fruit juices.
When other responsibilities took Swigar away from the day to day running of the restaurant, Mrs Simha-Swiger stepped in and has brought some new ideas. Like the recent promotion of FIG.CEPTION where three Kathmandu influencers were invited to create their own sandwiches. “We are also looking at green packaging and have been working with Doko Recyclers for some time,” explains Simha-Swiger, “and this is an area we will continue to explore.”
I wondered where the name Flat Iron Grill came from, assuming it was in reference to the grill the meats were cooked on. But what do I know? Flat iron in fact refers to the shape of a building, triangular, and originating in New York.
To order up your fresh meat items or for further information call 01-4413075 or find Flat Iron Grill on Facebook. 

What to boost your fitness while also having a load of fun? Why don’t you head out to the Ultimate Venue at Narayan Danda, Budhanilkantha? As the name suggests, the new adventure sports center is sure to offer you the ‘ultimate’ experience. The sprawling 90-ropani complex located 3.2 km north of the famous Budhanilkantha temple, is so close and yet feels a world apart from the pollution-filled and chaotic city it abuts.

Through Ultimate Venue, its two founders, Suresh Lama and Abhushan Karki, wanted to let people explore a new place, engage in challenging activities, and get over at least some of their fears. But where did they get the novel idea? “From nowhere in particular. We just decided that something like it could work here and plunged right into it,” says Lama.

The activities at Ultimate Venue are broken down into six components—camping, training, adventure training, agro farming, boot camp, and restaurant. The adventure sports include combat obstacle course, high ropes obstacle course, rock climbing and abseiling, hiking and trekking to amusing places like Baghdwar, Shivapuri Peak, Nagi Gumba, Sundarijal, Shivapuri Circuit, plus cycling.

The boot camp, likewise, is of three varieties, according to participants’ age, the number of days of engagement, and the fees. The 5-10 day fitness boot camp, usually for those above 14, ranges from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000; the 1-3 day Career Boot Camp for corporate clients ranges from Rs 2,500 to Rs 10,000; while the 1-7 day Teen Boot Camp for school and college students costs Rs 1,500 to Rs16,000. All these activities are supervised by experienced professional mountain-climbing trainer Sonam Tsering Sherpa, with a medical team as backup safety.

The main attraction of the place is an unobstructed 270-degree view of the Kathmandu valley and the beautiful views of sunrise and sunset it offers. People can visit any day and any time. The restaurant serves a mix of Indian, Chinese and authentic Nepali cuisines. Ultimate Venue also offers catering services, picnic spots, training in basic and advance rock climbing, lessons in route marking and rescue, as well as a crash course in farming practices.

“The present generation seldom gets a chance to be close to nature. All day they are playing with gadgets and modern technologies,” says Lama. “So, we thought, why not give them a chance to be close to nature while they also get to exercise a bit?” For instance, children are given rice and maze seedlings to plant in different named plots. They can later come and purchase the harvest. 

As the venue has proven to be a hit among locals and tourists alike, it is also expanding. The Ultimate Venue plans to build rooms for night stays, have live music, and run motivational classes on fitness and nature for all age groups.

One of the goals, say the founders, is to help with the promotion of Visit Nepal Year 2020, “by letting them know that there is such a unique place in Nepal as well.”

Noir Fennel opened in July 2019 in the Anand Bhawan Complex in Lazimpat, but it took me six months to finally walk through the doors. A last minute decision to go there for dinner with a friend was an eye-opener. Beautiful comfortable seating in white with polished wooden tables gives a modern, fresh look.   There is a separate smoker’s lounge as well as a lounge for private parties or work meetings. The walls are lined with a good selection of wines. While waiting for my friend the waiter showed me around. In fact the young male and female waiters were exceedingly helpful and friendly. And anticipated what the customer wanted—a rare thing in Kathmandu! Another rare thing—they had central heating, which was on!

The menu consists of both French cuisine and Indian, with a few Nepali standards thrown in for die-hards. There is a lunch menu which has more standard fare such as burger, pizza, and rice sets. I can only assume this is to entice people in who will then return for the dinner menu. We were more interested in the French side of the menu. Les Canard (duck) looked very tempting as did the Pork Chop and French Cut Lamb. In the end we both settled for vegetarian options. I had the Savory Crepes—two delicate crepes served with a light mushroom sauce. My friend decided on the Cheese Casserole. The name is deceptive as it did not come in its individual hotplate as we imagined but in a generous cube of delicious almonds, walnuts and vegetables. 

As she is vegetarian she was most impressed to get a nutty veg dish here in Kathmandu. Both dishes came with deep fried spinach leaves. Very crispy and difficult to handle! Over on the Indian side, I was fascinated by Vin d’Aloo which is a curry of bacon, curry leaves, vinegar and coconut. I’m going to try that next time! There is also Cauliflower with Raisins, Rogan Josh, Shrimp Mad-rush and a variety of Biryani, rice and naan. As my friend pointed out—perfect for her and her husband. She can eat French vegetarian and he can eat meaty curry! 

There is no dessert menu: we were given the choice of Oreo Mousse (which wasn’t actually available that night), Fried Ice Cream, or Carrot Haluwa with Ice Cream. I chose the Fried Ice Cream as I only know two other places you can get this in Kathmandu, so it’s a bit of a treat. It was wonderfully presented and tasty. My friend didn’t like her haluwa so much as she was told it was ‘carrot cake’ so was expecting something less Indian and less sweet. Speaking of presentation—all the dishes are gracefully presented in a contemporary way. With prices ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 2,200 (for lamb chops), and with most prices around the Rs 700 mark, it’s not going to break the bank!

The owner, Resh Maskey, based in the US, spent many years in hospitality. But not as a chef despite his penchant for fresh, tasty food, served in his ideal setting—somewhere relaxed yet contemporary. With this in mind, Maskey headed to a culinary school in France where he learned about flavor, techniques and presentation. With his first love being Asian cuisine he took this learning and turned it into Le Mirch.  Opening first in Washington, DC in 2012, Le Mirch later opened in Kathmandu (Labin Mall).  

Now this passion for the essence of Asian food—the spices—combined with the flare and sophistication of French cuisine has led to Noir Fennel. Maskey states his journey through the French and Indian palate story is similar to the film ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’ (Google it!). Why not head along there for dinner then give us (and the restaurant) feedback! For reservations call 01-4410463.

There’s no single word to describe Samriddhi Rai. She’s been a journalist, VJ, RJ, emcee, singer/songwriter, professional sportsperson, beauty pageant title holder, traveler, and vlogger. Wearing so many hats was never the plan, she says. As a kid, she did have a range of interests though and hence doing multiple things is just an expression of her personality.

For now, her focus is making music and vlogs. She knows her career graph will keep changing, but she likes to be referred to as a singer and songwriter. 

Debuting with “Biswas” in 2014, Rai went on to release a few singles including the widely popular “Ma Chahi Nepali” and then finally, in 2019, a full album “Ma Dami Chhu”. She won the national music award for Best Female Pop Vocalist the same year.

Despite her busy schedule with all the music making and travelling, Sunny Mahat of APEX managed to sneak into her itinerary for a brief conversation.

Excerpts:

What inspired you to take up music?

The fact that singing always made me so happy really pushed me to take this up as a full time career. For as long as I can remember, I have always loved the stage despite initial stage fright. I always wanted to be a performer and just had to shed my fears of a more “comfortable life or secure career” and go for it. And ‘go for it’ I did. 

What do you enjoy more? Performing live or recording in the studio?
I enjoy both thoroughly. Recording has its own challenges. You’re still in a creative mode, adding a bit of this and cancelling a bit of that, going for takes and retakes, and then mastering, and re-mastering. I love this grueling process of creation. Now performing is altogether another level of fun. You see every last face in the audience and you can see how they’re reacting to your music. It’s an exchange of energy on a mass scale. Everybody is in the moment, they’re present for you and your music, and you perform from your heart. How ecstatic is that! 

What would you like to continue doing in the music industry?
I would love to write more songs about the topics that interest me. I kind of wanted to break the pattern that pop singers only sing about love. No, we do more than that. I am deeply moved by social issues, and I champion some social causes that I have time and again infused into my songs. Somehow I also feel that I would make a good music director for movies. Sometimes when I sit alone, all kinds of “filmy” melodies come to me, which I would most likely not use in my pop albums. I would love to share that with the Nepal movie industry. Someday. 

When did it occur to you that vlogging could be a career choice?
As I mentioned earlier, nothing was planned. I thought I would be a high-profile journalist, media-type person (laughs) as I pursued media studies starting from high school. But it all ended and I just wanted to travel—both for fun and for a purpose. Turns out the ‘purpose’ factor took a stronger hold and the first season of my YouTube travel series “Sammy Adventures” snowballed into a 12-episode TV series in its second season. Then there were other vlogs done with major partnerships. And my passion turned out to be quite a cool profession. I guess, if you do things from the heart, there’s a place for you everywhere. 

Do you think there’s room for more women in the field? If yes, what do you think is holding them back?
Where there’s room for men, there is always room for women. We don’t live in the stone-age and therefore there are no gender-specific work choices anymore. But, one thing I can tell you about Nepali women is that, it’s mostly the societal molding or their family background that’s hindering them. ‘Keti bhaera dherai ghumna hudaina, keti manchhe ghar ma chhito aunu parchha.’ I don’t know why people, especially in this part of the world, are so keen on protecting a woman’s honor. Sorry, but our honor doesn’t lie in our one female body part.

You’ve been misunderstood, misquoted and misrepresented quite a few times on social media. Do you think it is because you are a successful woman or does that happen equally to everyone regardless of their gender?

Although I felt those were unfortunate events, when my words were minced to imply something other than what I intended to say, I am glad that it happened that way. Because those events actually started off conversations on crucial topics that this society really needed to talk about. My BBC Sajha Sawal controversy started off discussions on inter-caste marriage and cyber bullying. My traffic police incident was a peek into the authority’s need to curtail a woman’s personal choice of clothing.

I am a very straight-forward person. It just so happens that I am a woman. If I were a straight-forward man voicing my opinions, maybe that wouldn’t be much of a controversy. In fact, I would probably be praised for being honest and frank. However, this patriarchy-centric society wasn’t so lucky to have me as a man, and therefore any strong opinions shared by me, a woman, pricks them to the core. Unlucky, for them again, I will never refrain from talking on issues that matter, and sadly, they can do nothing to stop me. Except of course hurl at me their sexist curses through the wonderful world of social media. And I am game for it.