Thapa intends to give her customers clean and good food at affordable prices that can be a little tricky to find in the city.

She made mouthwateringly delicious momos – so she was told during festival times when she often made a batch at home. Her cousins would jokingly ask her to open a restaurant but the idea, when it took shape, would dissipate along with the laughter. But after being involved in the teaching profession for more than 17 years, she finally made turned that little ‘joke’ into a reality.

“I had always wanted to open a restaurant that would provide school going children and office workers fast and hygienic food,” says Malati Thapa, owner of Own Chinese Stick Food House in Baluwatar. Initially, Thapa was a little apprehensive about starting a new venture because her career as a teacher at Galaxy Public School in Gyaneshwor, Kathmandu, had been immensely satisfying. Yet she had, at all times, dreamt of starting her own business and she knew the right time would never come if she just kept waiting. And in no more than two months she has been able to serve easy to make Chinese stick food in Nepali style.

With their extremely busy schedule and hectic urban lifestyle today’s youth is definitely looking for food on the go. Thapa intends to give her customers clean and good food at affordable prices that can be a little tricky to find in the city. “Every morning I supervise the cooks and I make sure that all the vegetables are washed thoroughly with clean water,” says Thapa. The eatery opens at 9 am and you can often spot school kids having their breakfast there. It’s fast and light on their pockets too. “I can see that these kids are happy to get a meal that’s cheap and at the same time delicious and filling as well,” says Thapa.

This local food joint is also usually crowded during lunchtime with office goers. Own Chinese Stick Food House also has a home delivery system in place. The food is delivered in and around Baluwatar and the customers can place their orders through phone calls. “During lunch hour, I often go to help in the kitchen as the cooks get extremely busy,” says Thapa. According to her, since customer satisfaction is one of their priorities, they really see to it that they deliver all their orders on time and not give busy people a reason to complain.

Also, if you are looking for good Darjeeling style momos then this is definitely the place you should go to. The momos are light, oil free, and with very less spices and that is a rare momo recipe in the city. What is different about this platter is that you will feel full but not stuffed, which is unlike how having a plateful of momos often feel.

With minimal oil and lots of vegetables, the chicken noodles here might just be what those who are looking for something light, filling, and perhaps a bit healthy need. However, the small chicken pieces in the noodles are fried and not boiled. But the crispy chicken perfectly balances the softness of the noodles.

If you are a vegetarian, the tofu sticks are what you should opt for. The tofu is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside and is fried to perfection. We couldn’t call it healthy since it’s been deep-fried but it’s surely a treat every once in a while. The mushroom stick, however, is a bit too oily and the mushroom kind of loses it flavor in the process of deep-frying.

In case you have a lot of work pending at office and have no time to sit down to have a proper meal, you can consider the sausage sticks or potatoes for takeaways. Though with soft English or Nepali tracks playing in the background, The Week suggests you take 20 minutes out to have lunch here instead of asking for a takeaway. But if takeaway it is then the sausages and potatoes take almost no time to be readied and the spices they use on these items make mundane-sounding sausages and potatoes a savory treat. However, a single stick might not be enough to satiate your hunger, so you might need a couple of both.

The good thing about this newly opened joint is that the management takes every suggestion from their customers seriously and works on it. “Don’t hesitate to let us know if you have a complaint or a suggestion,” says Thapa adding that she sees to it that the kitchen and countertops and kept clean but despite her careful supervision there can always be something that bothers you at a restaurant. In this case, she says, she’s ready to make the necessary changes to better the service.

 
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