• 5
• excellent Indian + Nepali vegan + vegetarian food

The owner, Gauri, and her kitchen and wait staff understand well what vegan means, so if you ask for vegan food, you can be confident you'll get it. Gauri's English is great, and she can tell you what ingredients are in each dish to reassure you that, for example, a creamy sauce in your meal is made with nuts and not dairy cream. The waiter took the time to check with the kitchen staff to see if they knew how to make dishes we were interested in vegan, and recommended alternative dishes for those they didn't. Gauri says she's having a new menu printed that indicates which dishes are vegan. This level of vegan-aware and vegan-friendly treatment is a very different experience than what's to be expected at most other places in Kathmandu. The food was really delicious in both my visits. In my first visit I tried Kashmiri aloo dum and a dhal. Both were among the best Indian dishes I've had. In my second visit I tried the Nepali set meal. It was also fantastic. I could eat at Aniyor every night. The restaurant is quiet, relaxing and calm, and even a bit romantic, especially compared with the establishments overrun by tourists in the nearby Thamel neighborhood, and especially on an evening when the city's power is out, as it often is, and you're offered your meal at Aniyor by candlelight. And yet Aniyor is less than a five minute walk from Thamel. This restaurant is best enjoyed if you want to have a drink and chat or do a little reading before your food arrives, because the food is prepared fresh to order with real care and so isn't likely to be served fast. It'd be wise to go when you have at least an hour free, and preferably 75 to 90 minutes. You might wait 45 minutes or more for food to arrive after you order. The wait is definitely worth it. Update on Apr. 1, 2017: Returned a year after writing the above review to Aniyor's new, more-convenient location in the heart of the Thamel neighborhood in Om Tara Guest House and placed a large order for take-away. The order was prepared correctly within an hour, as promised, and tasted great. The wait staff understood both the English language and what "vegan" means much better than last year. The wait for food to be prepared was still longer than in most restaurants, but was significantly shorter than last year. Updated from previous review on 2016-03-05