Rating: 
Over the past few days we’ve spend a lot of time at the Saturday Café. We were first wooed by the baked goods at the takeaway stand downstairs. Their bakery stand wouldn’t have been out of place in Seattle or Portland, with its assortment of organic grains and juices. Fresh-baked quality whole wheat bread is near-impossible to find in Nepal, so we grabbed a loaf to snack on.
Later that night, we returned for dinner on their rooftop deck. They have a fine stupa view, though it disappeared when the heavens opened up shortly into our meal.
Their menu is primarily soups and snacks, with momos and a few entrees also on offer. I ordered the hot and spicy tofu stir fry. The peppers and onions were fresh and crispy, and it was served with a large portion of brown rice. Unfortunately the sauce fell flat. Mildly spicy at best, and mostly flavorless and uninspired.
Lauren ordered the vegetable noodles, which were much better. They had a a good kick, and a large mix of veggies (carrots, onions, assorted greens). On par with a solid yakisoba in the states.
Saturday Café offers free wireless, so we lingered after dinner, waited out the worst of the rain, and caught up on some blog posts and photos. The staff were very nice, and very chill.
Last night, after a disappointing dinner at Rabsel Garden Café, we were back for a late evening snack. The momos had caught my eye. We’ve been having a lot of momos lately, but the choices at Saturday Café were unique, including the spinach and paneer ones that we ordered (no pics as we left the camera home that evening). The noodle wrapped around spinach and paneer resulted in a good texture, and while the flavors of the momos themselves were fairly weak, the accompanying dipping sauces perked them right up.
I also ordered the mango sorbet, and was reminded as to why I shouldn’t order frozen desserts in Nepal. Turns out that there are two options for refrigeration here. The first is your standard 40ish degree fridge. The other is a below zero freeze-fest. My sorbet was served in a bowl, but was a block of mango ice. It was in the “hockey puck meets flower” shape of those plastic containers you get from the ice cream truck. While it was tasty enough pureed mango once it slowly defrosted over the next 30 minutes, I wouldn’t recommend expending the effort.
On our last morning, we got up early to catch a bus to Sundarijal and Saturday Café was the only place that we knew was open at 7AM. So we had our final breakfast there. 🙂
Their porridge is served with apples and raisins, which is not as good a combination as the more common banana approach that we had enjoyed at a different cafe the morning before. It took care of the problem though.
I had the spinach omelet, which is served with their house-made bread. The omelet was a standard Nepalese-style with spinach mixed in.
Overall, Saturday Café is a relaxing place to hang out. The deck is pleasant, the staff are very nice, and the food is decent. Prices are a little high for what you get (though still very cheap relative to the US of course), and it’s definitely worth stopping by the bakery for some hiking snacks.
Saturday Café
Bodhnath, Nepal
+977 2073157
Daily: 7:00AM – 8:30PM (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)