Kathmandu:

Yog is still at the Rum Doodle, and remembers a night in 1980 when the late Desmond Doig and a crowd of us helped to create the Rum Doodle, signed Yeti footprints that now crowd the walls... The only change is, Yog is now manager. In those days he was a fantastic bartender.

The crowds flock to Rum Doodle, and Jyoti Pokhrel who has run the restaurant through turbulent times, is proud to be able to say, “I have to keep my menu simple because we cater to 20 different nationalities.”

Most of the crowds here forget the mythical mountain the restaurant and bar is named after in the satirical novel Rum Doodle (40,000 ½ ft) by WE Bowman based on the Hunt Expedition that put Tenzing and Hillary atop Mt Everest. Rum Doodle concerns a Chef...

...Surya Moktan who was serving us brought up a Rum Doodle Barbecue with chicken, baked potatoes and, original in Kathmandu, homemade zesty baked beans. The tangy sauce slathered over the chicken had an accent on sweet and the Chef said it contained honey, rice vinegar and chilli powder amongst a host of ingredients. Between the smokiness of the chicken and the super sauce, one was reminded of the barbecue law that states that the process is a long one while grill-ing is quick.

The band Heart Breakers were playing an early Presley number which should have been Love Me Tender because the steak was medium rare, slightly bite resistant and tender. Steaks have been top sellers ever since the restaurant opened. It’s served with a Chasseur sauce, which borrowed from the original with its mushrooms and wine. Created in the 1600’s by Duke Philippe De Mornay, Chasseur means Hunter Style. The Duke used it for birds riddled with buck shot.

“Up there with our steaks are our wood fired pizzas. People just love them. I like my Tandoori Chicken pizza topped with extra green chillies,” said Pokhrel as Kumar Sharma, in charge of PR, helped Moktan serve India’s national bird the Tandoori Chicken, which encyclopedias put down as originating in Mughal times, but was actually, “invented” in the 50’s at the Moti Mahal restaurant in Delhi. Rum Doodle’s Tandoori ‘chuck’ (as Sir Edmund who once dined here calls chickens), was heightened by adding fresh garam masala. The taste was ‘Baley Baley’ as the Sikhs of India would say — a compound of Tandoor or clay oven smoke and practice from the early 80s and good marination, “12 hours in the refrigerator”, said Jyoti.

Just right.

For those growing up in the continent meant that Macaroni and Cheese was called Phorren food and served with a regularity that made it comfort food. And delicious it was here, flavoured slightly with basil and oregano. Instead of the cheddar Thomas Jefferson used in 1812, Rum Doodle uses equal portions of mozzarella and yak cheese. I had total out of control, memorable garlic corn bread to go with it. It goes with anything.

David Strickler made the first Banana Split in 1903 in Latrobe Pennsylvania, the over-a-hundred-year-old dish is ref-reshingly served — cho-colate sauce, cream and all here. Like the other dishes, it was scrumptious meal in itself.

A group of trekkers signed a Yeti footprint, the Heart Breakers went into Knock Knock Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, which is a great song for a place 40,000 ½ feet high.

Call 4701208, 4701107.