Kathmandu:

Despite the fact that the urbane and articulate Gagan Pradhan who owns Himalayan Java was not there, his words echoed in the cosy but large expanse that is Himalayan Java. He said, “It was very difficult at first because everyone knew instant coffee and it took time to grow up to coffee beans and real coffee which we get from Kavre. We are keeping the food menu small and we find different things are popular at different time of the day. Soup in the evening. In the mornings students working on an assignment together go for the Breakfast Wrap and coffee.”

The soups include a hearty mixed vegetable soup with carrots, beans, celery and onions in a butter roux and the taste has wonderful undertones.

The Breakfast Wrap is a flour tortilla wrapped around scrambled eggs and sausages. A hint of pepper helps you to make it through the day. The salsa that comes with it is fusion at its best combining the chopped onion and tomato salad of the East with a lemon and vinegar seasoning.

But to savour and remember was a Chicken Fajita Wrap which had lettuce, green pepper, green garlic and chicken in a perfect combination that went from soft to crunch with every bite.

Wraps came in the 80’s and were called Strollers because you could walk around with them and they’re still cool.

But the menu has changed a bit since I was last there and they’ve added another floor which has a wood-fired oven which produces 18 pizzas including one that says Meat Meat Meat!!! Pizza and contrasts salami chicken and ham with the cheese, tomato and pizza base.

Rocky, who used to teach me about coffee, is now manager and I was served by Khuj Bahadur Shrestha and Niranjan Budathoki who knew all about 35 coffees to choose from and the strong Long Black that I love.

Upstairs, along with the oven, is a coffee roasting machine from which rich aromas of coffee waft down to the street at the head of Thamel where Himalayan Java is located

attracting the crowds upstairs. Follow them.

There are two Chefs — Navaraj Shrestha and Naresh Tyata — and the latter who is collected and calm talked about his menu like the sandwiches which acquire a touch of the classic, for example, the Ham Sandwich encases myriad delights including a touch of Mayo and a crispness of lettuce. Eat it with a mixed bean salad which has white beans, red beans and green beans in an exotic vinegar dressing that has basil, onions, mustard and secrets that are Naresh Tyata’s very own.

The last time ordering the three types of cookies — Peanut Butter, Chocolates Chip and Short Bread, one realised what a long way the cookie had come since 1703 when it appeared in North America in print for the first time having been derived from the Dutch word ‘koekje’ which mean ‘little cake’. At Java they are crisp, not too sweet and amongst the best and biggest in town.

In the early 19th century, Dean Mahomet started a coffee house that served curries but no coffees and was closed by 1812. This is a fact that would never befall Gagan Pradhan and Himalayan Java because not only are they increasing their coffee menu, they’re thinking of starting a chain. And why not? America has its Starbucks and India has Barista, and Gagan

has already got two more ventures — he can easily go for three, four, and five... blast off.

For Java Jive, call Rocky at 4422519 or 4422712.