This week we’re setting a couple of things straight about Tibet and Tibetan people.
First – let’s get it out the way – Tibet is not Nepal. It has a completely distinct history, culture and language – we could go on. It also has its own cuisine: momo is in fact a Tibetan word merely on loan to Nepalese. When Matt Tebbutt, host of BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen, announced Taste Tibet as finalists in the 2021 BBC Food and Farming Awards, even he made the schoolboy error of referring to our food as Nepalese (don’t worry, Taste Tibet will be righting wrongs on Saturday Kitchen soon: watch this space for details).
Second, Tibet has its own language, so although many Tibetans who have made it this far have spent time in Nepal or India first and therefore understand the greeting namaste, the Tibetan term for hello is completely different: learn tashi delek and you will also have the password to our restaurant Wi-Fi right there.
Finally, most Tibetan people do not meditate, and few call themselves Buddhist, perceiving this as a big claim that involves a lifetime of study. In the Tibetan tradition, the vows of a Buddhist monk or nun are made for life, and as you might imagine the study of the internal workings of the human mind takes at least this long. While meditation and prayer have their place, so too does debate and a whole host of very practical tasks such as cooking and cleaning. Life inside the monastery is by no means solitary, as many people perceive, but actually extremely sociable. Monks and nuns are as curious about others as they are about their own minds, and live as a community, with very little time spent alone.
Now that we’ve got that off our chests, here are our opening hours for this week:
Wednesday: 5-9.30pm (dinner only)
Thursday -Saturday: 12-3pm (lunch) / 5-9.30pm (dinner)
Come for takeaway, to dine in (no bookings) or home delivery. This week’s menu is live on the website now.
And get planning your momo party! During launch month, our deliveries partner Foodstuff is offering all our customers 50% off the first time you order. There’s only a couple of weekends left on this amazing offer, so make sure you grab it before it goes! Just apply the code TIBET50 at the checkout to seal the deal.
See you soon!
Julie and Yeshi
Opening hours this week:
Weds: 5-9.30pm
Thurs – Sat: 12-3pm 5-9.30pm
