Lachung travel guide

Momos

The Himalayan dumpling beloved across North India—half-moon shaped steamed or fried wheat dough filled with pork, chicken, vegetable or cheese; the Tibetan-Nepali original is best at source in Gangtok, Darjeeling and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway towns

Thukpa

Tibetan noodle soup found throughout the Himalayas—hand-rolled wheat noodles in a clear or tomato broth with vegetables and sometimes meat; Sikkim and Darjeeling's versions use yak or pork; warming at altitude and available at 3am from street vendors during the cold months

Sikkimese food

The complete Sikkimese gastronomy—more diverse than any other small Indian state; Tibetan momos and thukpa alongside Nepali gundruk soup, Lepchan fermented fish, sel roti and local organic rice; Gangtok's Nimtho or Taste of Tibet restaurants are essential starting points

Hot soup

India's warming mountain staple—particularly tomato soup at North Indian hill stations (Shimla, Ooty, Mussoorie) which inherited the colonial tradition; now thick, sometimes served with cream; also vegetable clear soup at Buddhist monastery cafes in Ladakh and Sikkim

Basic meals

India's most nourishing everyday food—the dal, vegetable and roti that sustains a billion people at every meal; the variety within this simple framework is enormous; a truck-stop dhaba's basic meal on the Delhi-Jaipur highway at Rs 70 will reveal more about India than any restaurant