Pelling 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 dishes

Sikkim's unique cuisine sitting at the crossroads of Tibetan, Nepali and Lepchan traditions—gundruk, kinema, chhurpi, sael roti, thukpa and momo of many sizes; Gangtok's MG Road restaurants represent the complete spectrum of the state's extraordinary diversity

Tongba (millet beer)

Sikkim and Limbu community's fermented millet beer—whole millet grain partially fermented, placed in a bamboo vessel and hot water poured over; drunk through a bamboo straw that filters the grain; warm, mildly alcoholic and slightly sour; refill with hot water multiple times

Gundruk

Nepali fermented greens condiment essential to Nepali and Sikkimese cooking—dried and fermented mustard or radish leaves used in soups, chutneys and curries; the fermentation adds a specific sourness that functions like vinegar; commercially packaged versions now available throughout Sikkim