draft:
date: Thu Aug 13 2026 09:47:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Food: I visited there twice and tried 3 dishes from 8 veg dishes: Chowmein; bok choy with tofu; and their famous momo. One Wednesday, I was sitting in Juniper Terrace with my friends, and one friend told us — she wanted to try Kalimpong food, but every Wednesday they take off. So, we planned to visit the next day. However, just like plans — it took 2 more days to reach there. But we were there — three starving vegetarians ordered a plate of momo and Chowmein. However, after eating Chowmein, the tomatoes and its noodles broke my heart. Still, the juicy plate of paneer stuffed momo satisfied us — yet we were not satisfied — we looked each other in the eyes and gave a look: let's have momo again, and one of us broke the eye contact and asked them: can we have one more plate of these dumplings. But in the second round — we were all satisfied. Later, I thought that, by far, their momo are better than other places around Mcleodganj, and I also marked their bok choy for next time. Therefore, I visited again and had the “bok choy with tofu” with tingmo as I planned — yet, it was similar to their Chowmein with a tomato base and I didn't understand why tomatoes, because bok choy itself is too juicy — per 100g it's 95% water — meanwhile using tomatoes as a base like the North, West, and Central Indian way of cooking doesn't make sense to me. Nevertheless, I am not saying I don't like tomatoes — I like them as a base for paneer, lentils, beans, or peas, like the Punjabi way of cooking.
Vibe: If you looked the pictures potala palace of lasha and noticed red part of it —at the centre which know as red palace — similarly their exterior brick masonry red (crimson) wall and between that wall their is a white board and between that board they printed Kalimpong by black — that make me think it follow tibetan artitecture colours except yellow. However, when I enter I saw the 8 Tibetan auspicious symbols on the right red walls, yellow ceiling borders on the white ceiling, just like decor in Potala windows, and windows; just next to the billing counter, you can see the a tibetan artwork of “Potala palace”, and when you face kitchen, then you will see few Dalai Lama quotes hanging on the wall. Meanwhile, while waiting for your order, you can guess their notes from their banknote collection.
Hygiene: Kalimpong is too small a place, with a very small kitchen — so maintaining hygiene is going to be tough with 2-3 people inside it. But most people visit there for momo — and I liked that they shaped different momo for different people: chicken momo are round, and veg momo are half-moon. And I saw their owner eat their own food. Still, the size of the kitchen made me suspicious about hygiene and segregation.
Work: This place is not for work, you will not get time to work. People always stand outside waiting for people to finish eating so they can get seats — it's a really small place.