The Thakali people are a small ethnic community native to the Mustang district of Nepal — a high-altitude region along the historic salt-trade route between Tibet and the Indian plains. Over centuries, Thakali traders and innkeepers along that route built a food culture defined by hearty, warming, deeply spiced meals capable of sustaining travellers through the Himalayas: the Thakali Thali, dried and smoked meats like Sukuti, fermented greens like gundruk, and unique spices like timur and jimbu rarely found outside Nepal.
Mustang Thakali was founded with a simple mission: to bring that exact culinary tradition to Siliguri, without diluting it into a generic "Indo-Nepali" menu. That meant sourcing the right spices, training our kitchen in traditional Thakali techniques, and keeping dishes like Kanchamba — a true Mustang valley specialty almost never seen on restaurant menus outside Nepal — on the menu even though most guests have never heard of it before walking through our doors.
Siliguri has plenty of "Nepali" restaurants serving momo and chowmein. Very few serve an actual Thakali Thali with Dhido or Ghoken as a rice alternative, or offer Sukuti prepared two traditional ways (Fry and Sadeko), or put Kanchamba on the menu at all. We built Mustang Thakali for the people who already know the difference — and for everyone else, as an introduction to a cuisine most of Siliguri has never properly tasted.
Mustang Thakali operates from Hill Cart Road, opposite Hotel Bidhan Plaza, with a second location currently in development in Pradhan Nagar, Siliguri. We serve dine-in guests daily from 11 AM to 10 PM, and deliver across the city via Zomato, Swiggy, and WhatsApp.
"Our mission is to offer an immersive Nepalese dining experience that celebrates the culinary traditions of the Thakali community, rooted in the villages of Mustang — with warm hospitality, traditional flavours, and a culturally rich ambiance."