Sweets and spicy snacks include jelabi, laddus and mukdals. Regional dishes include gurr, a Sherpa dish of raw potatoes, pounded with spices, then grilled like pancakes on a hot, flat stone. Meat includes goat, pork, chicken or buffalo, but beef is forbidden. There are wide selections of restaurants in Kathmandu and Pokhara, although elsewhere the choice is limited. A 12 per cent government tax is added to bills.
Nepalese beer is available, as is good quality local rum, vodka and gin.
Local whisky is not so palatable, but imported varieties are widely available. Kathmandu has a few cinemas featuring mainly Indian films. For Western films, see the programmes of the European and American cultural centres. Most people are asleep by 2200. There are casinos with baccarat, chemin de fer and roulette, open 24 hours a day, every day, at some five-star hotels in Kathmandu.