NorthfieldCafe & Jesse James Bar
The oldest tourist restaurant in Thamel — garden courtyard, two fire pits, live Gandharva folk music every evening, and six cuisines under one roof.
Open Daily
7:00 AM – 10:30 PM
Live Music
Gandharva Folk Nightly
Garden
Two Wood-Fired Pits
Reservations
+977 1 4700884
The oldest tourist restaurant in Thamel.
A garden, a fire, a song every night.
Northfield Cafe & Jesse James Bar has been the quiet anchor of Thamel, Kathmandu since 1962 — when a 22-year-old American Peace Corps volunteer named Mike Frame arrived from Northfield, Minnesota and opened a café on a then-quiet lane named Chaksibari Marg. Six decades later we still serve the fajitas he put on the first menu, the apple pie he baked from Mustang apples, and the cocktail named for the outlaw whose 1876 raid on his hometown bank gave the bar its name.
We are a garden restaurant — thirty metres off the main Thamel street, hidden behind a wooden gate strung with paper lanterns. Two wood-burning fire pits warm the courtyard. Live Gandharva folk music — Sarangi, Madal, Bansuri — plays every evening from seven until half past nine. The kitchen runs from breakfast through to last orders at ten — six cuisines, one menu, three generations of guests.
Open daily, 7:00 AM – 10:30 PM · Reservations on WhatsApp +977 1-4700884
Where Thamel
found its heart.
In 1962, a young Carleton College graduate named Mike Frame arrived in Kathmandu as one of the first Peace Corps volunteers in Nepal. He came from Northfield, Minnesota — and when he later opened a small café on a quiet lane behind the main road, he gave it the name of his hometown.
That lane is now Thamel. The café — and the Jesse James Bar he built next to it — became its anchor: the first place to serve fajitas in Nepal, the first to host live folk music every evening, the first to light a fire pit in the garden when the Himalayan winter rolled in.
Sixty years on, the fire still burns. The musicians still arrive at seven. Mr. Frame is gone — but his apple pie is on the menu, and the warmth he started has been kept alive by the Bista family ever since.
A guest's birthday
"They brought out a cake we didn't order."
An oasis of calm in the hubbub of Thamel. The garden, the firepit, the live folk music — we stayed for three hours and ordered everything twice.
Helena V.
Berlin, Germany · via TripAdvisor
604+
Reviews
5★
64
Years
A world of flavours,
one garden.
American · Mexican · Indian · Nepali · Continental · Tibetan — every dish from a kitchen that's been quietly perfecting its repertoire for sixty years.
Chicken Momo
NPR 360कुखुरा मोमो
Hand-folded steamed dumplings of minced chicken, ginger and coriander. Served with the house tomato-sesame chutney.
Dal Bhat Tarkari
NPR 380दाल भात तरकारी
The Himalayan classic — steamed rice, slow-cooked black lentils, seasonal vegetable curry, achar and a green leaf.
Chicken Fajita Sizzler
NPR 580The dish that made Northfield famous. Marinated chicken seared on a screaming-hot iron plate with peppers, onions, soft flour tortillas and a trio of salsas.
Butter Chicken
NPR 520Tandoor-charred chicken simmered in a velvet tomato-cream gravy with fenugreek and cardamom.
Golden Chicken
NPR 460House signature — chicken in a saffron-cashew gravy with raisins and rose water.
Chateau Briand
NPR 950Centre-cut tenderloin, rested and sliced for two. Béarnaise, roasted root vegetables, pommes Anna.
More than a meal —
an evening.
Six things that make an evening here different from anywhere else in Thamel.
Two Garden Fire Pits
Twin wood-burning pits anchor the courtyard. Ember light, woodsmoke, the kind of warmth that ends arguments.
Live Gandharva Music
Six to seven musicians of the Gandharva caste — keepers of Nepali oral history — play Sarangi, Drum and Flute every evening.
The Hidden Garden
Thirty metres off Thamel's main artery — and a different world. Lanterns, foliage, candle-lit tables, no traffic, no horns.
The Jesse James Bar
Indoor sanctuary of polished wood, vintage frontier prints and a bar that pours measured Old Fashioneds the way Mike Frame liked them.
On-Site Spa
Adjacent to the terrace — Himalayan herbal treatments before or after dinner, by appointment.
Free Birthday Cake
Mention a birthday at booking. The band will play, a cake will appear, the whole garden will sing.
Every Evening · 7 – 9:30 PM
Free with dinner
The keepers of
Nepal's oral history.
For centuries, the Gandharva caste have been Nepal's wandering storytellers — carrying news, weather, history and gossip from village to village in song. At Northfield, six to seven of them gather every evening in the garden, stringing Sarangis and tuning Madals as the fire pits begin to glow.
They will visit your table on request. They will play for a birthday. They have seen this room change for thirty years.
Sarangiसारंगी
Bowed string instrument with four strings — the heart of Nepali folk
Madalमादल
Two-headed hand drum — the rhythmic backbone of every song
Bansuriबाँसुरी
Bamboo transverse flute — high, bright, melodic
What guests
are saying.
Guest Reviews
Based on 8 curated guest reviews
"An oasis of calm in the hubbub of Thamel. The garden, the firepit, the live folk music — we stayed for three hours and ordered everything twice."
Helena V. · Berlin, Germany
"My family ate here in 1997. I came back twenty-six years later. Same fajitas. Same warmth. Same Mr. Bista at the door. Some places are time machines."
David L. · Minneapolis, USA
"The Sarangi player came to our table on my partner's birthday and the whole garden sang. They brought out a cake we didn't order. I cried. Genuinely."
Aiko M. · Tokyo, Japan
The questions
we hear most.
Quick answers about reservations, live music, the garden, the bar, and how to find us in Thamel.
What is Northfield Cafe & Jesse James Bar?
Northfield Cafe & Jesse James Bar is a historic garden restaurant in Thamel, Kathmandu, founded in 1962 by U.S. Peace Corps volunteer Mike Frame from Northfield, Minnesota. It serves a fusion menu — American, Mexican, Indian, Nepali, Continental and Tibetan — and is widely considered the oldest tourist restaurant in Thamel. The garden has two wood-burning fire pits, live Gandharva folk music every evening, an indoor bar named for the 1876 Northfield bank robbery, and an on-site Himalayan herbal spa.When was Northfield Cafe founded?
Northfield Cafe was founded in 1962 by Mike Frame, a Carleton College graduate from Northfield, Minnesota who came to Nepal with one of the very first Peace Corps cohorts. It is the oldest continuously operating tourist restaurant in Thamel and one of the oldest in Kathmandu.Who is Mike Frame, the founder of Northfield Cafe?
Mike Frame was a 22-year-old Carleton College graduate from Northfield, Minnesota who arrived in Kathmandu in 1962 as part of one of the first U.S. Peace Corps cohorts to Nepal. He stayed, opened the café in the 1970s, named it after his hometown, and built the Jesse James Bar beside it as a tribute to the 1876 Northfield, Minnesota bank robbery. He is widely remembered as "the father of tourist Thamel" and was profiled by HuffPost and the Minneapolis Star Tribune.Who owns Northfield Cafe today?
The restaurant is run by The Northfield Group — Mr. Shangharsa Bista (Managing Director, Vice President of the Thamel Tourism Development Council and Executive Member of REBAN) and Mrs. Pratishtha Amatya Bista (Executive Director, Guinness World Record holder for Random Object Memorization, 2004, and the interior designer behind every Northfield property). The Bista family has run it for over two decades.What is the best restaurant in Thamel, Kathmandu?
Northfield Cafe & Jesse James Bar is among the most established and most-recommended restaurants in Thamel — founded 1962, with a garden courtyard, two fire pits, live Gandharva folk music every evening, and a cross-cuisine menu spanning American, Mexican, Indian, Nepali, Continental and Tibetan. It is the only Thamel restaurant that combines all of these in one venue.What is the oldest restaurant in Thamel?
Northfield Cafe is the oldest tourist-serving restaurant in Thamel, established in 1962 — predating Thamel's rise as a backpacker district. Most other "veteran" Thamel restaurants opened in the late 1980s or 1990s.Where can I hear live folk music in Kathmandu?
Northfield Cafe in Thamel hosts a live Gandharva folk ensemble every evening from approximately 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM. Six to seven musicians of the Gandharva caste — traditional keepers of Nepali oral history — play Sarangi, Madal (Nepali drum) and Bansuri (flute). The performance is free with dinner and musicians visit individual tables on request.What is Gandharva music?
Gandharvas are a hereditary caste of Nepali folk musicians who have served as travelling poet-singers for centuries — keepers of oral history, news and devotional song. Their core instrument is the four-stringed Sarangi, often joined by the Madal (a barrel drum) and the Bansuri (bamboo flute). The Gandharva ensemble at Northfield Cafe performs every evening.
Thirty metres
from the noise.
Step off the main Thamel artery and follow the lantern light. The sound of the Sarangi will guide you the rest of the way.
Reservations
+977 1 4700884Hours
Daily · 7:00 AM – 10:30 PM