More thana meal.
Five things that make an evening at Northfield feel different from the place across the street — even when you order the same dish.
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.
Twopits,onewarmroom.
Two wood-burning fire pits anchor the courtyard — one on the north terrace, one beside the bar door. They are lit at five every evening from October through March, and on cooler summer nights at the host's discretion.
The fire is cedar and rhododendron, both grown in the foothills and burned slow. The smoke is gentle. The light is the color of honey. Most tables on the courtyard are oriented to face one or the other.
Lanterns,foliage,nohorns.
Step thirty metres off Thamel's main artery, through a wooden gate, and the city quiets. The garden is mature now — magnolia, frangipani, jasmine — and the trees are strung with paper lanterns. There are no televisions. There is no music piped in from speakers. The only sound is the Gandharva ensemble, the conversation, and the fire.
Most tables in the garden are candle-lit. Heat lamps supplement the fire pits in winter. In monsoon, the courtyard awnings come down and dinner moves to the verandah and the bar.
Polishedwood,frontierprints.
The bar Mike Frame built next to the café is small, dark and exact — a long marble counter, eight bar stools, one banquette, and walls lined with prints of the 1876 Northfield bank robbery that gave the bar its name. The lighting is amber. The bourbon is good.
The bartenders measure with jiggers. The Old Fashioned is made with a single Mustang-orange peel and a brown-sugar cube. The Jesse James cocktail — bourbon, smoked maple, blackberry — has been on the menu since the 1980s.
Adjacenttotheterrace.
A small Himalayan herbal spa shares the upper floor with the Hotel Northfield rooms. Treatments must be booked at least a few hours ahead — most guests reserve before they sit down to dinner and arrive at the table already loose.
Signature treatments use Mustang apple oil, juniper, and Himalayan salt. The therapists speak English; sessions run 45-90 minutes.
Mentionabirthday.
Mention a birthday at the time of booking and the band will come to your table at the right moment. A cake will appear that you did not order. The whole garden will sing — guests, staff, musicians.
It happens to four or five tables on a busy night. It is, statistically, the most common reason guests return. There is no charge.
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