Imago Dei- My Favorite Cafe in Kathmandu

Kathmandu has no shortage of places to hang out, have a drink and maybe try to get some work done on a computer or conduct a meeting. Many of the locations though are lacking, either in food, atmosphere, or internet access. Imago Dei by contrast supplies all three and further gives some of the better table service I've had in Kathmandu- which as an American I dearly miss on occasion. They also have a great location, being just across the street from the east gate of the Royal Palace Museum compound. This puts them in an easily accessible area, that is not far from most of the areas where expats who live in Kathamndu proper (i.e. not Patan) tend to congregate. It also has parking available, which is rare in this city.

It has a decent menu that covers everything from wraps and sandwiches to a Thai curry, dips, pastas, breads and deserts. My personal favorite items are the salads, especially the roasted pumpkin and spinach, which are all served very fresh, are a very decent size and are served with bread- the pumpkin bread is my favorite. When I'm looking for heavier meals I like the Thai curry dish and Kim likes the gnocchi.  The drinks are some of the better in the city, serving very good ice teas, as well as some tasty strawberry lemonade. The deserts are also very good, the cheesecake has a reputation as the best in the city and I am personally a big fan of their chocolate brownies which are served with a mall side of chocolate sauce to drizzle on this very big brownie.

Imago Dei's Comfortable and Well Lit Dining Area

Aside from the food, the space itself is very well lit with natural light, a big bonus for me, and is nice and open, thus avoiding the cramped space feel that you get at many cafes here. It also has free wifi, which was sporadic at times when I first started going, though it has worked at least as well as what I have at my apartment in the last four months or so whenever I have stopped in there. It also has outlets that you can plug laptops into well placed throughout the space, something that seems exceedingly rare in many other places that I have stopped into. There are also a number of outdoor tables if you want to sit outside in the sun on the cooler days.

Attached to the cafe is a gallery that shows off different things at different times. Normally it seems to be art, but I've also seen jewelery and higher end clothing in there as well. To be honest I'm most often there to grab a drink and do some writing or meet up with friends, so I don't know a whole lot about what goes on or in the gallery side, but the quality looks high and if it's something you'd be interested in it's probably worth checking out.

Finally I should note another thing I like about this place is that you get a good mix of people. Some places are all foreigners, and some are all Nepali, but here you get plenty of both. You have a combination of business executives as well as students, people there for meetings and people there to hang out with friends. The music, while not what I have on my iPod, is vastly superior to what you have to listen to in most places, being a good mix of modern western sound, thankfully dodging Hindi music as well as bad 80s, techno and annoying European dance tracks. All in all great place to meet up with friends, colleagues, or business contacts, enjoy some food, or get some work done on a laptop.