Dal bhat in Australia

Dal bhat is the meal Nepal runs on: lentil soup and rice with tarkari, greens, pickles and often a curry on the side. Most Nepali homes eat it twice a day, and every trekker comes home repeating the same line about dal bhat power lasting 24 hours, because it does.

At a restaurant it arrives as a set, and the good ones keep refilling the rice, dal and sides until you surrender. If a Thakali kitchen is doing the set, expect a darker black dal and a longer row of pickles.

We have mapped 42 spots serving it, most across New South Wales, Western Australia and Victoria.