KATHMANDU: When Tilak KC started a restaurant in the Bhaisepati housing area, the local residents used to say, “Who will come to eat in a place like this in the woods?”

This was 15 years ago.

Now, the “Tirupati Cafe and Restaurant” run by Tilak KC has become one of the busiest restaurants in this area.

Until a decade ago, this place was desolate, but for three or four years now, bright lights have come on every evening, and the bustle of people keeps Bhaisepati awake until midnight.

To see Bhaisepati at night, we arrived there on Friday, May 30. It was nearly 7 o’clock in the evening. The light of the rising sun behind the Chandra Giri hills was already dim. However, the lights of the cafes, restaurants, malls, and street shops in the housing complex were brightly shining.

As the evening deepened, the buildings that looked plain during the day and the names of the cafes began to glow in colorful letters: Bhaisepati Complex, Sobel, Kathmandu Coffee, Good Mixers, Caffeophilia, Salesberry, Smile Mart, Gold’s Gym, and more. These names were giving a glimpse of the sophisticated lifestyle here.

The loud noise outside the housing area gate was completely cut off, and the sweetness of the music in the inner area seemed to attract everyone.

The dusty place was taken over by the aroma of coffee. The cold air, hitting against the water of the ponds of Chobhar, Champadevi, and Taudaha, relieves the heat of the day. People here seemed to be moving, but that movement was devoid of haste. It felt as if the other name for life was not just running around but also rest. The presence of people was increasing in the crowd of commotion and hastelessness, yet an unfamiliar peace was felt in the atmosphere of Bhaisepati.

In the middle of the buildings is an open space covered with stones on both the left and right, where people were relaxing after eating snacks like panipuri (hollow, crispy fried dough balls called “puris” filled with a mixture of potatoes, chickpeas, onions, spices, and a tangy, spicy flavored water), along with sips of tea and coffee. Parents were walking aimlessly, leaving small children unrestrained; foreign faces were also mixed in this same crowd.

It felt as if their cars and motorcycles, along with the people, were also relaxing from the day’s fatigue. In major cities like Thamel, New Road, and Durbar Marg, many worry about where to find parking. But in Bhaisepati, free and easy parking is available.

After entering the housing area, seeing rows of coffee shops within a short distance gives the impression that this place has become a coffee hub.

Among them, the white and clean Caffeophilia, situated on the bottom two floors of the building, remains especially popular. There is a special demand for Nepali coffee among the coffee connoisseurs who come here from 6:30 AM to 10 PM.

The authentic Nepali coffee and diverse flavors found here have attracted the visitors. Manager Shekhar Khadka says they bring coffee from places like Syangja, Gorkha, Nuwakot, and Kaski and sell it after roasting and brewing it using different methods. Among the coffees, the filtered “Pour Over Coffee” is the most popular. Customers who come to eat tea, snacks, and food along with coffee are also seen in abundance.

The political significance of this place has also increased since the governor and chief minister residences were shifted to the Bhaisepati residential area last year from Pulchowk. The residential area is home to the governor, finance minister, chief minister, and speaker. Domestic and foreign VIPs from embassies, NGOs, and INGOs also reside here. This list even includes major industrialists, journalists, artists, and musicians. Khadka says, “They are all our customers.”

One doesn’t have to think hard to conclude that these very VIPs are the reason why the trendy brands and food flavors of Kathmandu are found here. Familiar faces from television, like Bhushan Dahal, are regular customers here. The singer and musician Lochan Rijal comes to meet him sometimes from Tripureshwor. We met him right here, as he sometimes comes to stay with his family.

Regarding the specialty of Bhaisepati, he says, “It is slightly far from the core city, and I feel peaceful coming here. Parking is easy.

Since it’s a modern place, the management is good, and it’s open for walks. When coming with family, there are also options for a variety of food to eat. Sometimes we eat Korean, sometimes Thakali.”

He has already tasted everything from Java coffee to Panipuri here. While we were talking to him, actor Shiv Shrestha also entered the Bhaisepati Complex. “If you happen to meet your favorite artist or musician while walking around here, don’t be surprised,” Manager Khadka says. “Most faces seen on TV and film are found right in Bhaisepati.”

The satisfaction seems to spread among the operators here when celebrities come as customers. Tilak KC, the operator of Tirupati, says, “Artists like Samragyee Rajya Laxmi Shah, Priyanka Karki, and Raju Lama are our customers. It makes us very happy when they say it feels like they ate right at home.”

Just like coffee, the flavors of Thakali, Newari, Korean, and Japanese snacks and food are also attracting customers here. On weekends, the lively presence of customers is seen from the Jhirlan Sekuwa at the mouth of the housing area to the Puchhar Newa: Kitchen. Hotel operators say that the rush of customers increases on Fridays and Saturdays as locals come with their families, often requesting Nepali or Thakali food.

Tilak KC, the operator of Tirupati, informs us that his restaurant has more than 200 varieties of food. Food items like full meal sets, naan, tandoori, matka tea, chatpate, and panipuri are available at his restaurant. While listening to the specialty of the food made at his restaurant, we asked him, “What is the most popular and sweet food item here?”

Adjusting the red cap, he said, “Chicken Lemon Jira and Jhane Ko Mutton (Mutton Bhuteko). Which reaches the customer’s table while still cooking.”

There is also a seven-year-old rooftop restaurant called “Sky Park” here, where seafood like salmon and tiger prawn is available. Employee Suman Rai says that customers really like their restaurant’s Smoked Pickle Chicken.

The housing area, which is always busy in the evening, gets even livelier on Fridays and Saturdays. Sky Park and Good Mixers Bar are also popular destinations here due to the music. Besides Fridays, festivals like Nepali New Year, Christmas, and English New Year’s Eve are celebrated here with the rhythm of music. Birthday parties are also booked to create an atmosphere of song and music.

Gajendra Bohora, one of the operators of Good Mixers, says that there is live music from 7 to 10 PM on Friday evenings.

The place is busy one or two hours later on Fridays than on other days. In such an atmosphere, baristas here enthusiastically tell us that one can sometimes meet singers like Amrit Gurung of Nepathya, actress Priyanka Karki, actor Anup Bikram Shahi, or comedian Sandip Chhetri.

Amidst the large branded restaurants, there is also a local type of eatery. At this place called TikTok Food Express, customers order snacks like chow mein, barbecue, fish, and thukpa sets, sitting inside a blue bus of the Roha brand.

The housing area is not only limited to the fun of eating and drinking. The specialty here is that every basic service and facility is found in one place. Mart, shopping mall, bank, ATM, barber shops, fitness center, and pharmacy are all found within a few steps’ distance.

A sensitivity towards health is also visible here. Whether it is Gold’s Gym or Bajra Nagendra’s Fitness, people are exercising until 10 PM at night. Just like the cafes and restaurants, there is also a huge presence of people at the barbershop and fitness center.

Gold’s Gym, which occupies two floors of the Bhaisepati Complex, has facilities including weightlifting, Zumba, yoga, spa, and sauna. Jasmin Gurung, an employee at the gym, says that the number of people who come to the gym center is around 200. The number of men and women in the teenager and 30- to 40-year-old age groups is higher here. They attend the gym in the morning or evening, before or after going to the office.

The structures here are targeted at the residents of the housing area, and it is not wrong to say that they are mainly sustained by them. Even so, this area is open to all. Just as Thamel, New Road, and Durbar Marg once offered hospitality to the people of Lalitpur, today Bhaisepati has started calling people from Kathmandu. We also accepted the hospitality of Bhaisepati and went there.

After touring Bhaisepati on a Friday evening, it felt like Bhaisepati, which is about two kilometers outside the Ring Road, like a “New City.”