The Farmers Market at Le Sherpa in Kathmandu is open every Saturday morning. Its a buzzing place with locals and ex-pats milling around, catching up for a coffee, and buying fresh from the farm vegetables and artisan products not readily available in the supermarkets of Nepal. While local markets often connect people to the locality, this market connects ex-pats to home – with some local influences.

Unless I was on a field trip, Saturday mornings started with the same group messages..”We’re heading to the markets at 10am, who’s coming?” Obviously it depended on the previous days ‘nocturnal excursion’, but it was always something to look forward to no matter how seedy one felt!

It’s a short 15 minute walk from our apartment in Lazimpat to the markets at Le Sherpa, If you’re staying in the Thamel area, where most do, its about half an hour walk so you’re best to catch a taxi which would probably be around NPR300 (AU$3.30).

Micro herbs… South African pastries… there was always a huge variety of diverse stalls.

The fruit and veg are seriously farm fresh and so darn tasty although I have no idea what some of these vegetables are!

Yellow choko’s (called iskus in Nepal), garlic, fingerling potatoes, banana’s and the famed Mustang apples, both red and golden. Mustang Apples are prized in Nepal and considered the best apples around.

The free samples of roast pork and roast chicken not only interests the humans, but non-humans as well, patiently line up and wait for their sample 🙂

It’s not all about picking up your fresh produce for the week, the markets are a great place for catching up with friends over some food, which we often did.

One of my favourite stalls was the Vietnamese fresh food. Noodle salads, phô, rice paper rolls and banh mi’s were available. It was often a tossup but between a bánh mi or a couple of rice paper rolls.

The bánh mi usually wins.. I go for the chicken and pork mix, the paté is richer than what I am used to, probably as it is homemade and not from a tin.

Sometimes the rice paper rolls would get a look in for a later afternoon snack. These were delicious and quite filling. I especially adore their hoisin peanut dipping sauce.

I never thought I would see ANZAC biscuits for sale outside of Australia! The onsite cafe, where we usually stop for a coffee for the girls and a fresh lemonade for myself, sell them for a mere 60 Nepali rupees – thats about 70 cents Australian!

The cafe also sell potato cakes for a whopping 150 rupees, or around $1.70 Australian. Home made mashed potato with spring onion fired till crispy – the perfect hangover breakfast with my freshly squeezed lemonade!

So here is the loot from one of my trips, sesame seed bagels, salad leaves, cucumber and limes, French stick, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, brie cheese and slices of roast pork – except for the cucumber and limes, these are all things you wouldn’t easily find in a supermarket!

I miss my Saturday Markets in Le Sherpa!