Tibetan food differs in pastoral areas and agricultural areas. Traditional Tibetan food consists mainly of barley, meat and dairy products. Vegetables are scarce in the high altitude. The flavor of the Tibetan food is fresh, light, and tender. Salt, onion, and garlic are the main ingredients.

 

At present time, in many Tibetan towns, like Lhasa, Tibetan food is supplemented by Chinese food, mostly Sichuan food. Vegetables and fish become available in market. However, Tibetan people seldom eat fish due to their religion and custom.

 

In Lhasa, you can also find other kinds of food, including Beijing cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Mongolian and even western-style cuisine. Deji Road, where you will find about 100 restaurants, is the most popular dining place among locals. Western and Tibetan style restaurants in Beijing Road and the Barkhor Street are always crowded with visitors. Some big hotels also serve Nepalese and Indian food.

 

In Lhasa, all restaurants of various classes are decorated and furnished in the traditional Tibetan style. Diners can enjoy delicious Tibetan dishes while admiring paintings and murals symbolizing happiness and good luck in the restaurants. High on the menu are such flavors as sausages, barley wine, butter oil tea, beef and mutton eaten with the hands, yak tongue, steamed buns, Tsampa made from highland barley, pastries, minced mutton and beef.

Local Cuisines
Dried beef and mutton stripe
Dried beef and mutton stripe is also popular food in Tibet. In the winter, beef and mutton are cut into long stripes and hung in shaded areas to be air-dried. The dried meat is crisp and tastes good, and can be eaten raw, since the cold temperature in the winter has killed bacteria during the process. These dried meats could be taken in Feb. or Mar.

 

Butter Tea
Butter Tea is the main drink in Tibetan’s daily life, made from butter, brick tea and salt. People of the Zang nationality have the habit of drinking it, which is said to help digestion. The hospitable Tibetan welcome important guest with Butter Tea and it is impolite to refuse it. The Tea Party has been running through all kinds of klatch.

 

Yoghurt
Yoghurt is an important dietary meal for Tibetan people. The creamy milk produced by yak cows is superb. Tibetan nomads in the eastern Tibet manufacture their yoghurt in a special process. The milk is boiled first, and after removed from the stove, some old yogurt is added in. and yogurt will form in a few hours. Yogurt has been a Tibetan food for more than 1.000 years.

 

Tsampa
Tsampa is the staple food of Tibetan people, which is consumed daily. Tsampa is actually barley flour made from parched barley, un-husked and ground into fine flour. Mix the flour with salted butter tea in a bowl, rotate the bowl with the left hand and mix the food with the fingers of your right hand, rolling it into small lumps, and squeezing it into your mouth with your fingers. Other ingredients may also be added to add flavor.

Chang
Chang, also called “Chong”, a Tibetan barley beer, brewed by Qing Ke, a kind of crop produced in Qinghai-Tibet plateau, which is favored by all Tibetans. It featured yellow color, sour and sweet taste, while lower in alcohol. Drinking Chang should obey “one cup in three times”, that is after drink a bite firstly, pour out; drink another a bite, pour out again; drink at the third time, pour out again. Commonly, the host sings songs when proposing a toast to the customers.

 

Blood, meat, flour and liver sausages are also favored by many Tibetans. Other food stuffs include Momo (Tibetan dumplings), Thenthuk. (Tibetan noodles), and yak tongue.

 

Lhasa Restaurants
Lhasa Snowland Restaurant
Lhasa Snowland Restaurant is next to Snowland Hotel on Mentsikhang Road, serving a mixture of western, Tibetan and Nepalese food. Its Nepalese food and pizza are especially good. Its price is reasonable while compared with the excellent quality of the food. Besides, the staffs here master three languages including English, Tibetan and Chinese, providing you satisfied service.
Address: No.4 Zang Yiyuan Road, Lhasa

Crazy Yak Restaurant
Crazy Yak Restaurant is close to the Kirey Hotel on Beijing Dong Road, decorated in Tibetan flavor. It provides buffet dinner every night and show the traditional Tibetan song and dance, which is highly reputed. The recommended yak meat is another highlight.
Address: Jiri Hotel, Beijing East Road

 

Snow Deity Palace Tibetan Style Restaurant
As one of the slap-up Tibetan style restaurant in Lhasa, it is the right place for those who would like to taste genuine Hunan food, such as freshly fried mutton chops, raw catsup, stuffed sausage, and so on. Its Tibetan waiters could speak fluent English.
Address: West side of the Potala Palace Square

Lhasa Kitchen
It is not far from the Snowland Hotel, providing tasty and inexpensive Nepalese food. The restaurant is clean and neat, with English-speaking Nepalese waiters and waitresses. It is popular with the foreigners.
Address: No.106, Beijing East Road

Tashi Restaurant
Tashi Restaurant is the favorite of many foreign back-packers, featured Tibetan food such as Tibetan momos (means dumplings), tsampa and fried yark meat as well as spaghetti, mashed potatoes and fries. Many pieces of Tibetan landscapes hanging on the wall add strong ethical atmosphere.
Address: The crossing of Zang Yiyuan Road and Beijing East Road

 

Ethnic Restaurant
Opposite to the Kirey Hotel, on Beijing East Road, Ethnic Restaurant is one of the largest Tibetan restaurants in Lhasa. It provides aweto chicken and aweto beef as well as some common dishes.