Sarangi Vegetarian Restaurant

Sarangi Vegetarian Restaurant

About Sarangi Vegetarian Restaurant

Veg/ Vegan community restaurant located right next door to Kathmandu Guest House. Peaceful, clean, healthy…and making a difference to a whole community. Impressum Fill your Belly & Make Difference A social business that’s newly renovated and contemporary in design, we serve high quality, organic vegetarian and vegan dishes. Conveniently located right next door to the Kathmandu Guest House in the heart of Thamel, our restaurant is situated off the main road on the upper floor of the Shiva complex. This quiet location allows you to enjoy delicious food by our 5 Star Chef, in a peaceful and spacious environment. We’re proud to be 100% social business meaning all of our profits go toward empowering and assisting the Gandharba people in Nepal who rank lowest amongst the castes. Our experienced local Chef offers unique dishes that will WOW your taste buds and the presentation is simply divine! It will be easy to spend your morning, afternoon or evening with us as we offer a variety of settings and seating arrangements including a peaceful terrace for lounging which includes a cinema. As well, we’re equipped with exceptionally fast WIFI for your convenience. We invite you to visit us and indulge in our amazing one-of-a-kind dishes, local music and feel satisfied knowing you just made a difference in anothers life. THE PEOPLE The Ganharba people are an ancient Caste of musicians that have historically earned their living from music, playing the Saranagi and other traditional Nepalese instruments. There are Gandharba villages in most of the seventy five regions of Nepal. Traditionally their craft of making instruments, playing, singing and dancing is passed on to younger generations through immersion in their musical environment. Traditionally they went from village to village earning their living through their craft, providing entertainment and using music as a communications tool to relay both current and historic events. THE STRUGGLE The Gandharba people, like many others in Nepal, have been struggling to adapt to the social changes. Globalisation and modern technology have resulted in them losing their traditional place in society. In order to survive they spend months away from their villages to work in the streets of Kathmandu, playing music and selling their instruments, often earning only a few dollars a day. This impacts their families and the social structure of their communities. While many of the Gandharba people are struggling to survive, some are adapting and reinventing their roles. Some Gandharba people who have gained access to education have found a new place in the modern world, becoming leaders who are committed to uplift their communities and finding ways to sustain their culture. A SOLUTION The Ganharba Restaurant project in Kathmandu is a social business that will provide a platform to empower the Gandharba people. This social business is a partnership between ‘Gandharba Society Nepal’ and a group of social entrepreneurs from Australia. The restaurant is located in the heart of Thamel, the main tourist area in Kathmandu and is next door to the iconic Kathmandu Guest House. The restaurant has an indoor seating capacity of 50 people, an extensive courtyard area, where Gandharba musicians and dancers can perform, plus a covered rooftop terrace. This terrace could be used as an open air cinema and a venue for workshops and cultural activities such as music, meditation and cooking classes. THE OPPORTUNITIES The venue will provide training and employment opportunities for the Gandharba people in the hospitality industry as well as being an outlet for handicrafts produced by the women in the villages. In the future it will be used as a hub for rolling out further projects that will benefit the Gandharba people throughout Nepal. Future projects will include a culturally sensitive and unobtrusive homestay program, which will tap into the tourist market. Visitors will be able to travel to remote areas and experience authentic village life, see instruments being made, dance, play music and cook. Using funds from the restaurant, infrastructure such as toilets and basic accommodation will be created in the villages where necessary. The homestays will provide understanding and connection through cultural exchange. The money earned by the villagers will be an invaluable contribution to their livelihood and sustainability, it will make it possible for parents to send their children to school. The project will also focus on providing incomes for women in the villages and education specifically for girls. THE KEY The Gandharba community see education as the key to uplifting their community and therefore a significant proportion of the profits from the Restaurant will be directed to established partner organisations that have a successful track record in building schools in developing countries. Through this partnership, schools will be built where educational opportunities currently do not exist. THE BUSINESS END Being a social business the initial startup capital will be sourced from short term loans from investors in western countries. Our intention is to create a sustainable business that is not dependent on donations. A percentage of the profits will be used to pay back the startup investors, within a guaranteed specified period. There will be an option for investors to roll over their loans in order to fund future social businesses. Loans are proven to me more successful than donations. People take ownership of projects, experience an increased sense of self respect and have more incentive to create sustainable futures. The management and financial position of the project will have complete transparency for the people involved and have a sound legal structure to minimise risk. IT’S UNDERWAY The project is underway. The deposit has been paid, the contracts have been signed and settlement is at the end of May. We then have 90 days to refurbish the restaurant ready for the grand opening at the beginning of the tourist season in September 2014. Professional film maker David Brown has recorded the project to date. The intention is to create and distribute a documentary that powerfully promotes this project and inspires others to take action on projects that matter to them. WE DARE YOU! We are currently looking for more investors, people with social business legal experience, management experience, trades people to come over and work on the refurbishment, creatives for web and print, interior designers, IT and systems, food lovers and cinema buffs. We are looking for people who are passionate, adventurous and who love working in teams. This an amazing opportunity to use your skills to contribute to others and make a real difference in the world and have a lot of fun along the way.

One of the only vegetarian restaurant in Thamel. Food is gud, staff is superb and location is also gud. Only issue is that they also serve egg, but as they informed that they use separate pan for that. Must try for vegetarians and vegans

Shanu Dwivedi

Food is ok. Not too tasty. Hotel Interiors are good. Something is better than nothing. They could improve the quality of food as well.

Thirumalai Kumar

Service was a bit slow. Mains were good. Dessert was alright.

Lasata Manandhar

Contact

Address: Shiva Complex, Kathmandu 44600
Hours: Open ⋅ Closes 10PM

Phone: 981-3992602