Jazz Upstairs

Jazz Upstairs is Kathmandu's best-known jazz bar and the place where the city's jazz scene took shape. It was set up around the turn of the millennium by Chhedup Bomzan, who had never played in a band himself, in three disused rooms above a grocery store his mother ran on Lazimpat Road. Its first purpose was to give the jazz group Cadenza a regular venue, and for years it was described as the only serious jazz venue in Nepal.

The bar also gave birth to Jazzmandu. In 2002 a party at Jazz Upstairs to celebrate the Hindu festival of Shivaratri, organised by Bomzan with Navin Chettri and Sanjay Shrestha, grew into the Kathmandu Jazz Festival, which now draws around 16,000 people a year to concerts at historic sites around the valley, with visiting musicians from around the world, and closes with a daylong jazz jam at the Gokarna Forest Resort.

The setting is unpretentious. Cathay Pacific's travel magazine described it as a grungy bar with a painted trumpet on the side of the building, a paddle above the bar and a wall where patrons write their names. The venue's own site lists the bar on the fourth floor of a building across from the French Embassy in Lazimpat, with a casual dress code and seating for around 200 people. Live jazz has traditionally been played on Wednesdays and Saturdays, starting at around 8pm, and the bar is open from midday until midnight.

The food is simple Nepali fare, and the momos have a following of their own; Onlinekhabar named its pork momo among the best in the city in 2021. Drinks are straightforward, and the atmosphere suits music lovers, couples and solo travellers happy to share a table. The bar's site has stated that it does not accept cards, so bring cash.

Lazimpat Road runs north from the Thamel area, so the bar is easy to reach from most central hotels. Bitters & Co, one of the city's leading cocktail bars, is also on Lazimpat Road, which makes it easy to start the evening with a cocktail and move on for the music.