Popular as Gopal Dai ko Chatamari pasal, the small eatery at Dillibazaar, Pipalbot in Kathmandu has completed more that 26 years of its service. Hailing from the village of Sankhu, in Kavre, few kilometers away from Kathmandu, Krishna Gopal Shrestha had to go through several difficulties in life before he found the eatery. He had left his village in search of a better field but never envisioned he would end up running an eatery.

He had gone to Calcutta, in India, to work and started working in a factory. After working some time there, he decided to come back to Nepal. Back home, he started a small simple eat-out with few kilos of kima to make mo:mo. There were times when he slept in the shop itself joining the chairs only to wake up early to start his business.

His dedication and hard work has paid up and even after more than two decades of service, his eatery is still going strong with the loyal customers coming here for their regular dose of cuisines for over two decades now. Although his menu is simple, his eatery is one of those where you see people all over the place. The menu consists of buff meat battered in gram flour serving as the sekuwa here, omnipresent mo: mo that sells out most of the times by late afternoon and the very special of all, Chatamari. The place, over the time, has earned the loyal customers who come here at least once a week. Also, some of the renowned politicians and ministers used to visit his place for chatamari in its early days.

If you expect to find fancy ambience, cutleries or napkins then you might be disappointed as this is one of those places where you come only because you love the food not the environment. The place is run by Gopal dai and his wife with the help of few staffs. The history of the place and person could be a source of inspiration to all those owners of the eateries who includes all the fancy dishes in their menu (most of the time without success), focuses more to the ambience of the place without successful implementation and focus in specializing on few dishes. What makes a good eatery is not its fancy ambience or cutleries but the delicious meals that tempt you to come over again and again just like at Gopal dai ko Chatamari pasal.