Best Sekuwa in Pokhara: Nepal's Grilled Meat Tradition

Sekuwa is charcoal-grilled skewered meat, and in Pokhara it turns up everywhere from old town kitchens to Lakeside menus. Chicken sekuwa is the version most people order, marinated overnight and cooked slowly over coals until the edges char. It is less a single dish than a whole way of eating, built for a table, not a solo plate.

What goes into chicken sekuwa

Good chicken sekuwa starts the day before it gets cooked. The chicken sits overnight in a marinade of yogurt, garlic and ginger paste, timur, and chilli. Timur is the Nepali Sichuan pepper that gives Nepali cooking its distinct numbing, citrusy kick, and it is a big part of what makes sekuwa taste different from an ordinary grilled skewer. By the time the meat hits the charcoal, it has already absorbed most of its flavor. The fire just finishes the job, adding smoke and a char on the edges that a pan can't really copy.

Sekuwa's place in Newari food

Sekuwa sits alongside choila, bara, and sadheko as one of the pillars of Newari cooking, a food tradition that started in Kathmandu but is now common across Nepal, including Pokhara. In Pokhara specifically, Newari-style kitchens tend to cluster in the old town and Pokhara Bazaar area rather than the Lakeside tourist strip, which is worth knowing if you are trying to track down the real thing. For more on choila, bara, and the rest of that tradition, see the guide to Newari food in Pokhara.

Built for sharing

Sekuwa rarely shows up as a single-portion order. Most people order a full plate for a group and let everyone pick pieces off it while it is still warm, more grazing food than a plated meal. It suits a slow evening with friends far better than a rushed weekday lunch. Pair it with a dry snack like sukuti, or a plate of chiura on the side, and you have the kind of spread that keeps a table busy for a couple of hours rather than a meal that's over in ten minutes. For more on those dried, roasted, and tossed-together snacks, see the guide to sukuti and chiura in Pokhara.

Ordering sekuwa for delivery

Sekuwa travels reasonably well for delivery since it is fully cooked and doesn't depend on a crisp coating the way fried food does. It is still best eaten while there's some heat and smoke left in it, so ordering earlier in the evening rather than late tends to work out better. Since the restaurant itself delivers the order rather than handing it to a separate courier, a plate from somewhere close to your area is more likely to arrive hot. Adding a landmark to your delivery address also helps, since Pokhara's street addressing isn't always reliable on its own.

Sekuwa is one of those dishes that tastes better with more people around the plate, so if you're ordering for one, it might be worth waiting for company.