Want to experience cooking traditional Kumauni delicacies near Nainital? Here's where you can do it.

I went to Bhimtal with one of my friends to do paragliding in April (It took 2 trips to complete this because of the weather). We had already visited the nearby places like Sattal, Naukuchiatal etc. the previous day, so now we wondered what we’d do with all the time we were left with.

✨It was afternoon, there was barely anyone around and we were craving some authentic Kumauni food so we thought of checking with the locals if we could visit them. Just when we were discussing this, we spotted a huge board which said "Kumauni food available", not just that, they could let us cook too if we wanted to be a part of the whole cooking process.

✨We made a call to them and arrived at the destination in no time. The name of this place was "Baakhei" which translates to cluster of houses in Kumauni. The place was on a hilltop and it was really pleasant there. The hosts were not only courteous but ridiculously funny. Even though we just dropped in at a short notice, they made all the necessary arrangements for our lunch. We cooked delicious food together and had the best meal of this trip here. You can have a look at all the dishes that were on the menu.

✨Honestly when I think about Bhimtal, this is the only peculiar memory I have of the place and it's only because of the people who made it this special for us. Though the initial plan was to only have lunch here, we stayed back and left the next day for Nainital that too only because we had to leave for Dehradun.

If you ever visit Bhimtal, do stay at Baakhei and try cooking the famous Kumauni thali yourself, you’ll not be disappointed!