Tandoori favourite
Kathmandu special mixed grill
Charcoal cooking, deep marinades, and a table-filling house classic.
Kathmandu roots. Manchester rituals.
Gopal and Jhunu Dangol built a restaurant where Nepalese cooking, family life, and Burton Road grew together.
Our story so far
From a young Kathmandu chef arriving in the North West to a family restaurant entering its fifth decade, The Great Kathmandu's history has always joined food, family, Manchester, and Nepal.
From Kathmandu to Manchester
Already an experienced chef in Kathmandu, Gopal Dangol was invited to the North West to cook for a new restaurant project. By the middle of the decade, he and his colleagues had opened The Kathmandu on Sackville Street, helping introduce Nepalese food to Manchester.
A family restaurant on Burton Road
When the earlier Kathmandu venture ended, Gopal began a new family project with Jhunu: The Great Kathmandu Tandoori Restaurant in West Didsbury. All six of their children helped build the restaurant, and family life became inseparable from the welcome in the dining room.
Recognition and room to grow
By 2008, The Great Kathmandu had grown from a neighbourhood restaurant into a name recognised well beyond Manchester. The restaurant expanded in 2009, adding kitchen and dining capacity, disabled toilet access, and wheelchair access. A House of Commons Tiffin Award nomination followed in 2011, before further redevelopment created a more spacious dining room in 2013.
Standing with communities in Nepal
Following the devastating Nepal earthquake, the family travelled to Nepal to support people facing loss, damaged homes, and upheaval. That work continued a wider commitment to projects involving clean water, shelter, schools, and community support.
Jhunu's warmth, carried forward
Jhunu Maya Dangol—co-founder, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend—died in 2020. Her warmth and spirit continue to shape the restaurant. In 2024, family, staff, and friends raised more than £15,000 for Alzheimer's Research UK in her memory.
A new chapter, forty years on
A 2023 renovation refreshed the restaurant with new seating, lighting, a feature wall, and classic signage while respecting its history. In 2025, The Great Kathmandu was named Nepalese Restaurant of the Year at the Nation’s Curry Awards. In 2026, the family marks forty years of Nepalese cooking, hospitality, and Burton Road memories.
Opened on Burton Road
A new family restaurant takes root in West Didsbury.
A national reputation
The family restaurant’s reputation travelled well beyond Manchester.
Nepalese Restaurant of the Year
Nation’s Curry Awards 2025.
Forty years
A landmark year for a Manchester institution.
