Rinchen Angmo
Leh: Nestled in the quiet village of Alchi, Ladakh, Alchi Kitchen is more than just a restaurant - it's a story of passion, perseverance, and empowerment. Founded by Nilza Wangmo in 2014, this women-led eatery brings Ladakh’s rich culinary heritage to life while providing gainful employment opportunities for local women.
The journey of Alchi Kitchen began when Nilza and her mother decided to develop a dedicated space for Ladakhi cuisine in their home village. With a vision to introduce tourists to the authentic flavours of Ladakh while adding a creative twist, Nilza took the bold step of establishing the restaurant. Her dedication and entrepreneurial spirit were recognised in 2019 when she was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar, India’s highest honour for women by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
She says, “Back in those days there wasn’t any full-fledged Ladakhi restaurant. Seeing this gap in the market I wanted to open a restaurant that served Ladakhi dishes and in this way promote our dishes among the tourists. Since Alchi was already a top tourist destination and my home village, I then decided to open the restaurant in Alchi itself ”.
For the first year of the restaurant, it was only Nilza, her mother and a Nepali woman helper who ran the restaurant. This was a new venture for them and Nilza was quite doubtful if the restaurant would work or not but slowly and steadily it started picking up pace. She shares, “My mother decided to keep an all-women kitchen and I decided to go ahead with this decision on our new venture. However, getting Ladakhi women in the beginning was quite difficult.”
Alchi kitchen is located on the first floor which was constructed by Nilza with her investment and an entrepreneurship loan from the then Jammu and Kashmir government. While designing the restaurant Nilza wanted to give the customers the feel of the Ladakhi kitchen, she says, “The Ladakhi kitchen is locally known as ‘chansa’ and is an open space where cooking happens. Keeping this in mind I decided to have an open kitchen and having this setup also saved me a lot of space.” After completing the construction in two years the restaurant opened in June 2016. Currently, the restaurant consists of an all-women staff of 10-11 and is a must-visit location for tourists who visit Ladakh.
Highlighting the contribution that the restaurant has had in these women’s lives, Nilza shares.
“There is a big change from when they join. When they join they are shy and underconfident but with time they learn how to speak to the customers, how to handle their demands and with time they become quite confident. There is also significant improvement in their cooking and as I teach them they master the craft in no time.” The women staff come from all parts of Ladakh be it Nubra or Changthang.
Nilza was drawn to cooking from a very young age, she was always intrigued by her grandmother’s cooking and being able to help her made her feel a sense of joy. Be it cookery shows or cooking recipe books, she was always attracted to these. Although she realised late in life her passion for cooking, it all ended up being for the good. Now her restaurant serves a variety of traditional Ladakhi dishes and innovative Ladakhi dishes, with some of her top-selling dishes being Yarkandi pulao, Chu-tagi and stuffed khambir.
Nilza Wangmo, says, “When I tried the dish of stuffed khambir, it was mainly to attract the young audience. I modelled it after the burger and since I also liked it, I thought that it would be a good addition to the menu”.
In Ladakh cooking has traditionally been a concept of farm-to-table. Nilza says, “The farm-to-table concept is quite a new concept in the Western cooking arena but I feel proud that for us Ladakhis it has been an age-old practice. In our homes we source the vegetables from the kitchen garden which most households have and in winter we store root vegetables like potato and carrots in natural pits and then use them. I think this is what makes Ladakhi dishes very unique.”
Sharing this story, she says, “One day a few tourists visited my restaurant and as I always interact with my customers, I shared my story with them and my mother also joined in on this conservation. Later on, they contacted me from Delhi saying that they are a part of the Ministry of Women and Child Development and impressed by my work, they wanted to nominate me for the award.”
Alchi Kitchen sponsors girl children in orphanages and provides a no-commission space for products from PAGIR with an interest in their overall sales. “ For me, giving back to society is very important and as I progress I also intend to make the society benefit from it,” says Nilza Wangmo.
