Kathmandu has long been a mainstay of the hippie, then backpacker circuit, one of the famous 3 K's (Kuta Beach in Bali and Khao San Road in Bangkok are the others) that every backpacker worth the name hangs out at for some part of their travels. It's entirely devoted to meeting the needs of foreigners, so it's lined with shops, travel agents arranging trips to Tibet, and, most importantly, restaurants and bars. As you can see, enterprising Nepalis haven't left a single roof in Thamel go without a rooftop bar. And they do a decent approximation of hamburgers, pancakes and pizza as well. I normally eat only the local food of wherever I am, but Nepalis eat dhal, basically beans, three times a day every day, so that gets a bit tedious. So we hung out in Thamel most nights except for a very elaborate Nepali dinner at the hotel one night. It was mostly variations on the dhal theme, but the whole thing was quite elaborate and highly recommended. The other nights, it was mostly hanging out in Thamel. There weren't many tourists due to the civil war, but that just meant more fake burritos and apple pie for us!