Taste the Nature, Peacefully
Sia Café is a place to slow down over a Ladakhi meal. The space follows traditional dining, with low wooden seating, earthen textures and soft natural light. Travellers and locals eat side by side here, over home-style dishes such as hand-rolled Skyu, buckwheat Khura pancakes, Khambir with apricot compote and the café’s own Sia hip tea. The menu draws on traditional dishes recorded in the village, from everyday breads to barley dough and nettle soup. Stop in after the Nature Centre or a walk on the trails, and sit down to the food Saspotsey cooks and eats every day.
Sia Café is a place to slow down over a Ladakhi meal. The space offers traditional dining experience, featuring low seating with tradition Ladakhi table called Choktse, and soft natural light. Travellers and locals sit together, relishing home-styled dishes, such as hand-rolled Skyu, buckwheat pancakes, traditional Ladakhi Khambir bread and rose-hip tea, the signature hot beverage of the café.
Stop in after the Ladakh Nature Centre or a walk on the trail.
Café Menu
Pick a base, choose your pairing
Breakfast
- Sunny-side egg
- Butter and scrambled eggs
- Fried potatoes and eggs, scrambled or as an omelette
- Apricot compote
Main Course
Home-style Platter
- Pilau: fragrant rice cooked with vegetables
- Dal, Sabzi, Rice: a simple homestyle meal
Traditional Teas
Specials
Coffee
Play Local Games
Stakchen (the small board) and Stakchung (the big board) form an old Ladakhi strategy game. Village elders once played it in open courtyards, drawing a grid in the sand with a stick and using small stones, pebbles or carved wood as pieces. It was traditionally played for lively village wagers, and it still rewards foresight, patience and careful moves. In Saspotsey today, two teams face off as Snow Leopard and Ibex, the predator and prey of the slopes above the village. The board stands for the mountain both animals call home.
Stakchen (the small board) and Stakchung (the big board) form an old Ladakhi strategy game. Village elders once played it in open courtyards, drawing a grid in the sand with a stick and using small stones, pebbles or carved wood as pieces. It was traditionally played for lively village wagers, and it still rewards foresight, patience and careful moves. In Saspotsey today, two teams face off as Snow Leopard and Ibex, the predator and prey of the slopes above the village. The board stands for the mountain both animals call home.
The Board
The board is a grid etched into the ground, with straight lines running across and down and diagonal lines crossing them.
How to Play
Take turns. Players move one piece at a time to an adjacent empty point, along its own path.
Capture by leaping. To “cut down” an opponent’s piece, jump over it into the empty space directly behind it, along the line of attack. The jumped piece leaves the board.
Reach the backline. Once a piece crosses the board and reaches the opponent’s back row, it can move backward too. From there it can chase down retreating pieces.
Win the mountain. The game ends when one side has captured every piece on the other. Good positioning and well-set traps decide it.
The Teams
Two players, or two teams, take part. One commands the Snow Leopards and the other the Ibex. Anyone can start, and a toss decides.
How the Pieces Move
Every piece follows the path it stands on, and can only move into an empty space.
Straight lines: a piece on a straight line moves only along straight lines.
Diagonals: a piece on a diagonal point moves only along the diagonal lines.
Sideways: any piece can also step left or right into an empty space.
The Board
The board is a grid etched into the ground, with straight lines running across and down and diagonal lines crossing them.
The Teams
Two players, or two teams, take part. One commands the Snow Leopards and the other the Ibex. Anyone can start, and a toss decides.
How the Pieces Move
Every piece follows the path it stands on, and can only move into an empty space.
Straight lines: a piece on a straight line moves only along straight lines.
Diagonals: a piece on a diagonal point moves only along the diagonal lines.
Sideways: any piece can also step left or right into an empty space.
How to Play
Take turns. Players move one piece at a time to an adjacent empty point, along its own path.
Capture by leaping. To “cut down” an opponent’s piece, jump over it into the empty space directly behind it, along the line of attack. The jumped piece leaves the board.
Reach the backline. Once a piece crosses the board and reaches the opponent’s back row, it can move backward too. From there it can chase down retreating pieces.
Win the mountain. The game ends when one side has captured every piece on the other. Good positioning and well-set traps decide it.
