Bhutanese cuisine is hearty, wholesome and famously fiery — in Bhutan the chilli is treated not as a mere spice but as a vegetable in its own right.
Dishes to try
The national dish is ema datshi, hot green chillies simmered in a creamy local cheese sauce and eaten with the country's nutty red rice. Variations swap in potato (kewa datshi) or mushrooms (shamu datshi). Look out too for phaksha paa (pork with radish and dried chilli), shakam (air-dried beef), hoentay (buckwheat dumplings from the Haa valley) and jasha maru (a spiced minced-chicken stew). Buckwheat pancakes and noodles are staples in Bumthang.
Drinks and dining
Wash it all down with suja (salted butter tea), sweet milk tea, or — for the adventurous — ara, a home-distilled spirit of rice, maize or wheat. At hotels, meals are usually served as milder buffets combining Bhutanese, Indian, Chinese and continental dishes, so heat-averse travellers are well looked after. To taste the real thing, ask us to arrange a farmhouse meal, where the dishes arrive as fiery as the family truly eats them.