bhutanese-food

25 Cuisine of Bhutan: Traditional Foods, Popular Dishes & Flavours

27 Aug, 2025

5 minutes read
Written by- Simantini

Share this link via

Or copy link

27 Aug, 2025

5 minutes readWritten by - Simantini

Share this link via

Or copy link

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

  • Authentic Food of Bhutan: A Guide to Bhutanese Flavours
  • 1. Ema Datshi
  • 2. Kewa Datshi
  • 3. Shamu Datshi
  • 4. Phaksha Paa
  • 5. Jasha Maru
  • 6. Red Rice
  • 7. Momos
  • 8. Hoentay
  • 9. Suja (Butter Tea)
  • 11. Goen Hogay (Cucumber Salad)
  • 12. Bathup
  • 13. Zow Shungo
  • 14. Khuli
  • 15. Sikam Paa
  • 16. Jaju
  • 17. Ezay (Chili Paste)
  • 18. Dresi
  • 19. Laphing
  • 20. Nga Paa (Fish Curry)
  • 21. Ara
  • 22. Lom
  • 23. Noodle Thukpa
  • 24. Bhutanese‑Style Pizza
  • 25. Walnut Paste Cheese Dish
  • Final Thoughts
Join our travel community for the latest tips, guides, and exclusive offers!

You have already subscribed our newsletter!
Thanks for Subscribing our newsletter!

What's ironic about Bhutan? Everybody goes on about the mountains and monasteries, but nobody tells you about the food. These chaps are totally chilli-crazy. We are talking about dishes that will make you cry happy tears.

The first time we heard about Ema Datshi - their national dish of chillies with yak cheese - we thought someone was pulling our leg. Who makes chilli the main ingredient? Turns out, the Bhutanese do, and they've been doing it forever. The cheese actually helps cool things down a bit, and when you eat it with their red rice, it's perfect.

What really gets me is how fresh everything tastes. Vegetables arrive directly from mountain farms, and that yak butter tea? Yeah, it's a bit strange at first, but you'll find yourself falling for it. The Food of Bhutan grows on you fast.

Honestly, eating local food is probably the best things to do in Bhutan. Our Bhutan Tour Packages include proper food experiences because you can't really understand this place without trying what they eat.

Authentic Food of Bhutan: A Guide to Bhutanese Flavours

1. Ema Datshi

blog-images

The Bhutan national food, Ema datshi, is unarguably the most bhutan popular food. Ema Datshi, Bhutan’s bold national flagship, combines fiery chillies with soft local cheese, onions, and tomatoes. Simmered into a creamy stew, it’s a staple at dinner tables across the country. It’s soul‑warming comfort food-spicy yet soothing. Traditionally, families cook it in one pot and share it with red rice. Tourists often taste it first, discovering the true Food of Bhutan through this iconic dish. With every bite, you experience how cheese and chilli define the cuisine of Bhutan, making it unique and unforgettable.

Where to try: Try the classic version at Folk Heritage Museum Restaurant, Thimphu.

2. Kewa Datshi

blog-images

Kewa Datshi is a milder cousin of Ema Datshi-potatoes replace most or all of the chillies. Sliced potatoes gently cook in cheese sauce until soft and creamy. It’s a crowd‑pleaser, rich but not fiery, perfect for kids or spice-shy eaters. You’ll find it in almost every Bhutanese home and eateries across the valleys. While still part of the traditional food in Bhutan, it gives a softer taste of the Bhutan national food, showcasing how simple ingredients yield deep, comforting flavours in daily meals.

Where to Try: Best enjoyed at Sonam Trophel Restaurant, Paro

3. Shamu Datshi

blog-images

Shamu Datshi celebrates mushrooms: wild or cultivated, sautéed and then simmered with soft cheese. This dish balances earthy mushroom flavour and creamy cheesiness, showcasing local produce. Rich but unpretentious, it remains a favourite in mountain villages and modern cafés alike. It highlights how Bhutan Dishes centres around dairy and seasonal veggies. You’ll feel the warmth and freshness of Bhutanese kitchens-simple, hearty, and deeply rooted in place and tradition. It’s a quiet but essential part of the Bhutan popular food.

Where to Try: Head to Ambient Café, Thimphu, for a rich mushroom variant.

4. Phaksha Paa

Phaksha Paa is a robust pork dish that is as hearty as it is flavorful. Thin pork slices cook with dried red chillies, garlic, ginger, and sometimes radish or spinach, lending a chewy, spicy bite. The fat from the pork renders into a rich, oily gravy that coats each grain of red rice. It’s often made for guests, festivals, or family gatherings of the beloved bhutan dishes that show how meat and chilli unite in Bhutanese cooking. It’s a must‑try for meat lovers.

Where to Try: Visit Bhutan Kitchen, Thimphu, for flavorful pork preparations.

5. Jasha Maru

Jasha Maru is a lively, spicy chicken stew made with fresh chillies, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, and sesame oil. Unlike heavy curries, it strikes a balance between broth and stew. Each spoonful offers warm, peppery, uplifting comfort-perfect after a long walk in chilly mountains. Served over red rice or with buckwheat noodles, it shows how much variety the cuisine of Bhutan has beyond dairy and chillies. Locals and visitors alike enjoy it for its comforting spice and homey feel.

Where to Try: Tasty and spicy at Chimi Lhakhang Cafeteria, Punakha.

6. Red Rice

Red rice is the dietary foundation of every Bhutanese meal. Grown in valleys, it’s nutty, slightly sticky, and nutritious. Its reddish hue is a signature visual of Bhutanese plates. Whether with spicy stews like Ema Datshi or vegetable sides, red rice connects every meal to the land. This grain illustrates how essential it is in the Food of Bhutan-simple, wholesome, and sustaining. You’ll realise that without red rice, Bhutan dishes lose their grounding, both nutritional and cultural.

Where to Try: Served fresh with all meals at Hotel Druk, Thimphu.

7. Momos

Steamed or fried dumplings, momos, are a popular Bhutanese food snack and street delight. Filled with minced meat, cheese, or vegetables, they arrive hot and juicy, often with chilli-garlic dipping sauce. In every town, Momo stalls pop up alongside butter tea huts. Soft, portable, and spicy momos are the friendly face of Bhutan’s modern food scene. They represent how Bhutan popular food embraces outside influences while making them entirely its own.

Where to Try: Juicy and authentic at Zombala2, Thimphu.

8. Hoentay

Hoentay are buckwheat dumplings steamed to perfection, filled with cheese, spinach, or mustard greens. Popular during festivals in Haa and Punakha, they come from rural houses or monastery kitchens. Slightly nutty and chewy, Hoentay are served with ezay or butter. They highlight the vegetarian food in Bhutan, where every ingredient originates nearby-buckwheat, cheese, wild greens. Made communally, Hoentay also represent sharing and togetherness: food is always meant to be eaten, not just seen.

Where to Try: Best found in Haa Valley farm stays or at Simply Bhutan, Thimphu

9. Suja (Butter Tea)

Suja, or butter tea, is a salty, creamy elixir of life. Black tea blends with yak or cow butter and coarse salt, sometimes churned to frothy perfection. Morning or evening, it brings warmth on cold days and comfort in remote villages. Some whisk it energetically; others sip slowly. A cup signals trust and hospitality-guests are offered multiple refills. In the context of Bhutan food culture, Suja isn’t just a drink-it’s a ritual of welcome and belonging.

Where to Try: Sip the most authentic version at Zhiwa Ling Heritage, Paro.

10. Puta

Puta are buckwheat noodles-flat, greyish strands that cook quickly in water. Often tossed in oil, butter, chilli flakes, and a handful of vegetables, they result in a healthy, gluten-free meal. Originating in Bumthang, Puta speak to high-altitude resilience and local creativity. Enjoyed as a light meal or snack, Puta shows how the traditional food in Bhutan draws from local farms and staples to create fulfilling dishes. Simple ingredients, memorably tasty.

Where to Try: Delicious and local at the Swiss Guest House, Bumthang

11. Goen Hogay (Cucumber Salad)

blog-images

Goen Hogay is a crisp cucumber salad tossed with chilli powder, onion, cilantro, cheese bits, and a dash of mustard oil. Refreshing and spicy, it balances a hearty stew meal perfectly. It brightens the plate with a crunchy texture and cool flavour. As part of the cuisine of Bhutan, it shows the gentle side of spice and mirrors how Bhutanese plates balance warming stews with fresh accents.

Where to Try: Fresh and spicy at Chh’a Bistro, Paro.

12. Bathup

blog-images

Bathup is a thick noodle soup made with hand-pulled flour noodles in a simple, delicious broth with vegetables and chilli paste. Spicy and aromatic, it keeps out the cold in eastern valleys. One bowl fills you up warmly. It’s hearty comfort food in its purest form-rustic, nourishing, and communal. Bathup reminds you that the Food of Bhutan isn’t about complexity; it’s about warmth in every spoonful.

Where to Try: Comforting and warm at Hotel Jumolhari, Thimphu.

13. Zow Shungo

blog-images

Leftovers become love with Zow Shungo. Stir-fried rice with vegetables (and sometimes bits of meat) it’s a thrifty yet tasty dish. Oil, garlic, and chillies unite leftover ingredients into a fresh-tasting dish. Eaten for breakfast or lunch, it speaks to sustainable cooking in Bhutan-nothing wasted, flavours refreshed. This is Bhutan food brilliance: humble, efficient, and delicious.

Where to Try: Homemade flavour at family-run farmstays in Punakha

14. Khuli

Khuli are thick buckwheat pancakes-flat and wholesome. Cooked on a griddle with oil, they pair beautifully with chilli cheese sauce, butter, or eggs. Once you add an Ema-like topping, you create a full meal. They’re traditional yet flexible. In the traditional food in Bhutan, Khuli is comfort on a plate-nutty, satisfying, and pure. Perfect for brunch by a mountain fire.

Where to Try: Taste it hot off the pan at Ugyen Farmhouse, Bumthang.

15. Sikam Paa

Sikam Paa is dried pork slices fried with garlic, onions, and chilli. The first bites are chewy, crispy, and salty. The oil sizzles and coats your rice. It’s hearty, smoky, and addictive-perfect for meat lovers wanting bold flavour. It’s one of those bhutan famous food dishes you’ll taste and never forget. Rustic, meaty, and full of attitude.

Where to Try: Crispy pork perfection at Zombala2, Thimphu.

16. Jaju

Jaju is a gentle soup made of milk or cheese broth and leafy greens-spinach, turnip, or mustard greens-that offers mild nourishment. It rebalances the palate after spicy meals. Served in family homes, monasteries, and festivals, it soothes and nourishes. Even a sip feels like cosiness. As part of the cuisine of Bhutan, Jaju shows how meals are crafted for balance-heat, comfort, nutrition, and community.

Where to Try: Light and nourishing at Folk Heritage Museum Café, Thimphu.

17. Ezay (Chili Paste)

blog-images

Ezay is Bhutan’s spicy heart. Fresh chillies, garlic, onions, tomato, cheese, and sometimes herbs are chopped or mashed into a paste. Each household has its version. You’ll find it beside every meal-rice, momos, soups. A spoonful of ezay adds fire to your dish, as much as you like. It’s not just food; it’s addiction, flavour, personality. Without ezay, the Food of Bhutan loses its soul.

Where to Try: Served with every meal, best homemade in local farm kitchens.

18. Dresi

blog-images

Dresi is a sweet rice pudding rare sugary delight in Bhutanese cuisine. Made with rice, butter, raisins, sugar, and spices like cardamom, it is served at Losar (New Year) or special occasions. Rich, sweet, and fragrant, it contrasts with fiery stews. It commemorates celebrations-it’s a blessing on your palate. In Bhutanese food, sweet dishes are rare but revered; Dresi is one you can’t miss.

Where to Try: Offered during festivals or on request at Zhiwa Ling, Paro.

19. Laphing

blog-images

Borrowed from Tibet but loved in Bhutan, Laphing is a cold mung-bean noodle salad, topped with chilli oil and soy sauce. Refreshing, chewy, tangy-urban staples are loved in Thimphu’s cafes and markets. It shows how Bhutan food culture adapts and grows, mixing old and new. A perfect summer snack or lunch to cool you down after spice.

Where to Try: Street food in Bhutan, favourite at Norzin Lam Road stalls, Thimphu.

20. Nga Paa (Fish Curry)

blog-images

In the southern, tropical regions near India, Nga Paa is enjoyed: fish stewed in mild chilli-tomato broth with local spices. It’s a departure from mountain palettes, but it’s a testament to Bhutan’s regional flavours. Comforting yet different, it underscores the diversity within the cuisine of Bhutan. A delicious look at how geography shapes what Bhutanese families eat.

Where to Try: Mild fish curry available at Tashi Namgay Resort, Paro.

21. Ara

blog-images

Ara is home‑brewed rice or maize liquor-often sipped warm with rice and butter. Used in rituals or shared among friends, it’s smooth, sweet‑grassy, and warming. Watch locals drink small clay cups around festival tents-it’s social glue. Ara ties the people, place, and time together. It reflects how Bhutan food culture includes not just meals, but drinks that bind us culturally and communally.

Where to Try: Taste traditional Ara at farmhouses in Bumthang or Haa.

22. Lom

blog-images

Dried turnip leaves, or lom, are collected in autumn, hung on rafters, and used throughout winter. They rehydrate into soft greens that simmer in cheese or chilli sauce. It’s a symbol of self-reliance and season-smarts. Each bite speaks of mountain cold, long nights, and culinary respect. It’s a unique taste of Bhutan’s past and present food habits.

Where to Try: Best served with chilli cheese in rural homes in central Bhutan.

23. Noodle Thukpa

blog-images

Hearty, warm noodle soup with broth, vegetables, meat, garlic, and chilli-Thukpa is comfort in a bowl. Tibetan origin but wholly Bhutanese in its many regional versions, it’s hearty, easy, and delicious. In chilly mountain towns, it’s often the go-to lunch. You can taste the Food of Bhutan in each spoonful of hot broth and fresh noodles.

Where to Try: Enjoy a hearty bowl at Kuenphen Restaurant, Trashigang.

24. Bhutanese‑Style Pizza

blog-images

Cafés in Thimphu offer pizza with chilli cheese, yak meat, or ezay. It’s fun, spicy, cheesy innovation. International flavours meet local taste and thrive. The best part? It's rooted in the cuisine of Bhutan because of those chilli-cheese toppings. Try it for comfort and curiosity.

Where to Try: Try spicy easy-topped versions at The Zone Cafe, Thimphu.

25. Walnut Paste Cheese Dish

blog-images

In central valleys, walnut paste (nebuk) is mixed with cheese or tossed in chilli, then baked or warmed. Nutty, creamy, showy at festivals-walnut and cheese combine local harvest and ceremony. It's another Bhutan famous food you’ll hear about on special occasions. Rich, elegant, and memorable.

Where to Try: Rich and unique at the Swiss Guest House, Bumthang.

Final Thoughts

These dishes showcase how the Food of Bhutan is warm, spicy, and deeply connected to the land and community. Cheese, chillies, red rice, buckwheat, and mountain herbs make everyday meals feel special. This is food with roots-simple, sustainable, soulful.

When you taste Ema Datshi, sip Suja, or warm your hands on steamed momos, you taste a nation. You taste mountain meals from hearths and festivals, centuries of tradition, and people whose joy lies in sharing bowls and smiles.

Suggested Reads

Get exclusive travel insights & updates into your inbox!

*By clicking subscribe you'll receive emails from WanderOn.

You have already subscribed our newsletter!
Thanks for Subscribing our newsletter!

Siddhant Raman

We went on a customised trip to Bhutan with WanderOn in April, 2024. It was a great experience. WanderOn is very transparent in every step of creating the tour itinerary for you. Sohail was our first contact and Rounaq was our POC for the complete trip and he took care of everything from booking to every day’s itinerary follow ups. Rounaq helped us in getting our desired hotels and he even upgraded to a better one in Thimphu when we could not get the selected hotel. WanderOn made sure that our transfers/immigration/site-seeing were comfortable, smooth and enjoyable. The guide Tshering Tashi and driver Nidup were very nice and patient with us.

Continue Reading

Neethu Mariya Joy

It was an amazing trip. I recently went to Bhutan with WanderOn (7N/8D with Phobjikha valley) and it was a beautiful place to visit. The immigration experience was smooth. We got to visit clean and peaceful cities, cool and serene valleys and truly magnificent monasteries. The best part is that we covered everything in the itinerary and more, including an energetic karaoke night and a chill ride to a snow capped mountain. We enjoyed trying their famous dishes, staying in many nice hotels, taking cute pictures with cherry blossom trees, tasting their special wine and tea,… the list of good stuff could go on. Thanks to the trip captain, Abhishek, for this great trip. He took all of our opinions and needs into account when there was any change in the plan and made sure that our time was spent well. We always had a clear plan for the next day which made it easy for us to coordinate. He informed us well about all the best places to eat and shop in the cities and encouraged us to explore places on our own too. The group that accompanied me during the trip were totally fun. Special thanks to our tour guide and the driver for making this an easy, fun and flexible trip. This trip makes me want to go on many more trips!

Continue Reading

Sneha Landge

I have been on a lot of group trips with different companies, however this one with Wanderon of Bhutan with Phobjikha valley stands out in all ways. From the well strategized, executed tour to the food, location everything was worth it. The wide variety of activities we covered in the limited time was something I didn't expect and was a delightful surprise. Special shoutout to our trip captain Anubhav for being true leader for the smallest stuff to Mr Yonten who was a local guide and explained everything in detail about the culture and history of Bhutan. Also this was the only trip wherein everyone was so mature and supportive that it became the most memorable trip for me.

Continue Reading

Jignesh Gharat

I recently traveled to the magical kingdom of Bhutan with WanderOn, and it was an experience I'll cherish forever! 🌟 The itinerary was spot-on, covering all the must-see spots while allowing plenty of time for soaking in the serene beauty of the Himalayas. Our trip captain, Abhishek Ghosh, was an absolute gem, ensuring everyone had a memorable time and creating an amazing group atmosphere. We all felt like one big happy Team! Food and stay? Absolutely no worries there! Everything was top-notch, with delicious local cuisine and comfortable accommodations throughout the trip. Our local guide in Bhutan was fantastic, sharing deep insights into the traditions and history of this enchanting place. If you're thinking of exploring Bhutan, I can't recommend WanderOn enough. They truly know how to make a trip unforgettable! 🌏✨

Continue Reading

FAQ'S

01

What is the national dish of Bhutan?

The national dish of Bhutan is Ema Datshi. It’s made using spicy green or red chillies cooked with local cheese. This dish is loved across the country and is served daily with rice, especially red rice.

02

What are the most popular Bhutanese dishes?

03

Is Bhutanese food spicy?

04

What is the traditional drink of Bhutan?

05

What do Bhutanese people eat for breakfast?

06

Is vegetarian food available in Bhutan?

WANDERON EXPERIENCES PVT LTD

3rd Floor, Building No-436, Phase IV, Udyog Vihar, Sector-18, Gurugram, Haryana-122015

© WANDERON EXPERIENCES PVT LTD, All rights reserved.
bak
Request a Call Back
Request a Call Back

Where do you want to go next?

Make your move, fill out your details now!
icon
icon
icon
msg
Thank you! Your form has been submitted successfully. We'll be in touch soon.
Your details have been submitted. Our Expert will get in touch with you soon.