SOTC Blog

Here’s the thing about the food culture of Bhutan, when you visit the country, you will get to taste a range of Bhutanese, Tibetan, Nepali, and Indian food, which are all very common and well represented throughout Bhutan.

However, it is no fun if you don’t try out some of Bhutan’s most popular dishes.

Fun fact: Bhutan is known to use a lot of chili and cheese in their cuisine

Just a heads up… you may experience some drooling while scrolling through the list:

1. Ema Datshi

A unique and spicy semi gravy combo of chili pepper and cheese, the chilies are either fresh green chilies or dry red chilies, cooked with datshi i.e local Bhutanese cheese, with a generous amount of butter.

2. Kewa Datshi

Kewa is Bhutanese for potato. This mildly flavoured dish is similar to scalloped potatoes only cooked with local cheese, and few other ingredients like chillies and tomatoes.

3. Yak Meat

This perfectly sweet and lightly-flavoured red meat served with rice, and veggies is juicier than buffalo, and not too gooey. So, if you want to opt for some lean-protein and rich in natural oils, this is the non vegetarian food you must try.

4. Zow Shungo

This is a rather simple mildly spiced and flavourful dish which is light on stomach, made with all kinds of veggies available at the local market.

5. Goep

If you love tripe, slices of tripe sautéed with chilies, onions, and small vegetables, is a drool-worthy food that you must have when in Bhutan.

6. Jasha Maroo

Also known as spicy chicken, it cooked with a mix of chilies, onion, tomato, garlic, coriander leaves and ginger with thinley diced chicken. Though often called a stew, there’s a hefty portion of chicken broth in the final dish. Combine it with red rice to experience this delicacy in its purest form.

7. Phaksha Paa (Pork with Red Chilies)

This Bhutanese stew of boneless pork shoulder is slow cooked with radish, ginger, bok choy, and of course the chilli powder. Finally, the stew is garnished with dried pork and fresh green chili. Serve it alongside red rice.

8. Momos

These yummy dumplings originated from the Tibetan cuisine. In Bhutan, usually served for special occasions, they are stuffed with pork, beef or cabbage and cheese.

9. Red Rice

Regardless of where you are in Bhutan, you must eat the famous red rice. The red rice is what Dal Rice is to Indians or Bread is to Americans. It is said that this minerally rich rice is so healthy, that one serving of it will give you 80% of your daily manganese and 20 % your daily phosphorous need. It also has one of the more famous anti-oxidant known as flavanoids which helps in fighting cancer cells.

10. The Red Panda Beer

This delicious, refreshing and light in taste beer is quiet the must-have beverage prevalent all over Bhutan.

Enjoy all of these mouth-watering dishes on your Bhutan tour! Know more about some more amazing Things to do in Bhutan with SOTC Holidays. Plan your Bhutan trip with SOTC’s exclusive Bhutan Tour Packages and explore the best of Bhutan tourism!