Food in Bhutan – tasty & spicy with plenty of cheese

The food in Bhutan is influenced by Indian, Chinese and Nepalese cuisine. You can eat at high end 5 star hotel restaurants sitting on gorgeous terraces with breathtaking valley or forest views and drink good wine. Try the Bhutanese whiskey and some of their craft beers.

You could also experience basic farm house food sitting in simple but authentic surroundings. Or a snack at a street side coffee shop chain like Mountain Café.

There is quite a lot of cheese featured in typical Bhutanese cuisine including a dish called Chilly Cheese!

Vegetables and fruits are fresh and full of flavour. There is plenty of non-vegetarian food too, no one will go hungry but you have to ask for what you like!

Typical Bhutanese food is quite spicy! It typically features red rice, both vegetarian and non vegetarian curries and some dishes which have cheese in them.

Most higher end hotels have a comprehensive selection of good quality European food too. Fruit and vegetables are very fresh and used very well. We loved all the food we had at both our Punhaka and Paro Como hotels. Overall we preferred the food in Punhaka.

Click Where to Stay in Bhutan to read more about that.

There is a good Indian restaurant in Thimpu at the Pema by Realm hotel, just a coffee shop but the food is really good.

We also ate at a farmhouse one day after our Tigers Nest hike, that was a lovely experience, but the seating etc is quite basic and it’s tiring after your long trek.

Wine and spirits are also good in Bhutan, we enjoyed trying the K5 Bhutanese branded whiskey at both our Como hotels.

I also recommend you try some locally brewed artisanal Bhutansese beer too!

But most of all we drank ginger tea (ask for less honey if you don’t like yours too sweet) We also loved the chunky orange marmalade at the COMO Uma Paro. Very fresh and made from local oranges.

Ezay is a type of chilli paste made with onions, garlic and dried red chillies, lot’s of chillies! I had a little bit with everything, even my tomato pasta dish one night! But the Bhutanese typically have it with a fair amount of rice!

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