One of the first things we get asked is about the food and I can report that it is different to any other country I’ve been to. Despite being sandwiched between the two culinary giants of India and China, Bhutan somehow does its own thing.

The most important thing to note is that the Bhutanese love chillies, to the point where they might be called a vegetable rather than a condiment. The national dish is ema datshi, chillies cooked with cheese. The locals eat great platefuls of rice (usually red) with enough ema datshi to add flavour and hold everything together. It is traditionally eaten with the hands.

Bhutanese meals consist of rice served with many small dishes, mostly vegetarian with one or two meat dishes. Bhutan is not a vegetarian country even though it is forbidden to kill animals. Most meat is imported from India.

Almost everything grown in Bhutan is organic and you can expect meals to include only seasonal vegetables. Fresh produce is always very fresh, not kept in cold storage. Meals are always freshly prepared for guests, usually on the day it is eaten.

If you love chilli, you’re going to love it. If you don’t, the good news is that restaurants that serve tourists usually make the chillies optional. For the most authentic Bhutanese food, try a homestay.

My favourite dish of all is hoentay, the dumplings made from buckwheat flour that can only be found in the Haa Valley. They are hefty, little things but the flavour is great! I’ve made it a bit of a quest to search for the perfect dumplings (momos) in Bhutan and I can tell you that there are plenty of good ones to choose from!