Buckwheat, cheese and Bumthang's own beer

Rice does not grow well at Bumthang's height, so the valleys traditionally lived on buckwheat, wheat and barley. The two dishes to try are puta, thick grey buckwheat noodles tossed with butter, chilli and sometimes egg, and khuli, buckwheat pancakes eaten with ema datshi or a chilli-cheese relish. Many hotels in Jakar will cook them on request; ask your guide the day before. Fields of buckwheat turn pink and white with flowers in late summer.

Bumthang is also Bhutan's dairy country. A Swiss-founded enterprise in Jakar has made cheese for decades, and you can buy Swiss-style cheese, local honey and apple juice in town. The same enterprise started Bhutan's well-known Red Panda wheat beer, brewed in Jakar, which you will see on menus across the country. Local datshi cheese, the kind used in ema datshi, is made in farmhouses and sold fresh in the market.

Spend an afternoon walking Jakar's main street: a bakery, the cheese shop, a café for puta, and a farmhouse visit arranged by your guide to see buckwheat being ground or noodles pressed. Budget ₹300–800 per person, indicative 2026. Buckwheat and gluten: puta and khuli often contain some wheat flour, so ask if you are gluten-intolerant. Vegetarians eat well here.