An evening food walk on Zhung Lam

Start at dusk near the Zangtho Pelri temple, when families come out to walk around it and spin the prayer wheels. The restaurants on the surrounding streets are mostly simple rooms with plastic tablecloths and a short menu. Order ema datshi, Bhutan's national dish of green or red chillies cooked in a sauce of local cheese. Here it is often made with large green chillies, and it is hot. Eat it with red rice, which comes from the Paro valley and is nutty and slightly sticky.

Next, momos. Phuentsholing's momo shops serve pork, beef, chicken and cheese versions, steamed or fried, with a fierce chilli sauce on the side; a plate is ₹80–150. If the ema datshi was too much, try kewa datshi, potatoes in the same cheese sauce, which is gentler. Vegetarians eat well in Bhutan because the datshi family is built on cheese and vegetables. For dessert, the bakeries on the main street sell simple cakes and doughnuts.

Finish with suja, butter tea made with salt and butter, which tastes more like a light soup than tea. Many Indian visitors find it odd at first; it makes sense on a cold pass, less so in Phuentsholing's heat, but this is a cheap place to try it. Budget ₹300–700 per person for the whole walk, indicative 2026. Indian rupees are accepted everywhere at par with the ngultrum.