Surprising, fiery, mouth-consuming and utterly swoon-worthy—well, at least for anyone with any semblance of tolerance for heat on the Scoville Scale—there is no better metaphor for describing Bhutan’s national dish, ema datshi, than that it’s a first kiss that you know in an instant won’t be your last.And what a kiss it is.

Always some variation of sautéed local peppers of varying degrees of heat; onion, perhaps garlic or other spices, and fresh local farm cheese (the backbone of the dish’s beautifully unctuous sauce), ema datshi arrives at nearly every lunch and dinner here rather unceremoniously … (continue reading)