Restaurants are relatively scarce and most tourists eat in their hotels where the chefs temper the spicy Bhutanese dishes to suit Western tastes.

Things to know: Meals are often buffet-style and mostly vegetarian. Recent restrictions on meat-eating have lapsed ever so slightly and meat is surprisingly easy to come by. Meat and fish are now imported from nearby India, and Nepali Hindus living in Bhutan are licensed to slaughter animals.

National specialities:
• Cheese is a very popular ingredient in dishes and the most popular cheeses are datse (cow’s milk cheese), sometimes served in a dish with red chillies (emadatse), and yak cheese.
• Rice is ubiquitous, sometimes flavoured with saffron, apart from in central Bhutan where the altitude makes rice cultivation difficult. Buckwheat is the staple here.
• The country is replete with apple orchards, rice paddies and asparagus, which grows freely in the countryside.
• There are over 400 varieties of mushroom including orchid mushrooms.

National drinks:
• The most popular drink is souza (Bhutanese tea).
• Ara (a spirit distilled from rice, wheat or corn).

Tipping: Not widely practised.

Markets are held regularly, generally on Saturday and Sunday, and are a rich source of local clothing and jewellery, as well as food. The Handicraft Emporium on the main street in the capital is open daily except Sunday and offers a magnificent assortment of handwoven and handcrafted goods. The Motithang Hotel in Thimphu has a souvenir shop. Silversmiths and goldsmiths in the Thimphu Valley are able to make handcrafted articles to order. Shopping is otherwise limited. Phuentsholing has the first and only department store of Bhutan.

Shopping hours: Mon-Sun 0900-2000 (closed Tues).