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| Mom's Restaurant 📌 Khaling town along Trashigang - Samdrup - Jongkhar Highway ☏ 1798 1386 ☏ 1790 4662 ⏰ Lunch & Dinner |
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Master Sonam oversees many aspects of the monastery's operations including its farm which produces vegetables, milk, butter and cheese for the monks' daily meals. This picture was taken at the monastery's mushroom farm near Khaling.
Khaling is over an hour drive down from the monastery. Highway driving in Bhutan is a bit more strenuous - it's a lone winding, slope hugging, up and downslope, narrow single+ lane road. Khaling is the nearest town from the monastery.
Khaling is a small strip town in Trashigang district in east Bhutan. Population is less than 1,500 people.
In the local Sharchop language, Khaling means "bird valley".
Yeah, life in Bhutan is mainly in the valleys in the shadow of the majestic Himalayas. Altitude of Khaling is about 1240 metres (which is relatively low compared to, for example, Thimphu the capital city at 2334 metres).
Girl in Bhutanese school uniform.
Khaling is the home of Jigme Sherubling Higher Secondary School founded in 1978.
Playing carrom is a popular pastime and social activity in Bhutan.
Master Sonam's favourite eating place at Khaling is Mom's Restaurant / Mom's Bakery.
Mom's Restaurant is run by three friendly ladies from the same family. Bhutanese are very warm towards visitors from overseas.
Most Bhutanese speak grammatical and relatively accent / slang free English, so English speaking tourists will find communicating with locals easy.
Stepping into a Bhutanese restaurant often feel like stepping into someone's home. Low coffee tables, sofa, carpet, lacey covers and curtains.
Mom's is also a popular bakery and patisserie.
We let Master Sonam make the orders.
From top to bottom: Sikam Paa (dried pork with vegetable), Kewa Datsi (potato with cheese) and Ema Datsi (chilli with cheese). We had chickpea soup and whey to go with the dishes.
Actually, I had this combination several meal times during my couple of trips to Bhutan but I never tire of it.
The custom is the take a portion of the dishes to eat with your own plate of boiled white rice.
Locals eat with their fingers but you may request to use fork and spoon, if you prefer.
As you can see, Bhutanese diet is rich in protein and vitamins, with the necessary carbs. I am very sparing with my carbs, while Bhutanese (especially men) typically take more.
Silam paa is one of my favourite Bhutanese dishes. Air dried pork with dried chili and fresh cabbage. Most Bhutanese dishes have either chili or cheese or both (like ema datsi).
I find Bhutanese air dried pork marvelouslly delicious though it is obvious why not all visitors take to it right away.
It is almost all fat with just a thin strip of meat and skin.
But, that belt of pure fat was like candied melon in texture, juicy and tasted savoury sweet like Cantonese wax sausage. Its flavours are well complemented by spicy dried chili and crunchy juicy sweet fresh cabbage.
Kewa datsi or potato cheese.
Soft potato sweet with gently savoury creamy cheese with hints of heat from chili and aromas from spring onion, etc.
Comforting staple. Bhutan has many potato fields in the valleys.
And, there will always be ema datsi or chili cheese, the ubiquitous national dish of Bhutan.
Bhutanese view chili pepper not as a spice but a vegetable, albeit a spicy one.
More than averagely spicy hot even by Southeast Asian standards, overlaid with the savoury salty sweetness of creamy cheese.
Bhutanese love chili, they have chili in almost every dish and still eat them with more chili such as the spicy condiment known as eazey which is like the Southeast Asian chili paste / sauce.
If you are in Khaling town looking for a meal, can consider Mom's Restaurant.
Restaurant name: Mom's Restaurant / Bakery
Address: Along Trashigang - Samdrup - Jongkhar Highway
Tel: 1798 1386 ☏ 1790 4662
Hours: Lunch & Dinner
Written by Tony Boey on 23 Nov 2025
Who is Tony Johor Kaki?
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