Haa Valley Bhutan Buckwheat Momo • Hoentey • Dumplings📍Kuenphen Restaurant ☎️ +975-17889641 ☎️ +975-77307753

Ema datsi or chili cheese is the national dish (and best known Bhutanese dish to foreigners). Chili cheese is a side dish in most Bhutanese meals while momo, a dumpling dish less known outside Bhutan has a strong presence in the country as a staple dish. The dumpling dish is widely popular and momo joints are everywhere in Bhutan (in the same way chicken rice is ubiquitous in Singapore).

During my couple of Bhutan trips, I was brought to several momo shops - the dumpling is a favourite with Bhutanese. The one that I enjoyed most was buckwheat momo in Haa Valley which is known locally as hoentey.

We had hoentey at Kuenphen Restaurant in Haa town, our guide Llamo's favourite - Llamo attended school in the Haa Valley, so she knows the little town well.

Haa town in the Haa Valley is about 2 hours of driving on a winding, hill hugging paved mountain road heading southwest from Paro town (near where Bhutan's only international airport is located).

Haa district has a population of over 13,000 people. The main economic activities of Haa are rice farming and yak (mountain cattle) herding.

Haa in Dzongkha language means rice.

Friendly meetings with yak herds are quite frequent on the road to Haa.

The beautiful Haa Valley where the Haa Chu river runs through it. Towns and villages in Bhutan are mainly established in valleys. Most valleys are deep and narrow like a big corridor between mountains.

Haa Valley is at the foot of "Three Brothers" - hills Jampelyang (Buddha of wisdom), Chana Dorji (Buddha of power and victory), and Chenrezig (Buddha of compassion).

Can you see the three peaks in the above photo?

Downtown Haa is a small strip town. The 1.5km main street is lined with beautifully ornate traditional shops and houses.

The streets felt quiet because it was cold outside, so people stayed indoors and there wasn't a lot of people here to start with.

Kuenphen Restaurant is in this beautiful building.

Inside Kuenphen Restaurant.

Simple hyperlocal, warm, laid back place where locals hangout or chillout (chill out sounds ironic), cocooned from the cold, dry, windy air outside.

Turnips, one of the main fillings in the Haa style momo / hoentey is freshly hand shredded at the eatery.

The Hoentey dumplings were relatively huge. Momos are likely derived from Chinese dumplings or jiaozi 餃子 where in northwest China they are known as 馍馍 (sounds like momo). The dish likely went to Tibet (where it is also very common) before finding its way into Bhutan (and Nepal).

In the Haa Valley, momos are called hoentey. In Nepal, pan fried momos are called kothey. Kothey is likely derived from 锅贴 or guotie, the Chinese pan fried dumpling.

In the Haa Valley, hoentey can refer to both steamed and pan fried dumplings.

Whereas Chinese dumplings or jiaozi have thin skin, momo / hoentey skin and folds are relatively thick. The buckwheat flour dough skin here in Haa looked deliciously brownish compared to pale white yellowish wheat flour dumplings.

Despite its name, buckwheat is neither a type of wheat nor grain but seeds from buckwheat flowers. Unlike wheat, buckwheat is gluten / guilt free (one of the reasons why I love hoentey).

The hoentey were filled with shredded turnip, leek, perilla seeds, cheese, etc.

(Hoentey can also have meat like ground pork, beef or chicken.)

The thick buckwheat skin was soft chewy while the filling was soft tender, juicy, savoury sweet delicious. Buckwheat skin also has its own cereal type of taste profile which I like (different from wheat).

Locals like to eat momo / hoentey (just about everything) with eazey, a spicy paste condiment made with chili pepper, peppercorn, tomato, onion, cheese and oil.

Bhutanese cuisine more often than not contains cheese. There's cheese in the dumpling and cheese in the chili paste.

The spicy hot savoury sauce makes the momo / hoentey tastes better for chili heat lovers like me.

If you are in the Haa Valley, check out the district's buckwheat momo or hoentey at Kuenphen Restaurant or any that you can find. Share with us your experience.