Wondering what to eat in Shangri-La? This beautiful town in Yunnan is the perfect place to sample authentic Tibetan food. With its large Tibetan population, most of the restaurants here are Tibetan, making it a fantastic spot to dive into traditional flavors you won’t find elsewhere in China. Tibetan cuisine is distinct from other Chinese cuisines, shaped by the high plateau where yak meat, barley and buckwheat breads, and rich dairy products form the base of hearty meals. These are our top Tibetan dishes to try in Shangri-La!
Yak hotpot
Walking around the ancient town of Shangri-La, you will see plenty of restaurants offering yak hotpot. It’s a perfect way to sample yak meat which has a little bit more gamey flavour than beef. If you’re lucky you’ll find a restaurant offering classic Tibetan dance and music as entertainment while enjoying your yak hotpot.
Tibetan Barley Cake (Qingke cake)
You’ll find Tibetan barley cake on pretty much every menu of Tibetan restaurants. They usually accompany other dishes quite well, and we found that the flavour and mouthfeel of the barley cakes differs a lot from restaurant to restaurant. Some were more dense and less sweet, while others were more porous and sweeter, reminding us a bit of sponge cake. It goes especially well with hot yak cheese in butter (see below).
Tibetan Butter tea
Tibetan butter tea is a thick, salty tea made with plenty of yak butter. The saltiness can take a while to get used to, but luckily most restaurants also serve it sweet. After travelling to Mongolia we thought it would be more similar to the Mongolian milk tea (which is a salty tea usually made with yak milk), however, the thick buttery taste of the Tibetan butter tea what quite different to the Mongolian milk tea. Tibetan butter tea is a must try in Shangri-La!
Yak yoghurt
How often do you get the chance to try yak yoghurt? Ours was sweetened and reminded us of kid’s yoghurt from back home. Served with what we believe was powdered Tibetan barley (it reminded us of Swedish skrädmjöl).
Yak milk
If butter tea is not your preferred drink, be sure to try the yak milk! Ours was served hot, and as Swedes we are pretty used to accompany a meal with milk. Surprisingly for us, it didn’t taste much different to cow milk.
Hot yak cheese in butter
We tried two different styles of hot yak cheese in butter. One of them named “milk dregs in butter” was a sour type of chewy yak cheese in butter that we tried at Tibetan Guesthouse in Tiger Leaping Gorge. The other one was a creamy and a little bit sweetened type of Yak cheese in butter which flavour reminded us of goat cheese. Both of them tasted great and was a perfect combination with the barley cake, the two different styled Tibetan pancakes that we tried (see below).
Buckwheat pancake
Buckwheat, related to rhubarb and not wheat, makes a great pancake in Tibetan cuisine. We found the buckwheat cake pretty similar to the barley cake, but with a less grainy feel and usually a little bit sweeter this became our preferred choice over the barley cake.
Tibetan pancakes
Small pancakes fried in oil, these puffy pieces of bread made a great breakfast. Break them and fill them with the hot yak cheese mentioned above and you’ll be set until lunch.
Barley noodles
Being in Yunnan, we are in the rice noodle part of the country. However, in Shangri-La you’ll have the chance to try barley noodles. Unfortunately, we never had time to try them, so if you do, please let us know what you think!
Whether it’s yak hotpot or barley cakes, Tibetan cuisine in Shangri-La offers a hearty, unique experience you won’t find elsewhere in China. Be sure to come hungry!
Have you tried Tibetan food in Shangri-La? Share your favorite dish in the comments below.
