First Look: Get Spicy Himalayan Rice Balls at Apa’s Canteen in the CBD

“I knew we weren’t gonna blow up overnight,” says Sonam Thinley, the owner of Bhutanese-inspired Apa’s Canteen. “It’s such a niche cuisine.” 

Bhutan is a South Asian country in the Eastern Himalayas with a population of around 790,000. In 2021, Melbourne was home to just 778 people born in the landlocked nation. So rather than focus on strictly traditional food, Apa’s Canteen has brought Bhutanese flavours to the CBD in the form of onigiri. The shop serves 10 types of the Japanese rice balls, not typical of Bhutan. Each is filled with the Thinley family’s take on traditional dishes and ingredients.

While atypical, onigiri didn’t feel “too out of place,” Thinley says. “[In Bhutan], we might eat rice for all three meals … [It’s] normally rolled up and dipped into cheesy or soupy dishes.” These dishes usually star jerky, dried vegetables and dried chillies.

Three of Apa’s onigiri use variations of ema datshi, a fragrant cheese-and-chilli stew and the national dish of Bhutan. Proper datshi (Bhutanese cottage cheese) is hard to find in Australia, but the Thinleys discovered that a mix of ricotta, cheddar and cottage cheese achieves almost the same tang. 

Garlic and fresh green chillies sauteed in butter form the base of all three ema datshi: the classic, the potato-filled kewa datshi and the mushroom-based shamu datshi. For each recipe, the chillies are added at different times to draw out their maximum heat.  

Thinley grew up in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, and has been in Melbourne for eight years. She says spicy heat is essential to Bhutanese cooking. “If [someone in Bhutan] goes, ‘Oh, this isn’t spicy’, it’s almost safe to assume that they mean that the food is not good.” 

Other onigiri include prawn maru, a buttery stew typically made with chicken; spinach paired with pork jerky from a Bhutanese producer in Perth; and a classic tuna mayo onigiri with ezay, a condiment made with dried green chillies.

Thinley, who comes from a marketing background, opened the Little Collins Street shop with her parents in December, and also has their help in the kitchen. Apa’s ezay has tea-infused butter added – a personal touch from her dad (or “apa” in Dzongkha, Bhutan’s national language) Karma Thinley, who is the brains behind every recipe at the cafe. Her mum, Kencho Wangmo, can be found in the kitchen too. 

The drinks are buttery. Iced matcha and hojicha drinks are blended with house-made syrups and Paul’s butter. The Aussie brand’s butter has a high fat percentage, which Thinley says is similar to the freshly churned cow butter commonly found in Bhutan. Miso gives the strawberry and banana versions an umami kick, and the creamiest of the trio is topped with a hand-whipped buttercream foam. Brewed with black tea, cloves and dried bay leaves, a traditional hot suja (butter tea) rounds out the menu. 

Apa’s Canteen is a take on the cosy local eateries that meet the need for quick and convenient dining. In addition to the onigiri, the family launched brunch and dinner service last week, with a line-up of typical canteen food with influences from Nepal, which is west of Bhutan. 

Expect roti paired with meat and vegetable ema datshis and turmeric-forward chana (black chickpea) fried rice. There’s also a selection of buckwheat dumplings and Bhutanese-style momo, which Thinley says are less spicy and saucy than their Nepalese counterparts, but come with fiery ezay on the side. Stuffed with dried turnip leaves, perilla leaves, nuts and cheese, a buckwheat momo native to Bhutan’s Haa Valley is a standout. 

Apa’s Canteen
4/353 Little Collins Street, Melbourne

Hours:
Mon to Wed 11am–5pm
Thu to Sat 11am–9pm
Sun 5pm–9pm

@apascanteen