Damus Heritage Dine Chug Valley

Damu's Heritage Dine: Step Inside a 300-Year-Old Monpa Home and Eat Like You Belong There

An OurGuest exclusive experience in Chug Valley, Arunachal Pradesh

Deep in the Chug Valley of West Kameng, past orange orchards in bloom, beyond terraced fields of millet and red rice, there is a stone-and-mud home that has stood for three centuries. For decades it sat abandoned, its thick walls holding nothing but memory. Today, it holds a table — a signature red table — and around it, some of the most extraordinary food being cooked anywhere in India.

This is Damu's Heritage Dine, an OurGuest exclusive experience that is rewriting what responsible travel can look, feel, and taste like in Northeast India. 

A Name That Carries Its Weight

"Damu" is the Duhumbi word for daughter — a tribute to the eight Monpa women who run this space entirely. Backed by WWF India's Community Conserved Area initiative in West Kameng, the venture was born in March 2024 from a simple but profound question: what if the community's best incentive to protect the forest was the forest itself?

The women - farmers, foragers, and custodians of a fading culinary tradition were supported by the Arunachal Rural Livelihoods Mission to restore the ancestral home and establish a community kitchen. Today, Damu's is the only boutique dining experience of its kind on the Tawang tourist circuit, and it has already won the International Responsible Tourism Award 2024 for "Employing and Upskilling Local Communities."

When you book through OurGuest, you are not just reserving a meal. You are entering into one of the most considered cultural experiences in the country. 

The Setting: Where the Himalayas Come to the Table

Chug Valley sits at altitude in the Eastern Himalayas, a landscape of paddy terraces, plum and cherry blossoms, and forests shared by the Monpa community and some of India's most endangered wildlife, including the red panda and the snow leopard.

The building that houses Damu's is one of the last surviving examples of traditional Monpa stone-and-mud architecture in the region, a style increasingly being replaced by concrete. Its restoration was deliberate: a statement that what is worth preserving is worth inhabiting.

Inside, the air carries the warmth of charcoal. Rough stone walls frame the light. The women begin preparing at 8 AM for a 1 PM lunch sourcing ingredients from their own farms and the surrounding forest that very morning. Everything served at the table grows within sight of where you sit. 

The OurGuest Experience: What to Expect

The Living Museum of the Monpas

Your experience begins before the first dish arrives. A curated collection of traditional utensils, handwoven textiles, farming tools, ceremonial objects, and archival photographs documents the life and material culture of the Monpa people. What makes this unlike any conventional museum is the obvious: the culture being documented is also the one currently cooking your meal in the kitchen nearby.

Museum entry: ₹50 per person

The 7-Course Monpa Feast

Seated at the signature red table, a maximum of 11 guests per sitting, this is the centrepiece of any visit to Damu's. Each course is a lesson in Monpa cuisine that is simultaneously traditional in its recipes and simultaneously contemporary in its presentation.

Phursing Gombu — The dish that defines Damu's. A corn flour tart shell roasted over charcoal and hand-shaped, filled with oleoresin extracted from the Chinese lacquer tree. The oleoresin — called phursing in the Monpa dialect — melts into a dark pool at the centre of the shell. Traditionally used as a natural painkiller, it is now the most celebrated dish on the menu. Only one person in the village is skilled at extracting this allergenic sap.

Churra Gombu — A corn pie stuffed with fermented yak cheese (churra). Buttery, savoury, and deeply of this place.

Millet Momo — A reimagining of the Himalayan staple. Finger millet (ongpu) wraps filled with meat or mashed potato and seasonal local greens; it is the same recipe that won the Millet Recipe Contest at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra in 2023.

Khura with Churra & Marmalade — Buckwheat pancakes served with fermented yak cheese and valley-made marmalade from Chug's own tangerine and plum orchards.

Shya Marku — Yak meat or local chicken slow-cooked with fresh ginger and butter. Depending on the season, this course may also feature takto khazi — handmade buckwheat noodles with taro root, water celery, fermented soybean paste, and chillies.

Local Tangerine Salad — Oranges grown in the Chug Valley, combined with freshly popped corn and white kidney beans. Bright, citrusy, entirely of this valley.

Dessi — The closing sweet: red rice fried in yak ghee with crushed walnuts and jaggery. A dish that carries the warmth of every Monpa household.

Accompaniments include red rice, seasonal vegetable preparations, and on request, bangchang (a mildly fizzy fermented grain drink). Vegetarian guests are also well accommodated since the majority of dishes are naturally plant-based with cheese and mushrooms as the replacement.

Feast: ₹1,500 per person | Max 11 guests | Pre booking of at least one day required 

Additional Experiences

Traditional Paper Making Workshop — A hands-on session in Monpa paper craft using locally sourced materials. Suitable for all ages; guests take home what they make. (₹500 per person)

Culinary Activity — Cook alongside the women. Learn to prepare a traditional Monpa dish using local grains and foraged ingredients. Can be combined with the feast. (₹500 per person)

Guided Village Walk — A walk through the village and surrounding landscape, past working terraces and through forest trails. Your guide provides context on Monpa land use, traditional farming, and the WWF conservation work — including efforts to protect the red panda. (₹1,500 per group)

Why This Matters: Food as Conservation

The connection between Damu's kitchen and the surrounding forest is explicit. Many of the signature ingredients including the oleoresin in the phursing gombu come directly from those trees. As WWF's Nishant Sinha has noted, the community understands that the forest must remain for this food to remain. The restaurant is not just a dining experience; it is a conservation argument, made one course at a time.

Since Damu's opened, local farmers have begun reviving the cultivation of millet, buckwheat, and red rice crops that had been largely abandoned in favour of processed alternatives and commercial farming. The 300-year-old home serves as a model for what Monpa architecture can become when it is valued rather than replaced.

This is what OurGuest means when it talks about experiences that matter.

Overnight in the Valley

For guests who wish to stay, two homestays are available nearby and coordinated through OurGuest: Phupa Doma Homestay and Chug Valley Homestay. Waking up to mist over the paddy fields and birdsong in the Eastern Himalayas  before continuing to Tawang or Sangti Valley, is its own kind of reward.

Practical Information

Getting there: Chug Valley is approximately 5 hours from Tezpur and 9 hours from Guwahati airport. It sits naturally on the route to Tawang from West Kameng, making it an ideal inclusion in any Tawang or Sangti Valley itinerary.

Permits: An Inner Line Permit (ILP) is required to visit Arunachal Pradesh.

Booking: All reservations are coordinated through OurGuest with Lakey, the manager at Damu's. The women begin preparing from 8 AM; advance booking of at least one day is required.

Capacity: Maximum 11 diners per sitting.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Damu's Heritage Dine? 
Damu's Heritage Dine is a community-led cultural dining experience in Chug Valley, West Kameng, Arunachal Pradesh. Run by eight Monpa women and backed by WWF India, it offers a 7-course traditional Monpa feast, a living museum, and optional craft and cooking workshops all within a restored 300-year-old ancestral stone home.

Who runs Damu's Heritage Dine? 
Eight women from the Monpa tribe run the kitchen and all operations. Lakey (also known as Leike) is the manager and primary point of contact for bookings made through OurGuest. The venture is supported by WWF India and the Arunachal Rural Livelihoods Mission.

How do I book a meal at Damu's Heritage Dine? 
All bookings are coordinated exclusively through OurGuest. Advance notice of at least one day is required, as the women source ingredients and begin cooking from 8 AM for a 1 PM lunch sitting. Contact OurGuest to check availability and confirm your reservation.

How many guests can Damu's accommodate? 
Damu's seats a maximum of 11 guests per lunch sitting. This is a genuinely intimate experience, and advance booking is essential.

What kind of food is served at Damu's Heritage Dine? 
Damu's serves a 7-course feast of traditional Monpa cuisine including phursing gombu (a corn flour shell filled with oleoresin from the Chinese lacquer tree), churra gombu (corn pie with fermented yak cheese), millet momo, buckwheat pancakes, millet tacos, and dessi (a red rice dessert). All ingredients are sourced from the farm or forest on the morning of the meal.

Is the menu suitable for vegetarians? 
Yes. The majority of dishes at Damu's are naturally plant-forward, and vegetarian guests are well accommodated.

What does a visit to Damu's typically cost? 
The 7-course Monpa feast is priced at ₹1,500 per person. The museum visit is ₹50. The paper making workshop and culinary activity are ₹500 per person each. The guided village walk is ₹1,500 per group. All pricing is confirmed at the time of booking through OurGuest. Taxes are additional.

Do I need a permit to visit Chug Valley? 
Yes. An Inner Line Permit (ILP) is required for all visitors to Arunachal Pradesh, including Chug Valley. OurGuest can advise on the process.

Is Damu's suitable for families and children? 
Absolutely. The paper making workshop and village walk are particularly well suited to younger visitors. The museum and cooking activities are engaging for all ages.

What award has Damu's Heritage Dine received? 
Damu's was honoured with the International Responsible Tourism Award 2024 in the category "Employing and Upskilling Local Communities"  recognition of its model for conservation-linked cultural tourism.

Damu's Heritage Dine is an OurGuest exclusive experience. To book, or to include Damu's in a wider Tawang or Northeast India itinerary, please contact the OurGuest team.

Written by Prerna.S

Prerna, a seasoned travel & hospitality expert, isn't just a writer – she's a curator of experiences. Leading OurGuest's operations at The Barfung Retreat, she leverages her extensive background at Taj, Hyatt, ITC, and more. A Master's graduate in English Literature, Prerna's passion for storytelling is fueled by her childhood spent traversing India with her police officer father. Fluent in Bengali, Hindi, English, and Nepali, she fosters genuine connections across cultures. Join Prerna as she unveils the hidden gems and vibrant soul of Northeast India, one captivating story at a time.

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