Myanmar (Burma) — Eating out in Yangon (Rangoon)

Finding food in Yangon

March 2015

I like exploring new places and looking for new food and things to try. Yangon (Rangoon) didn’t disappoint.

999 Shan Noodle Shop Ramen / Noodle House, 130/B 34th Street, Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar (Burma)

I found a great place to eat — 999 Shan Noodle Shop, 30/B 34th Street, Yangon, Myanmar (Burma). It was a small place with few tables.

A friend recommended the place. When I asked how she knew about it, she said — “It’s in the Lonely Planet Guide”. And that explained why, when I visited, it was full of Europeans.

To eat, I had a chicken noodle dish and a 100 Plus (drink) — 2100 kyats (US$2.10; £1.40).

There was not much of it, but it was good, as was the hot tea.

I would eat at the 999 Shan Noodle Shop again.

Monsoon, Rhein Buy Road, Yangon (Rangoon), Yangon Region, Myanmar (Burma)

I found Monsoon listed on FourSqaure and thought it might be worth a look.

Monsoon was tucked away down a little side street called Rhein Buy Road in Yangon (Rangoon). FourSqaure described it as an interesting ‘ex-pats’ type place with a “Nice colonial atmosphere” and “Very cosy place for dinner in Yangon, great choice of food at reasonable prices”.

It was a big disappointment.

I had the Myanmar sweet pork curry.

The dish was sweet and pretty tasteless; there was nothing “curry” about it, and the meat was tough and cold. Into this mix can be added slow service.

Supposedly, there was free Wi-Fi, but the password didn’t work.

Overall, not a great experience. I would not visit again.

Feel Myanmar Food, Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar (Burma)

Feel Myanmar Food was crazy but fun.

Having eaten there, I am still not sure how it works. You seem to order at a buffet by selecting the dish you want. A waiter standing next to the buffet takes your order, and then you get a table (don’t try to sit down first — that was the mistake I made). There were no menus, so it wasn’t easy to know what I was ordering unless I recognised the dish.

I sat at a table, and my pick from the buffet arrived.

This was then followed a few minutes later with a plate of vegetables.

And then some soup and rice.

Finally, I was asked about a drink. I had assumed that only tea was available as it was on the table.

As I was about to finish, the dish below arrived. I was unsure what it was; all I could say for sure was that it was sweet, so I assumed it was dessert.

Eating at Feel Myanmar Food was an interesting experience. There was a good mix of locals and tourists present. The food was very tasty if just a bit confusing.

The place supposedly had free Wi-Fi, but I could not see a password anywhere.

I would go back to the Feel Myanmar Food as I felt it was an authentic experience of eating out in Yangon.

Dinner on the Vintage Luxury Yacht Hotel, Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar (Burma)

I also ate on the Vintage Luxury Yacht Hotel, Yangon (Rangoon). On the Yacht, I had a very pleasant Rogan Josh and a couple of pints of local beer.

The curry was mutton cooked on the bone.

Cooking on the bone is a common way of cooking in SE Asia; things like chicken and mutton (and yes, real mutton, not lamb), curries, and other dishes are cooked on the bone. This does make for risky eating as bones and bone fragments will be in the dish, but the inclusion of the bones adds so much flavour as to make the risk worth it.

The food on the Yacht was pricey by local standards, but it was good. It was a shame that no one else was there.

I would eat at the Vintage Luxury Hotel, Yangon, again.