Crave 15 March 2013

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SHAN FOOD

at Aung Mingalar Shan Noodle

This noodle shop is popular with the locals as well as foreigners, since the staff converse in English. It offers relatively affordable Shan inspired food with excellent service. Pick from choice of beef or chicken for your comforting bowl of noodles. The beef variety offers a robust broth with silky rice noodles and bouncy beef balls. On the side, you will be served a sour mustard

Beef noodles

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greens pickle that pairs well with the noodles. A must-order is the steamed dumplings with their silky skins. It comes with a crispy pan-fried bottom layer, which offers a nice contrast of textures with the succulent dumplings.

341, Boyar Nyunt Road, Dagon Township.

Prices: Midrange (USD5 per head)

10 YANGON EATS Avid travel and food bloggers, CCFoodTravel share their must-eats in the Myanmar city YANGON, also known as Rangoon is the former capital of Myanmar (or Burma) and an important commercial center. The country’s largest city is a lush green one filled with trees. The golden dome of Shwedagaon, the huge hilltop temple complex towers over the city. The Burmese love to eat, and you will find all sorts of restaurants and streetside stalls to dine. The local cuisine is a rich multilayered one, heavily influenced by its neighbours –

Silky dumplings is a must order

ROAST DUCK at Golden Duck

Some call this the best roast duck here. Don’t miss a chance to visit this comfortable airconditioned restaurant for succulent roast duck complete with a super crispy skin, Also try the

fried noodles – the fine vermicelli strands are deep fried before a starchy white sauce is poured over it. The dish bears a similarity to our Cantonese fried noodles or “Ying Yong”, with an

Crispy roast duck

8th Mile, Pyay Road.

Prices — Midrange (USD8 per head) Starchy fried noodles

STEWED PORK INNARDS

at the stall next to Aung San Bongyoke Market Look for a challenge at this stall located in the 70-year old market. This place, also known as Scott’s Market is a popular tourist destination for handicrafts, lacquerwares and even gemstones. Sniff your way to this stall located within a tiny cramped room, as you find a large pot of pork offal, on the boil for the entire day. It’s not a dish for the faint hearted but the locals love it. They sit on little plastic stools and low tables, to wait patiently for their bowl of hot steamy pig intenstine noodles to appear.

It is eaten with a slightly sweet chilli sauce. Delicious!

MYANMAR STYLE BBQ

at Super Win

main meals. The most popular is the mohinga, a breakfast staple, that we love. The hot bowl of vermicelli noodles is served with a fish and shallot broth. Fibrous banana stems are add for texture, and the noodles is usually topped with deep-fried vegetables or lentils. Each region have their own variety. You can also get Shan cuisine, in Yangon, that does not use any fish sauce or fermented shrimp paste, but gets it flavours from fermented

No trip to Yangon is complete, without trying the local BBQ in downtown. Located on the 19th Street, it is better known as the BBQ street, as it is peppered with all sorts of BBQ restaurants.

The places open throughout the day but people usually flock here from 5pm onwards, as the street is closed to traffic. At Super Win, choices are abundant. The moment you walk in, you are ushered to large refrigerators and asked to select your food, most of which are prepped on skew-

Ready for the BBQ

ers. Larger items like fish and vegetables are also available.

Once they have barbecued the food, it is served to you.

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No. 67, Insein Road, Hlaing Township Price — Midrange (USD4 per head)

INDIAN STYLE BBQ

at Cherry Man

Apart from the Myanmar style BBQ, there is also an Indian Style BBQ. The difference is in the spicy marinade. Just as tasty as the Myanmar BBQ, and the taste is more familiar to the Malaysian tongue since they have tandoori chicken and mutton fried noodles. At most restaurants in Yangon, no corkage is charged so many folks bring their own booze to dinner, and just order ice and mixers to go with it.

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78-80, Latha Street Price — Midrange (USD8 per head)

MOHINGA

at Lucky Seven

An institution in Yangon, this clean and modern tea house offers a spread of local breakfast fare, such as mohinga, parathas, samosas, paus and sichet in a laid back atmosphere. Most roadside stalls and markets serve the Mohinga, but if you are worried about hygiene, this is a

Sniff it to locate this pork innards stall

soy beans. The popular dishes, in Shan noodle shops are sichet (boiled noodles garnished with shredded meat), meeshay and fried tofu that uses fried chickpea flour. Rakhine cuisine, from the east coast, packs in chillies in their cuisine. For a truly Yangon experience, dine at the teahouses, which offers you a peek into life in the city. It’s a perfect place to sip your cup of tea, as you people watch. Here are 10 eats around Yangon to try:

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The Indian BBQ spread

Price — Cheap (USD1 per head)

Stewed pigs innards noodles

thick egg sauce, but this version has a starchier mouthfeel.

China, India and Thailand. Don’t be surprised, to find similar items, we like in Malaysia, such as paratha (their take on roti canai), Chinese food like roast duck, or even samosas. You will also find salads such as the pickled tea leaf salad, seductive noodles like the mohinga, stirfries and curries, in the country’s cuisine. Even though, rice is embedded in the life of a Burmese, noodles is also beloved by many as a light snack, in between the

good place for a bowl to satisfy your need. Wash down the spicy noodles with a cup of sweet milk tea. Beware though you need to speak Burmese in order to communicate with the staff.

Off 8th Mile Pyay Road Price – Cheap (USD2 per head)

Mohinga

Mei and her husband Jo, are avid travelers, based in Kuala Lumpur who enjoy writing about their travels and gastronomic experiences. In Mei’s own words, “it all started out a couple of years back, as a means to journal our travels and related photos.” C&C take their names from Cumi and Ciki, characters from a popular 1980s educational television programme. For more on their travels, check out CCFoodTravel (http://ccfoodtravel.com/). In their spare time, they also write a fitness and health blog, Cikipedia (http://cikipedia.com/) and an extreme sports and adventure blog WHOAAdventures. (http://whoaadventures.com/)

FRIDAY 15 MARCH 2013

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PARATHA at Style One Food Court In Yangon, it is common to find Indian influences in the food. They also serve paratha, an unleavened flatbread, we popularly refer to as roti canai in Malaysia. Just like Malaysia, there’s savoury and sweet versions. Our favourite breakfast item is the paratha served with chick peas and curry chicken. The freshly prepared flatbread, tastes great with the spicy curry and soft chickpeas. Totally addictive - a must try.

PORK BALL NOODLE

Chef Lee Anne Wong with Moet Hennessy Diageo Senior Marketing Manager Foo Ken Vin

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at YKKO Kyay-Oh & BBQ

In Yangon, YKKO is the closest thing to our kopitiams such as Papparich and Old Town Kopitiam. These clean and modern restaurants often located in shopping malls are patronised for their large portions at reasonable prices. Their specialty is Kyay-Oh, or literally translated from Burmese to refer to a copper pot, where noodles is cooked in a savoury broth. Traditionally, rice vermicelli noodles is used, but at YKKO, you also have a flat rice noodle type. Look for the original pork noodles, served with a fragrant pork and fish broth. The hefty bowl is jam

packed with pork meatballs, various types of pig’s offal, greens and even quail eggs. For those who prefer a bit more spice, dip the items with the chilli sauce fragrant with garlic and onions.

We also highly recommend, the seafood version, as it is served with an abundant amount of fresh crab meat, prawns, fishballs, squid and tofu.

No. (14-E), Room (105), Ground Floor, Capital Hypermarket, Min Nandar Road, Dawpon Township Price — Middrange (USD3-4 per head)

Seafood Kyay-Oh is full of fresh crabmeat

Pork Kyay-Oh

SICHET, SAMOSAS AND ZHONG

at the roadside stall

These tea shops are the epitome of our mamak stalls. You can find the no signboard shops, on virtually any street corner in Yangon. Locals patronise these places for a range of Indian-style snacks such as delicate samosas, sichet, steamed dim sum items like zhong, the Chinese

rice dumplings. These lively places are great to hang out. As you sip your cup of milky tea, you can watch life pass by. The sichet or dried rice noodles, served here is delicious. The light springy flat rice noodles is tossed with a mix of fish sauce, soy sauce and oil.

You can have this topped with

Sichet noodles

RAKHINE NOODLES

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Insein Road Price – Cheap (USD2 per head)

Parathas are popular breakfast staple

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THE MALAY MAIL

chicken pieces, or even a chicken or pork broth. It also serves a stuffed version of paratha, similar to our murtabak, that is perfect for breakfast.

Roadside stall at Kan Road (Off Insein Road).

Price — Cheap (USD2 per head)

Stuffed Parathas

THE SPIRIT OF CONQUEST HENNESSY X.O is embarking on a new era with their first Hennessy X.O. Appreciation Grows dinner titled “The Spirit of Conquest”, as it is headlined for the first time, by a female chef, American-born Chinese Lee Anne Wong. The Hennessy X.O. Appreciation Grows is a series of gastronomy dinners where the connoisseur furthers his understanding of the iconic history and the making of the French cognac.

Previous cognac dinners showcased the culinary creations of chefs such as Bo Innovation’s Alvin Leung, Australian Cheong Liew, Canadian Susur Lee and Singaporean Michael Han. Originally a fashion design student for seven years, Wong found culinary success much later in life. “I wasn’t interested in cooking until I was 20 years old,” she says. The French Culinary Institute graduate who once worked in Marcus Samuelsson’s Aquavit and Jean-Georges Vongrichten’s Restaurant 66, hit success as one of the contestants in the acclaimed season one Top Chef

television series. The petite New Yorker was subsequently recruited as a culinary producer for the reality cooking show. “I travelled all over America with the show and it was great as I got into regional American food,” she says.

That travel bug kicked in and Wong now makes it her goal in life to travel. “There’s so much to taste and experience, it keeps me motivated,” she says. She has cooked in Oaxaca, Mexico for the past twelve years, and also makes yearly trips to Japan, where she is an honoured chef in Sakai City’s Annual Hamono (Knife) festival. “Part of my goal is to travel everywhere, just like how Hennessy X.O. has travelled all around,” says Wong. “Being the best as a chef, I have a never ending curiosity and if you are passionate about food, every meal is a learning experience,” she says.

Moet Hennessy Diageo Senior Marketing Manager Foo Ken Vin, also added that Wong w a s

Seared beef tenderloin with cognac onion creme fraiche

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at Inya Lake Park

Wander to the Inya Lake, the largest man-made lake in North Yangon where Yangon University is also located on its shores. The 37-acre park next to the lake is popular among dating couples, who wander here to sit at the benches along the lakeside, to enjoy the sunset views. On the southwest corner of the lake, you find a cluster of food stalls popular with the young crowd.

One of the best eats is the Rakhine Moun Ti, a dry noodle, which some also refer to as the Rakhine Mohinga. The Rakhine state on the west coast is well known for its spicy cuisine, hence this bowl of noodles pack a spicy kick of chillies and chilli powder.

Curried pumpkin and sweet potato soup topped with goat cheese beignet

EDITORIAL NOTE

Rakhine Moun Tine Noodles

The silky thin noodle strands are topped with golden yellow fish flakes. The fish is roasted with turmeric oil, which imparts a yellow sheen to the fish. The dish is topped with fishcake slices,

Scallops in lime, water chestnut and corn

by Lee Khang Yi

coriander and chopped onions.

Usually, it is served with a tangy tamarind based broth.

Price – Midrange (USD3-4 per head)

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chosen, as she had a lot of heritage in her profile, and passion, similar to the cognac. “We are really excited with Wong as the first female chef and it makes the dinner more interesting and sexier,” he adds. Wong is looking to showcase the cognac as much more than just an after drink aperitif. “My goal is to show it is food friendly,” she says.

The Spirit of Conquest dinner will tell the story of the cognac’s past, present and its future. It will also chart the cognac’s journey since its creation in 1870, around the continents, such as China, New York, Italy, Russia and Japan. In the dinner, Wong will be infusing her culinary creations with the cognac. “You will taste a variety of cuisines but I will be using a bit of local ingredients and it will be a lot of fun,” she says.

Members of the media got a sneak taste into Wong’s culinary expertise, as she cooked three canapés infused with the cognac, at Natalie’s Gourmet Studio, together with Chicagobased chef Roger Herring, who will also help her in April’s dinner.

The first canapé was a refreshing seared scallops in lime, water chestnut and corn, paired with the Hennessy X.O. cognac on the rocks. For her second canapé, she served a delicious seared beef tenderloin, topped with a cognac infused onion crème fraiche, tomato and green mango.

This was paired with Hennessy X.O. cognac and water. Last but not least, it was a velvety curried pumpkin and sweet potato soup topped with a crispy goat cheese beignet, paired with a shot of Hennessy X.O. A touch of tamarind was added to round up its slightly spicy notes.

The Hennessy X.O. Appreciation Grows dinners will be held at Chin Woo Stadium from April 2 to 5.

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Crave Editor

For some serious wanderlust, look towards Yangon, as CC Food & Travel share their must-eats in the city. We’re looking forward to Chef Lee Anne Wong’s Hennessy Appreciation Grows dinner in April as her food is incredibly delicious. For some kitchen action, cook up the Nonya inspired kangkung dish or dine at Living Food Bistro & Cafe for a satisfying dinner. Email me at khangyi@mmail.com.my

Rajan Gopal Senior Manager, Direct & Classifieds Direct line: 03 74951282 rajan@mmail.com.my