Your complete guide to Yangon
March 2016
Mohinga:
myanmar in a bowl
Freshly home grown:
Fresco
Interview with U Sonny Aung Khin To Find Out More visit the Yangon Directory Website @ www.yangondirectory.com/myyangon
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MYyangon _ issue 19
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MY Yangon Magazine
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Editor’s
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As you are no doubt already, well aware, we, Myanmar, love simple entertainment - enjoying a good meal after a hard day’s work is one of them. Intrigued by the chance of discovering Yangon’s most beloved hubs, MY Yangon set out to find them for this issue. Everyone seems though to be absorbed with food from the international scene, and it has come to no surprise that Myanmar’s traditional food is often forgotten. We have dug deep into a bowl of Mohinga as, to us, this dish not only represents Myanmar but also has ingredients from the length and breadth of the country. MY Yangon also talked with U Sonny Aung Khin, the former chairman of Myanmar Restaurant Association, and asked him about the future of Myanmar traditional food. A good meal should be enjoyed for pleasure, and pleasure is highest when your heart is filled as well as your stomach. MY Yangon thus sought out some of Yangon’s charity/social enterprise restaurants this month. Though there are many different kinds of entertainment around Yangon, we have not forgotten about our favourite past time - Food. So “Food” has become our theme for the month of March.
You can pick up your free copy of MY Yangon in many Yangon restaurants and hotels including Sule Shangri-La Hotel, Savoy Hotel, Chatrium Hotel, Union Bar and Grill, Gekko, Mojo and Tony Roma's. You can also see some of our past articles
@ http://yangondirectory.com/my-yangon.html Facebook : facebook.com/MYyangonmagazine Twitter : twitter.com/MYYangon
MY
Team Publisher:
Lei Lei Khine (00039) Yangon Directory Publication House
Editor in Chief: Aung Kyaw Editor:
Aung Myo Sint
Graphic Design: Nyein Chan Ko Ko Htun, Pyae Phyo Aung, Thet Nu Aung Writers:
Si Thu Phyo, Zaw Min Lay, Win Win Htwe, Aye Chan Khaing, San Lin Tun, Rico Kyaw, Aung Myo Sint, Myat Ko Naing, Aye Lwin, Jaiden Coonan, Mang Pi, Arkar
Photographers: Kyaw Swa Htun, Si Thu Phyo, Aye Chan Khaing.
Aung Myo Sint Editor, MY Yangon magazine
Sales:
Sabai Oo, Nu Nu Kyaw, Htet Htet Moe.
Distribution: BCG The Yangon Directory Group
Press:
Shwe Naing Ngan
Circulation: 5,000
Publisher’s Statement Accuracy Every endeavour is made to ensure that the information in this publication is accurate as possible. If telephone numbers are incorrect or have changed please inform us in writing and we will try and include it in the next edition. However, neither MY Yangon nor its agents or employees can accept liability for any loss or damage leading from any use of information in this publication.
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Copy Right All rights reserved. The entire contents of this publication is copyrighted and may not be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any form in part or whole or stored in a retrieval system of any nature without the written permission of the producers of this publication. You may not photocopy or copy any portion or page of this publication.
Enquiries for advertising:
09 448 00 1653
myyangon@mmrdpub.com Sales: 7th Floor, Bldg C, New Mingalar Market, Mingalar Taung Nyunt Tsp, Yangon, Myanmar. Tel: +01 250 700, 01 9000 712~3 MYyangon _ issue 19
Contents
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Neighbourhood Kyauktada
12
Daily Life
Mingalar Zay
My Yangon offers its readers up-to-date information on city happenings, new openings events and exciting projects that are taking place every month.
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14
Great Escapes Bagan
Story behind the Advert Plot Ahead
Explore Yangon
20
Myanmar F&B
22
Features
Yangon Trends Best of
Charity Restaurants
24
Business
Myanmar Fine Dining 26
Yangon Trends
Property
Junction City 40
Shopping Tree Food
16 36 @ MYYangon
Business
42
Health Get Fit
Food Hubs
Mohinga Myanmar in a Bowl MY Yangon Magazine
45
Restaurant Guide
52
Bar & Clubs
Khit Yangon
Dining Guide 5
Plot AHEAD th on eM r t h t e a of nn My o i in g ot Ph W i L un
March 2016 Monday
Sa A
Tuesday
Wednesday
1 Art from Heart Paper Cut Art 9:30 am to 5:30 p.m. Lawkanat Gallery No.62, 1st Floor, Pansodan Road, Kyauktada Township
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2 Spinning Yangon - JPOP Live & Cosplay Festival 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. People’s Park & Square
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Thursday
Friday
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Miss Farmer Contenst 2016 UMFCCI Officer Tower
Myanmar International Agrimach Expo 2016 MCC, Mindahma Road, Mayangone Township.
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Myanmar Skills 2016 MICT Park, Hlaing Campus
Enjoy @ Club Rizzoli 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Chatrium Hotel Royal Lake
GIL : Myanmar Novotel Yangon Max Hotel No.459,Pyay Road, Kamayut Township
YKKO Promotional Activity 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m . All outlets
Orchestra for Myanmar and the new Children Choir in Concert 7:00 p.m. The Strand Hotel
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Group Tennis Lesson 9 a.m. Yangon Ace Tennis Club
4th Myanmar Oil, Gas & Power Summit 2016 Park Royal Hotel , Alan Pya Pagoda Road, Dagon Township
Hoteliers & Industry Night 4:30 pm Novotel Yangon Max Hotel No.459, Pyay Road, Kamayut Township
Live Street Cooking Jambalaya 6:00 p.m. TIN TIN, Bogalay Zay Street, Botahtaung Township
Business Set Lunch @ The Strand Café 12 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. The Strand Hotel
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Myanmar International Education and Career Fair Tamadaw Hall, U Wisara Road, Dagon Township
Happy Hour @ LA TAVERNA 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Yangon International Hotel
Full Moon Day of Tabaung
DJ. Fisewook @ GEKKO 8:00 p.m. Gekko Japanese Restaurant & Bar, Merchant Street, Kyauktada Township
Business Set Lunch @ LE CELLIER 12:00 a.m. Novotel Yangon Max Hotel
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8th Yangon Photo Festival Exhibition Institut Français de Birmanie, 340, Pyay Road, Sanchaung Township
India Education Fair Yangon Summit Park View Hotel, Ahlone Road, Dagon Township
2nd Myanmar Offshore Summit 2016 Conference and Exhibition Summit Park View Hotel,
Myanmar Refining & Petrochemical Summit 2016 Summit Park View Hotel
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MYyangon _ issue 19
This Month's Highlights
2 March 11 March 19 March 23 March 27 March
Peasants' Day (Farmers' Day)
yo
Orchestra for Myanmar and the new Children Choir
p on s e res
We Bring
Milky Wonderland by Dutch Lady
u
Full Moon Day of Tabaung Armed Forces Day
5,000 copies per month
Saturday
Sunday
5
Week
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Myanmar Cultural Exchange Queueless Photo Exhibition 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Café Vineyard Yangon, Bayint Naung Tower
Beauty & Fashion Weekend Session 1:00 p.m. No.295, Upper Kyeemyindine Road, Ahlone Township
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MFF Futsal League 2016 Thuwana National Stadium, Thingangyun Township
Rich Dad Asia Congress 2016 UMFCCI
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Advertise with us Enquiries for advertising:
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Yangon Photo Awards Night 6:30 p.m. Institut Français de Birmanie 340, Pyay Road, Sanchaung Township
Milky Wonderland by Dutch Lady People's Park
26 Sivananda Yoga 7:30 a.m. The Governor’s Residence
myyangon@mmrdpub.com
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27 Ladies Night @ Victoria Bar 6:00 p.m. Vintage Luxury Hotel, Botahtaung Harbor
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5 @ MYYangon
MY Yangon Magazine
More Enquiries 09 448 00 1653, 09 795 14 2905 7
Story behind the
Advert
Career Development Consultancy (CDC), a subsidiary of Myanmar Marketing Research and Development (MMRD), is one of the leading recruitment agencies in Myanmar. Established in 1996, CDC has been finding the most suitable job for applicants plus helping companies find the right candidates. They also organise international job fairs and are launching a new Temp Staffing Programme. Managing Director Ma Snow Oo, who has studied and worked in South Korea for nearly a decade, has been with the company since 2013. She said, “In 2012, we found that it was difficult to find in Myanmar the type of candidates that some companies were looking for as they lacked experience and skills. We, therefore, started organising job fairs in Singapore to attract Myanmar expatriates back home. The results were as expected, Myanmar people living in Singapore are patriotic and applied to many jobs that we had on offer. A huge number came back to Myanmar, and we are going to hold another job fair in June-July this year.” From 2016 onward, CDC is offering a Temp Staffing Programme as a new and alternative service for their clients and potential candidates. Temp staffing is where CDC hires a candidate on behalf of its clients, usually to fill a short term staffing need, and he/she will then work for the client. As Daw Thet Hnin Oo explained “The clients will not have to worry about the head count, employment contract and other paperwork that are necessary when hiring a candidate permanently. Temp staffing is a usual business practice in other countries and has been used by many recognised companies. We plan to help our clients in their hour need by giving them the right type of staff at the right time”. Building C, 6th Floor, New Mingalar Market, 09 431 687 54, 0979 8464 907 www.jobsinmyanmar.com 8
MYyangon _ issue 19
New
Openings related and is the place for branded fashion items as well. During my visit, I explored the Charles & Keith outlet and found that the collection is very similar to the outlet I visited recently in Bangkok’s Paragon although the collection is not as big, but it does have the trendiest women bags, purses, and shoes. Another shop worth checking out is Mango. This is one of the very first shops you will see when walking in, and it has a large collection of women’s wear especially formal business attire. In addition to fashion, there are a number of gold and jewellery shops, such as Shwe Nan Daw and Sein Nan Daw, selling exquisite gold and fine jewelry.
Myanmar Plaza
Rico Kyaw
Recently on my Facebook News Feed, I have been seeing many checkins at this newly opened mall, “Myanmar Plaza’’. Judging from its massive size and towering buildings, I wondered if this mall might be Yangon’s “Paragon’’, Bangkok’s biggest shopping center. The Myanmar Plaza has been the talk of the town and the place to go in Yangon. I was so curious to see what the hype was and immediately decided that I should go and see it for myself. A taxi ride later through the army of traffic, I arrived at the entrance of the Myanmar Plaza. The immense size of the compound can make anyone feel inferior. Myanmar Plaza is part of a huge compound constructed by Vietnamese firm HAGL. Connecting Myanmar Plaza is Melia Hotel which also shares Myanmar Plaza’s immense size, truly a “Siam Paragon” size and standard. Feeling excited, I rushed inside. The moment I stepped in my initial reaction was just pure awe. The amount of space inside was beyond amazing. The first thing you see when you step in is the set of escalators separating each floor which is categorized into different shopping genres. Although the upper floors of Myanmar Plaza have not been fully completed yet, there are stacks of space for new shops and restaurants. The ground floor is the most impressive with international branded shops such as Charles & Keith, Mango, L’Occitane, Nike and many more. All the outlets located on the ground floor are mostly fashion @ MYYangon
MY Yangon Magazine
The first floor serves as an extension to the ground floor and includes a City Mart’s Market Place and more accessory shops. The floor also has a large number of Spas and Beauty Clinics such as Yangon Sanctuary Spa and Revive Wellness. City Mart Market Place takes up a huge portion of the floor and is quite impossible to miss. The supermarket has everything you will need from food to toiletries to electronic appliances – and unlike the other branches, has added a salad bar and food stations offering freshly cooked snacks and roasted ducks. There are also a few small food outlets like Chatime and Chewy Junior where you can grab a snack to eat. The second-floor focus is electronics, mobile phones, and appliances. Here you can find official outlets from Huawei and other phone manufacturers as well as from telecom operator Ooredoo. At this time of writing, the second floor is the least finished floor but more outlets are being built. Last but not least, the third floor is all about food. I consider myself a foodie, and when I arrived on the top floor I was amazed by the different types of cuisines and restaurants available. The first restaurant that you see once stepping off the escalator is KFC. Although having been present in Myanmar for less than a year, KFC has caught the attention of Myanmar people and the outlets are always busy with those who love fried food. Many more food outlets such as Shwe Kaung Hot Pot, Astons Steakhouse, YKKO and bubble tea maker, Gong Cha, are also here. Although not as busy as KFC, these outlets have regular diners inside. It is exciting to see many more incoming international food outlets and to explore the different kinds of food they will be offering. Myanmar Plaza’s third floor definitely has a potential to become a food hub for Yangonites. 9
Explore Yangon
We Love
Kyauktada
Win Win Htwe & Mang Pi
You can’t say your venture of Yangon is complete if you miss out the buzzing scenes of Kyauktada. A home to various iconic colonial buildings such as YCDC, the High Court Building, Strand Hotel and the Embassies of Australia, India and UK, Kyauktada Township is the heart of the commercial district of the city. However, its colonial heritage is at risk from decades of neglect and more pressingly, a new wave of intense pressure for rapid urban development. The three significantly tallest buildings in Yangon such as Sule Shangri-La, Sakura Tower and Center Point Tower are grandly situated in Kyauktada as well.
Eat
Junior Duck Restaurant It is located near Nanthidar Yangon Jetty compound, a 20-minute walk away from Sule Pagoda. Everyone’s favourite is its Chinese Menu and the roast duck is an obvious must! The service is fast, and the prices are affordable. They also offer an indoor playground for the kids, and an outdoor balcony to take in the views of Yangon River and cool down in the breeze. Nanthidar Compound, Strand Road 01 249 421
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Ingyin Nwe South Indian Food Center Goat Brains! Yes, this shop is quite well-known for its excellent goat’s brain curry. Mutton Curry, Chapati, and Dosa with a variety of south Indian foods are also on their menu. The place is tidy enough for your busy Yangon Downtown, and the price is affordable. Corner of 31st Street and Anawyahta Road Thiripyitsaya Sky Bistro (Thai Restaurant) This is a good place for Tom Yam lovers. Its Tom Yam soup is available in either Prawn or Chicken or Fish. Chicken pesto pasta and Thai spicy seafood salad are the other meals popular among Burmese. The place is normally crowded with tourists in the evening as it offers
a great night view with a relaxing atmosphere. If you prefer a quieter time, visit during lunch time. The restaurant is quite spacious and a suitable place for a meeting or a private party. High-speed free Wi-Fi is another plus point. 339, Bogyoke Aung San Road, 01 255 277 Bharat (India) Smaller and less crowded in comparison to its other Indian restaurants in the city; Bharat
MYyangon _ issue 18 19
Neighbourhood offers simple yet tasty and inexpensive south Indian food. Quite suitable for vegetarians as its Dosas, costing 1000 Ks, and the Rice Thalis, 2000 Ks, are really good. 356, MaharBandoola Road 01 382 253
Shops
Ruby Mart Shopping Centre This large supermarket furnished with a collection of western branded products offers all kinds of fashionable dresses, accessories, tissues, napkins, dry foods, cosmetics and toiletries, meats and bone meals, etc. There is also a children’s playground, food court and halal bakery as well as free Wi-Fi. Corner of Pansodan and Bogyoke Aung San Road 01 398 246 Electronic Shops at Anawrahta Street This is the exact spot where you can find many shops selling computers, laptops (branded from Lenovo, Acer, HP, Dell and Toshiba, etc.) computer parts and accessories. Some local software and games shops are also in this area. Between 38th and 37th street, Anawrahta Road
Things to do
Sule Pagoda Being a vital landmark of Yangon and squarely settled right in the centre of a busy commercial district, Sule Pagoda has historical and cultural significance. Open daily from 4:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and the entry is free for local visitors but costs about 2 USD per person for foreigners.
@ MYYangon
MY Yangon Magazine
Pansodan Street & Strand Road Despite WWII and natural disasters, Yangon still has a large collection of 19th and early 20thcentury buildings which tells the stories of its Colonial past. The largest concentration is on Pansodan Street and Strand Road. The former, especially its lower block, was once considered the central business district in Yangon. The street was lined with banks, department stores and offices. Strand road was the first street to be developed by the British for commerce and trade. Lokanat Gallery Building (The former Sofaer’s Building) Commissioned by a Jewish trader, the building was one of the first commercial complexes and completed in 1906. The current gallery was established on the first floor in 1971 making it the city’s oldest gallery. The building’s floor tiles are very unique, said to be imported from Italy during the colonial era. High Court Two lion statues on its roof, this high court portrays the might of the British Empire. The building’s architecture was designed in such a way to scare the potential criminals. Myanmar Port Authority Building Yangon Port was once the third busiest in the British Empire and this immense building reflects its importance. Look for the waveinspired stucco work and the sculptures of ships and anchors on the face of the building. Corner of Pansodan Street and Strand Road
Yangon Heritage Trust This is a non-profit organization led by the grandson of former UN secretary, U Thant. The trust aims to protect and promote Yangon’s urban heritage and they organise walking tours which lead you through the heart of old Yangon with stories and anecdotes from its colourful and layered history. 22/24, 1st floor, Pansodan Street (lower block) Myanmar Book Centre This is the ideal place for book worms. Thousand of academic articles and education books are on sale at reasonable prices. If you are eagerly looking for bestselling books in Myanmar, this book centre is sure to have it. 561-567, Room (3), Ground Floor, MAC Tower (1), Merchant Street 01 370 532, 01 384 508
Places to stay
Strand Hotel Built in 1901 and situated beside the Yangon River, this beautifully restored colonial hotel includes a vast and welcoming lobby, spacious, and comfortable rooms. It was the first building to be powered by electricity in Myanmar during the colonial days. During the WWII, the Japanese stabled horses in the hotel’s bar. The hotel was built by the famous Raffles brother. 92, Strand Road 01 243 377
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Dailylife
Explore Yangon
MINGALAR ZAY
ၿပီးခဲတ ့ လ ဲ့ ပိင ု ္းက မဂၤလာေစ်း မီးေလာင္ကၽြမ္းမႈေၾကာင့္ ေအာက္ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံနဲ႔ ရန္ကုန္ၿမိဳ႕ေတာ္ရဲ႕ ကုန္ပစၥည္း စီး ဆင္းေရာင္း ဝယ္ မ ႈ အေပၚ ထိ ခို က္ေ စခဲ ႔ ပ ါတယ္ ။ ၂၀၁ဝ ခုႏွစ္မွာ တစ္ႀကိမ္၊ ၂၀၁၅ ခုႏွစ္မွာ တစ္ႀကိမ္ စံခ်ိန္တင္ ေလာင္ကၽြမ္းခဲ့တဲ့ မီးေဘးေၾကာင့္ ေဆးႏွင့္ ေဆးပစၥည္းဆိုင္မ်ား၊ အ၀တ္အထည္ႏွင့္ အလွကုန္၊ လူ သံုး ကု န္ ပ စၥ ည္း ဆို င္ မ ်ား အမ်ားအျပား ဆံုး ႐ံ ႈး ခဲ့ ရ ပါတယ္။ ၂၀၁၅ ခုႏွစ္ ဇန္န၀ါရီလ ၉ရက္မွာ ေလာင္ကၽြမ္းခဲ့တဲ့ မီး ေၾကာင့္ ေစ်းဆို င္ ခ န္းေပါင္း ၁၆၀၀ ေက်ာ္ မီး ေလာင္ပ်က္စီးခဲ့ၿပီး ဆံုးရႈံးမႈတန္ဖိုး က်ပ္သိန္းေပါင္း ၃၆၆၀၂ ရွိ ခဲ့ တ ယ္ လို ႔ ႏို င္ ငံ ပို င္ သ တင္း စာမ်ားမွ တရား၀င္ ထုတ္ျပန္တဲ့သတင္းမ်ားအရ သိရပါတယ္။ ယခု အ ခါ မီးေလာင္ က ၽြ မ္း သြားတဲ့ မဂၤ လာေစ်း အ ေဆာက္ အ အံု တ စ္ ခု လံုး ကို ပိ တ္ ထားၿပီး မီးေလာင္ သြားတဲ့ဆိုင္ခန္းရွင္ေတြသာမက မီးမေလာင္ကၽြမ္းတဲ့ ေအာက္ထပ္ေတြက ဆိုင္ရွင္ေတြအတြက္ပါ ေရာင္းခ် ဖို ႔ေ နရာအခက္ ခဲ ျ ဖစ္ေ ပၚေနပါတယ္ ။ မဂၤ လာေစ်းမွ ဆိုင္ရွင္ေတြအတြက္ ယာယီဆိုင္ခန္းမ်ား ခ်ထားေပး မယ္လို႔ သတင္းမ်ားထြက္ေပၚေနေသာ္လည္း လက္ရွိ အခ်ိ န္ အ ထိေ တာ့ ေစ်း၀န္း ထဲ က ကားပါကင္ မ ွာ ပဲ ကားမ်ားထိုးၿပီး ေရာင္းခ်ေနၾကရတာျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ကားပါကင္ မ ွာ ေနရာဦး ၿပီး ေစ်းေရာင္းေနတဲ့ ေဆး ဆိုင္ရွင္တစ္ဦးက အခုလိုေျပာပါတယ္။ “ ကၽြန္မတို႔ အခု အရမ္းဒုကၡေရာက္ေနပါတယ္။ ေစ်း ေပၚမွာ ေရာင္းေနရတဲဘ ့ ၀ကေန လမ္းေဘးေစ်းသည္
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ျဖစ္ေ နပါတယ္ ။ ညဖက္ ဆို ရ င္ ညႏွ စ္ နာရီ ၊ ၃ နာရီ ေလာက္ကတည္းကဆိုင္ေနရာလာဦးရပါတယ္။ အဲ့ဒီ အခ်ိန္မွာ လာၿပီး ေနရာမဦးဘူးဆိုရင္ အဲ့ဒီေန႔မွာ ေစ်း ေရာင္းဖို႔ ေနရာရဖို႔ မလြယ္ပါဘူး။ ဒုတိယဒုကၡက အခု ေႏြရာသီေရာက္ ေတာ့မယ္၊ အပူရွိန္က တစ္ေန႔ၿပီး တစ္ေန႔ ျမင့္ျမင့္လာတယ္၊ကၽြန္မတို႔က ေဆးေရာင္း တာဆိုေ တာ့ ေဆးေတြ က အခန္း ထဲ မ ွာ ပဲ ေျခာက္ ေျခာက္ေသြ႔ေသြ႔နဲ႔ သိုေလွာင္ထားရတာ၊ ဒါေပမယ့္ အခုေနပူႀကီးထဲမွာ ေဆးေတြကို ဒီအတိုင္းခ်ထားရ ေတာ့ ေဆးေတြပ်က္စီးပါတယ္။ ပိုးကလည္း တစ္ခါ တစ္ေ လရြာ တတ္ေ တာ့ ပို ဆိုး ပါတယ္ ၊ ကၽြ န္ မ တို ႔ က ဆိုင္ပိုင္ရွင္လည္းျဖစ္တယ္၊ ကၽြန္မတို႔ဆိုင္လည္း မီး ေလာင္တဲ့ထဲ ပါသြားတယ္။ ဒါေၾကာင့္ ကၽြန္မကေတာ့ တာ၀န္ ရ ွိ သူေ တြ အေနနဲ ႔ အျမန္ ဆံုး ေျဖရွ င္းေပးဖို ႔ ေတာင္းဆိုခ်င္ပါတယ္။”
Si Thu Lin Let
ေနာက္ၿပီး ကၽြန္မတို႔က ေဆးကုမၸဏီေတြကေန ေဆး ေတြကို ေခါက္ျပန္ေၾကးနဲ႔ယူရတာ။ အခု မီးေလာင္တဲ့ အထဲ ေဆးေတြ ပ ါသြားေတာ့ ကၽြ န္ မ တို ႔ မ ွာ ေဆး ကုမၸဏီေတြကို ဆပ္ဖို႔ ေငြေရးေၾကးေရး အင္မတန္မွ ခက္ခဲပါတယ္။” ဒါ့ အ ျပင္ ေရႊ ျ ပည့္ စံုေ စ်း၊ ေရႊ မ ဂၤ လာေစ်း သစ္ နဲ ႔ ယုဇနပလာဇာတို႔မွာလည္း ဆိုင္ခန္းငွားခေတြ တက္ ကု န္ တ ယ္ လို ႔ ဆို င္ ခ န္း ငွားၿပီး မဂၤ လာေစ်းမွာ ေစ်း ေရာင္းခဲ့တဲ့ ေစ်းသည္တစ္ဦးက ေျပာပါတယ္။
မဂၤလာေစ်း၀င္းထဲမွာ မဂၤလာေစ်း၊ မဂၤလာမြန္ေစ်း၊ ေရႊျပည့္စံုေစ်း၊ နဲ႔ မၾကာေသးခင္ကမွ ဖြင့္လွစ္ခဲ့တဲ့ ေရႊ မ ဂၤ လာေစ်းတို ႔ ရွိ ပ ါတယ္ ။ ယခု အ ခါ ကားမ်ား ၀င္ထက ြ ရ ္ ပ္နားရာ ေစ်း၀န္းတစ္ခလ ု ံုးမွာ ေစ်းဆိင ု ္ေတြ ဖြင့္လွစ္ ေရာင္းခ်ေနတာေၾကာင့္ ေန႔စဥ္လိုလို ယာဥ္ ေၾကာပိတ္ဆို႔မႈေတြ ျဖစ္ေပၚေနပါတယ္။
“ကၽြ န္ေ တာ္ တို ႔ က မဂၤ လာေစ်းမွာ ဆို င္ ခ န္း ငွားၿပီး အထည္ေရာင္းတာပါ။ ဆိင ု က ္ ေတာ့ မီးထဲ ပါမသြားဘူး။ ဒါေပမယ့္ ေစ်းတစ္ ခု လံုး ကို ပိ တ္ လို က္ ၿပီ ဆိုေ တာ့ တျခားေစ်းေတြျဖစ္တဲ့ ေရႊမဂၤလာေစ်းတို႔၊ ေရႊျပည့္စံု ေစ်းတို႔မွာ ဆိုင္ခန္းငွားမလို႔ စံုစမ္းတာ၊ ေစ်းေတြက တအားတက္ေ နတယ္ ။ ဒါနဲ ႔ ကၽြ န္ေ တာ္ တို ႔ အခု ဒီကားပါကင္မွာပဲ ခင္းၿပီးေရာင္းေနရတယ္။ အထည္ ေတြကေတာ့ ေပက်န္သြားတာေတြေတာ့ ရွိ တယ္။ ကၽြန္ေတာ္တို႔ အတြက္ကေတာ့ ေရာင္းအားက်သြား တာမ်ိဳးေတာ့ ရိတ ွ ာေပါ့။ မီးထဲပါသြားတဲဆ ့ င ို ရ ္ င ွ ္ေတြက ပိုၿပီး ဒုကၡေရာက္ၾကပါတယ္။”
“တစ္ေ န႔ တ စ္ေ န႔ ေနရာလု ရ တာ ရန္ ျ ဖစ္ မ ွာေတာင္ စိုးရပါတယ္။ တစ္ခါတစ္ခါလည္းကားေတြန႔ဲ မလြတလ ္ ႔ို ေဆးေတြျပဳတ္က်ကုန္တာေတြလည္းရွိတယ္။ ကၽြန္မ သူ င ယ္ ခ ်င္း တစ္ေ ယာက္ ဆို ရ င္ ကၽြ န္ မ နဲ ႔ ဆို င္ ခ ်င္း ကပ္ ရ က္ေ ပါ့ ။ သူ ဆိုေ နရာမရတာ ၃ ရက္ ရွိ ၿ ပီ ။
မဂၤ လာေစ်းဟာ အေရာင္း အ၀ယ္ နဲ ႔ ေန႔ စ ဥ္ လို လို စည္ကားလွတဲ့ေနရာျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ကုန္စည္စီးဆင္းမႈ အဆင္ေျပေစဖို႔နဲ႔ ေစ်းအသစ္ မေဆာက္ခင္ ယာယီ ဆိုင္ခန္းေတြ အျမန္ဆံုးရရိွႏိုင္ဖို႔ မဂၤလာေစ်း ေစ်းသူ ေစ်းသားေတြက ေမွ်ာ္လင့္ေနၾကပါတယ္။
MYyangon _ issue 19
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MY Yangon Magazine
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Explore Yangon
Aye Chan Khaing
Featuring the glory of ancient Myanmar, Bagan is always a pleasant place to visit as it is one of the many rare sites in the country where ancient historical Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries, built hundreds of years ago, are still standing. There are over 2,200 remaining and definitely worth exploring. Getting to Bagan is not an onerous task anymore unlike the old days. Most local travelers arrange to travel with a tour to lessen the troubles of arranging the whole journey by themselves. However, you can arrange the trip by yourself to escape the crowds. When arriving in Bagan, pick up a Bagan map which can be found at any hotel, restaurant, and E-Bike hiring spot and plot your route around the charming and alluring sights and quarters of Bagan. This short guide will tell you the highlights and how to avoid your regular tourist-crowd.
Where to stay There are three quarters where one can choose to stay in Bagan: Old Bagan, New Bagan, and Nyaun U. Old Bagan, the luxurious quarter, sitting within the remaining city walls of ancient
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Bagan, is the place to be if you want to be surrounded by ancient ruins and stay in some of the most beautiful and expensive hotels in Bagan. Cheaper mid-priced accommodation options are in New Bagan - located on the high banks of the Irrawaddy River; it is a scenic area for sunrises and sunsets but more remote. If you are budget oriented, the best spot in Bagan is Naung U where you can find high-end reasonably priced hotels. Naung U’s added bonus is its transport links to boats, buses and the airport.
Where to Eat There are small Myanmar restaurants near Tharabar Gate and are quite popular amongst the locals with their traditional recipes. Not many foreigners visit these restaurants so you can definitely have a peace of mind while having your meal. They offer rice and a variety of meat curries at reasonable prices. If the food options available in these restaurants can’t satisfy your taste, then you have numerous choices for restaurants in Nyaung U.
Don’t miss Ananda Temple Some places more than live up to the hype and the famous Ananda temple is one of them. In terms of architecture, this glowing masterpiece proudly holds the title as the most beautiful and best preserved in Bagan. This place is always crowded during the lunch time when regular tours will have their pre-arranged lunch so is it best to go there in the early morning.
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Hteelominlo Temple Close to the Bagan-Nyaung U Road, this temple is one of the few temples open until 9:00 p.m. A late night visit is very atmospheric and more peaceful as you can escape the crowds.
has a huge reclining Buddha tucked into a small room at the back of the pagoda and a large sitting pagoda squeezed in at the front. The cramped quarters of the Buddha statues are to represent the feelings of the captive king.
MingalarZediPagoda Built by King Narahtihapatay in AD 13; this pagoda is located near Old Bagan, has stepped terraces leading to the pagoda, and is one of the few temples that has tiles showing the Jataka. The best time to come is in the morning when there are fewer crowds.
Myinkabar Village Visit the lacquer ware factory in this village and see all the steps that go into making lacquer ware. You will also learn how to test whether lacquer ware is genuine.
Buu Stupa This pagoda has great views of the Ayerwaddy River and Tan Kyi Mountain and is one of the locals’ popular spots to watch the sunset. There are hardly any tourists here so head here at sunset. Manuha Pagoda Named after a captured Mon king, this pagoda
Dammayangyi After buying a puppet at the shop in the pagoda’s complex, find a spot to watch the romantic sunset view over the pagoda. Bagan Archaeological Museum Established in 1905, this ancient grand museum has a great overview of the various architectural styles seen in Bagan, plus has displays of items that have been uncovered in the archaeological
digs conducted in the area. There is also a display showing the evolution of Myanmar alphabet which can be seen in terracotta votive tablets, lacquer inscriptions, ink inscriptions, Pyu inscriptions, and cloth paintings. Take note that the museum is closed on Monday and gazetted holidays. Old Bagan, Near Bagan Thande Hotel 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Entry fee: 5000 Ks per tourist 500 Ks per local visitor 250 Ks per kid or monk Free for students Yaw Na Than Gallery This gallery has unique art paintings created inside the bottles which are rare in Myanmar. Artist Yaw Na Than, paints them using bent paintbrushes and usually takes 5-7 days to complete one bottle painting. He also sells oil and acrylic paintings on canvas. Main Restaurant Street, Nyaung U Shwe Pyi Nann Thanakha Museum If you ask what the most favourite cosmetic product in Myanmar is, everyone will say “Thanakha”. Here is a museum dedicated to it. You will learn about all its uses, including that it was once used in ancient Bagan as a way to light the bonfires in the pagoda precincts on the full moon day of Dabow. Lanmadaw 3 Road, Nyaung U, Near Shwezigone Pagoda 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
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MY Yangon Magazine
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Yangon’s
Favourite Food Hubs Myay Ni Gone Take the more palatable option and go for traditional Myanmar food if you are in Myay Ni Gone. A famous restaurant chain, Danuphyu Daw Saw Yi Restaurant at Maha Bawga Street serves home-cooked, authentic Myanmar traditional food. This restaurant is famous for its offerings of curries especially its pork soyabean curry. For a more global take, head to Bargayar Road where you will find outlets like Ice Berry, Pizza Company and Moon Bakery serving delicious hot coffee, burgers and Asian dishes like Korean Kimbap. This district is always crowded with local foodies especially after office hours as roadside street vendors appear who serve a variety of local delicacies such as samosas, “A Htat Taya”, a fried flaky layered Prata with a sprinkle of sugar, vermicelli salad, noodles, and offal salad.
Chinatown Chinatown’s 19th Street has been for generations the go-to place for a late night meal, and it is a particular favourite place for BBQ lovers. Every street here is teaming with traffic and full of life. Most of the items on skewers you can recognize straight away, just about everything is pretty familiar – there’s pork, chicken, tofu, seafood and plenty of other items too. People often forget to explore the nearby streets where you will find stalls selling rice congee and duck leg salad on 20th street, and spring rolls on 17th street. The street night market which runs along Mahabandoola Road and down the various side streets offers more options as well from freshly picked fruits (especially durian) to roast duck, crispy pork belly and fried tree grubs. If you are brave enough to try your not-so-ordinary food, Chinatown’s the place for you. 16
MYyangon _ issue 19
Features
Saya San Street & Pearl Condo Pearl Condo is a foodie’s paradise. The compound hosts several restaurants allowing both residents and guests many options to choose from. It is well-known for its food spots like Lotteria, Chatime, Yoogane, Mañana Mexican Restaurant, and Snow Factory. Locals, especially youngsters, prefer Lotteria as it offers fast food like fried chicken, burgers and French fries. Outside of Pearl Condo, Saya San Road continues the food theme and houses many restaurants along the road, most of which are towards the pricier end of the scale and feature international cuisine. There is a huge range here - from American cuisine (Tony Roma’s) to North Korean (Pyongyang Koryo). For those who prefer to dine late, Golden Duck Restaurant in Saya San Street offers roasted duck and other savoury Chinese dishes. If you’re looking to relax, why not sip a cup of coffee at the District Coffee Lounge? The café offers high-end coffee, drinks as well as baked goods especially its signature Green Tea Crepe Cake. A mere walk
away, YKKO with their infamous Kyay-Oh, offers the perfect bonding time for friends and family in their spacious two floored building. There is also the first Yangon outlet of Mandalay’s famous SP Bakery with its many delicious
cakes and confectionary. For the Pizza fans, no problem! You have an excellent choice of newly opened Parami Pizza 3 (above SP Bakery) serving one of the best pizzas in town.
Myanma Gon-Yi Street Packed in a bustling street in the heart of Mingalar Taung Nyunt, there are street stalls serving their famous delicious Indian foods such as Prata, Chapati, and Biryani. Gon-yi Street is Yangon’s little India, therefore, Indian food is a must. Most of the stalls are open as early as dawn but are mostly crowded with diners usually from 2 pm to till 10 pm. What’s surprising is that this is one of the food hubs in Yangon where you can taste the diversity of various cuisines derived from different regions of Myanmar and India. The street hosts some 24-hour teashops providing locals a chance to watch global football games.
Hledan Famous for its grilled fish, the main roads of Hledan and Insein are crowded with shops specializing in grilled fish. Each restaurant serves their own different variations of the famous snack. Among them, Mandalay Thar Mala Grilled Fish Restaurant is popular for its combination of Chinese Mala dish (Spicy curry with tons of vegetables) and grilled fish. In addition, the main road is filled with stalls serving shan noodle, pork offal, sushi, Myay-Oh-Mee-Shay, Thai BBQ, Mohinga and fried dumplings. The heart of Hledan Township, U Tun Linn Chan Road attracts crowd with its huge diverse offering of snacks and dishes. The best time to come here in the evening as most of the stalls set up around 2:00 p.m. @ MYYangon
MY Yangon Magazine
17
Health
Explore Khit Yangon ေျမပေဒသာကၽြန္းနားေရာက္ရင္ Go Green ဆိုတဲ့ အေဆာက္ အ ဦး တစ္ ခု ကို ေတြ ႔ ျ မင္ ရ ပါလိ မ့္ မ ယ္ ။ မွန္တံခါးကို တြန္းဖြင့္ဝင္သြားတာနဲ႔ အသီးအႏွံေတြ၊ မီးဖိုေခ်ာင္အသီးအရြက္ေတြကိုပါ စိမ္းစိမ္းစိုစို ေတြ႔ ျမင္ရမွာျဖစ္ၿပီး တစ္ခ်ဳိ႕ကိုေတာ့ အသင့္ထုပ္ပိုးထား ပါတယ္။
go gREEN Aye Chan Khaing
ဝင္ဝင္ခ်င္းေရွ႕မွာေတာ့ အရည္ရႊန္း ရာသီေပၚအသီး အႏွံေ တြ ျဖစ္တဲ့ ကြ ်ဲေကာသီး၊ ဖရဲသီး၊ နာနတ္သီး၊ ငွက္ေပ်ာသီး၊ လိေမၼာသ ္ ီး၊ ေထာပတ္သီး၊ သေဘာၤသီး ေတြ ေရာင္းခ်ေနၿပီး ေဘးမွာေတာ့ ဟင္းသီးဟင္းရြက္ ေတြ၊ မုန္လာဥ၊ မိႈ၊ ေဂၚဖီထုပ္၊ ခ်ယ္ရီခရမ္းခ်ဥ္သီး၊ Beef Tomato အပါအဝင္ အသီးအရြက္ေတြ ေရာင္းခ် ေနပါတယ္။ က်န္းမာေရးနဲ႔ ညီညတ ြ တ ္ ဲ့ အစိမ္းေရာင္ အသီးအရြက္ ေတြကို ေရာင္းခ်တယ္ဆိုတဲ့ Go Green Fruits & Vegetables Shop ရဲ႕ ထူးျခားခ်က္က ဘာေတြလဲ။ ဘာေတြ ျ မင္ ရ မွာ လဲ ဆို တာကို စိ တ္ ဝ င္ တ စားနဲ ႔ Go Green ရဲ႕ မွန္တံခါးကို တြန္းဖြင့္ခဲ့ပါတယ္။ အခုေနာက္ပိုင္း စားသံုးသူေတြအေနနဲ႔ က်န္းမာေရး အသိ ပိုရိွလာၾကၿပီး ဓာတုကင္းလြတ္တဲ့ အသီးအႏွံ ေတြကို ေရြးခ်ယ္စားသံုးလာၾကတာျဖစ္လ႔ို Go Green ကေရာ ဘာေတြထးူ ျခားလဲဆတ ုိ ာ စိတဝ ္ င္စားမိခတ ့ဲ ယ္။ စိုက္ပ်ဳိးေျမကို သံုးႏွစ္ေလာက္ မစိုက္ပ်ဳိးဘဲ သန္႔စင္ တဲ့ အ ထိ ထားၿပီး ဓာတုေ ဆးလံုး ဝမသံုး ဘဲ စို က္ ပ ်ဳိး ရရိွလာတဲ့ အသီးအႏွံေတြကို Organic လို႔ ေခၚတာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ Chemical Free ကေတာ့ စိက ု ပ ္ ်ဳိးလက္စ ေျမေပၚမွာ ဓာတုေဆးဝါးေတြ လံုးဝမသံုးစြဲေတာ့တာ ျဖစ္ၿပီး မတူညီတာႏွစ္ခုကသတိျပဳစရာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ လြန္ခဲ့တဲ့ ဇန္န၀ါရီလ ၁ ရက္၊ ၂၀၁၅ ခုႏွစ္မွစၿပီး Go Green ကို စတင္ခက ဲ့ ာ ၿပီးခဲတ ့ ဲ့ ဇန္နဝါရီလ ၂၃ ရက္မွာ ေျမပေဒသာကၽြန္းမွာပဲ ေနာက္တစ္ဆင ို ္ တိုးခ်ဲ႕ဖြငလ ့္ စ ွ ္ ခဲ့ပါတယ္။ Chemical Free ဟင္းသီးဟင္း ရြက္ေတြ၊ လတ္ ဆ တ္ တဲ့ အသီး အႏွံေ တြ နဲ ႔ Natural Dried Products ေတြ ရရိႏ ွ င ို ပ ္ ါတယ္။ အသီးအႏွန ံ ႔ဲ လုပထ ္ ား တဲ့ ေရခဲမုန္႔ေတြ၊ တျခားကြတ္ကီးေတြ၊ ေပါင္မုန္႔ေတြ လည္း ေရာင္းခ်ေနပါေသးတယ္။ ဓာတု က င္း လြ တ္ စို က္ ပ ်ဳိးေရးကို စိ တ္ ဝ င္ စားတဲ့ ေတာင္သူေတြကို ေညာင္ႏွစ္ပင္မွာ စိုက္ပ်ဳိးေျမ ဧက ၂ဝခန္႔နဲ႔ တိုက္ရိုက္စိုက္ပ်ဳိးမ်ဳိးေစ့ေတြနဲ႔ စနစ္တက် သင္ တ န္းေပးၿပီး စတင္ ခဲ့ တာပါ။ ေညာင္ ႏ ွ စ္ ပ င္ က ထြက္ရိွတဲ့ ဟင္းသီးဟင္းရြက္ေတြကို အဓိက စတင္ ေရာင္းခ်ခဲ့ၿပီး ျမန္မာလူမ်ဳိးမ်ား အမ်ားဆံုးအသံုးျပဳတဲ့ မီး ဖိုေ ခ ်ာင္ သံုး သီး ႏ ွံေ တြ ျဖ စ္ တဲ့ ကန္ စ ြ န္း ရ ြ က္ ၊ ခ်ဥ္ေ ပါင္ ရ ြ က္ ၊ ဟင္း ႏု ႏ ြ ယ္ ၊ မု န္ ည င္း စံု အပါအဝင္ အသီးႏွံေတြကို Go Green မွာ ေရာင္းခ်ခဲ့ပါတယ္။
18
“မီးဖိုေခ်ာင္သံုးသီးႏွံေတြ၊ ခရမ္းခ်ဥ္သီး၊ မုန္လာဥနီ၊ သေဘာၤသီး၊ ငွက္ေပ်ာသီး၊ ဖရဲသီးေတြ၊ ကိုက္လန္၊ ေရႊဖရံ၊ု ဘူးသီးေတြ ရတယ္။ ဟင္းရြက္ေတြက ေညာင္ ႏွစ္ပင္မွာ စိုက္တယ္။ ရွမ္းျပည္ဘက္မွာ စိုက္တယ္။ အေအးပို င္း မွာ စို က္ တဲ့ မု န္ လာဥ၊ ေဂၚဖီ ထု ပ္ တို ႔ ၊ ခ ရ မ္း ခ ် ဥ္ သီး ၊ ပ န္းေ ဂ ၚ ဖီ ျ ဖ ဴ တို ႔ေ ပ ါ့ ။ ဟ င္း ရ ြ က္ သုပ္ေတြမွာ သံုးတဲ့ အမ်ဳိးစံုကေတာ့ ျပင္ဦးလြင္မွာ စိုက္တယ္” လို႔ ေျပာပါတယ္။ ဟင္းရြကေ ္ တြကို ဓာတုကင္းလြတ္အေနနဲ႔ စိုက္ပ်ဳိး ေနေပမယ့္ “ အသီးေတြက လံုးဝ Chemical Free မျဖစ္ေသးဘူး။ GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) စနစ္န႔ဲ သြားေနေသးတယ္။ ဒါေပမယ့္ သဘာဝအတိင ု ္း ရင္မ ့ ည ွ လ ့္ ာရင္ ခူးတယ္။ သစ္သီးမွည့္ေဆးမ်ား အသံုး မျပဳဘဲ သဘာ၀အတိင ု ္း မွည့္ေအာင္ထားၿပီး ေရာင္းပါ တယ္”လို႔ လတ္ဆတ္တဲ့ အသီးေတြ ရရိွေရးအတြက္ လုပ္ေဆာင္ပံုကို သိရပါေသးတယ္။ “အသီးေတြ ခူးဆြတ္ဖို႔ ရက္ ၄ဝ အလိုမွာ Chemical ကို လံုးဝ မသံုးေတာ့ဘူး။ ရပ္လက ို တ ္ ယ္”လိ႔ု မေမျမတ္ သြယ္က ဆက္ေျပာပါတယ္။ အျပင္အသီးအႏွံေတြန႔ဲ ကြာျခားခ်က္ကေတာ့ ေစ်းႏႈန္း နဲ႔ အသီးအႏွအ ံ ေရာင္အဆင္းေတြျဖစ္ၿပီး ကန္စန ြ ္းရြက္ တစ္ထုပလ ္ ွ်င္ ၄ဝဝ က်ပ္ျဖစ္ၿပီး အျပင္မွာ က်ပ္ ၁ဝဝ ခန္႔ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ပဲခူးသခြားေမႊးတစ္လံုး က်ပ္ ၃ဝဝဝ၊
သေဘာၤသီး တစ္လံုး က်ပ္ ၁ဝဝဝ၊ ေထာပတ္သီးတစ္လံုး က်ပ္ ၉ဝဝ အစရိ ွ တာေတြ က အိ မ္ ရ ွ င္ မေတြ အ ဖို ႔ ေတြးစရာေတြ ျဖစ္လာေစမွာပါ။ အျပင္အဆင္ေတြ အေနနဲ ႔ ကေတာ့ ႐ိုး ႐ိုး သာမန္ အသီးေတြ လို ပ ါပဲ ။ တစ္ခ်ဳိ႕အေရာင္ေတြကလည္း တကယ့္ သာမန္လပ ို ါပဲ။ တကယ့္ကြာျခားမႈကေတာ့ အနည္းဆံုး ၅ ရက္ကေန တစ္ပတ္အထိ လတ္လတ္ဆတ္ဆတ္ရွေ ိ နဆဲကို ေတြ႕ ရပါတယ္။ ေစ်းကဝယ္လာတဲ့ အသီးအႏွံေတြကို ေရခဲ ေသတၱာ ထဲ မ ွာ မထားဘဲ အျပင္ မ ွာ ထားရင္ သူ ႔ ရဲ ႕ သက္တမ္းက အမ်ားဆံုးတစ္ရက္ပါပဲ။ ဒီထက္ ေက်ာ္ ရင္ေတာ့ ႏြမ္းေျခာက္သြားတာ လက္တြ႕စမ္းသပ္ႏိုင္ ပါတယ္။ အဲဒီလို ႏြမ္းေျခာက္မသြားဘဲ လတ္လတ္ ဆတ္ဆတ္နဲ႔ အသီးအရြက္ရဲ႕ အရသာက သဘာဝ အတိုင္း ခ်ဳိေနတာက Go Green ရဲ႕ ထူးျခားမႈပဲ ျဖစ္ ပါတယ္။ ႏိုင္ငံျခားသား အမ်ားစု ဝယ္ယူၿပီး ျမန္မာေစ်းဝယ္သူ ေတြလည္း တိုးလာတယ္လို႔ သိရပါေသးတယ္။ “ ၿ ပီး ခဲ့ တဲ့ ႏ ွ စ္ ကေ တာ့ ႏို င္ ငံ ျ ခား သား အ မ ်ား စု နဲ ႔ ျမန္မာေတြေပါ့။ အခု ဒီဖက္ႏွစ္ထဲဆိုရင္ေတာ့ ျမန္မာ လူ မ ်ဳိးေတြ ဝယ္ ယူ စားသံုး မႈ ႏ ႈ န္း တက္ လာတယ္ ၊ ႏိုင္ငံျခားသားလည္း တက္လာတယ္။ ဂ်ပန္သံ႐ံုးေရွ႕ မွာ ဖြငထ ့္ ားေတာ့ ဂ်ပန္အမ်ားစုက လာဝယ္ၾကတယ္”
MYyangon _ issue 19
“ဆလတ္ဘားေတြက အစ္မတို႔ ဆိုင္ဖြင့္ကတည္းက ေတာက္ေလွ်ာက္ဝယ္ေနတာ၊ ထပ္တိုး လာတာက ေနာက္ ထ ပ္ ႏ ွ စ္ ဆို င္ ၊ တျခားက ဝယ္ တာေတြေ တာ့ ရိွတယ္ ” လို႔ ေျပာပါတယ္။ တစ္ခ်ဳိ႕ေတာ့ အသီးအရြက္ကို သီးသန္႔အမ်ဳိးအစား ကို မွာယူတယ္လို႔ သိရပါတယ္။ “ အစ္မတို႔ ျမန္မာအႀကိဳက္နဲ႔ ႏိုင္ငံျခားသားအႀကိဳက္ မတူဘူး။ သူတအ ႔ို တြက္ လိအ ု ပ္တဲ့ ဟင္းသီးဟင္းရြက္ ေတြ အစ္မတိက ႔ု စမ္းစိက ု ္ေပးတာေပါ့။ Parsley လိမ ု ်ဳိး ၊ Italian Basil လိုမ်ဳိး၊ ျမန္မာအမ်ားစုနဲ႔ သိပ္မရင္းႏွီး တာေတြေပါ့။ ပင္စမ ိ ္းတစ္မ်ဳိးဆို သူက ဒီမွာရိတ ွ ာထက္ ပို အနံျ႔ ပင္းတယ္။ သူက မုနဖ ႔္ တ ု တ ္ ဲ့ေနရာမွာ သံုးတယ္။ Parsley ဆိုရင္ ဟင္းပြဲေတြမွာ အလွဆင္တာမွာ သံုး တယ္။ အဓိက သူရ ႔ ႕ဲ ဗီတာမင္က အမ်ားဆံုး ပိပ ု ါတယ္။ သူတို႔က ဟင္းခ်က္တိုင္း ဟင္းပြဲတိုင္းမွာ ထည့္တာ၊ တ႐ု တ္ နံ နံ နဲ ႔ ဆင္ တ ယ္ ။ ဒါေပမယ့္ အနံ ႔ မ ရိ ွ ဘူး ။ Rocket လို ဟင္းရြက္ဆိုရင္ Salad ေတြမွာ အဓိက သံုးတာ” လို႔ ေျပာပါတယ္။ ဒီအတြက္ မ်ဳိးေစ့ပင ို ္းကို “မာလာၿမိဳင္စက ို ပ ္ ်ဳိးေရးကေန မ်ဳိးေစ့ေတြ ရွာတယ္။ တစ္ခ်ဳိ႕မ်ဳိးေစ့ေတြက ဒီဆင ို မ ္ ွာပဲ ရတယ္ ။ တစ္ ခ ်ဳိ ႕ မ်ဳိးေစ့ေ တြ ကေတာ့ မေရာင္း ဘူး ။ အစ္မတိ႔ု ေတာင္သူေတြကို စိက ု ခ ္ င ို ္းၿပီး Go Green မွာ ေရာင္းတယ္။ Beef Tomato ဆိုရင္ ပါစတာတို႔၊ ပီဇာ တို႔မွာ အႏွစ္လုပ္တာ။ အခ်ဥ္ေပါ့။ အစ္မတို႔ ရွမ္းခရမ္း ခ်ဥ္ၾကေတာ့ ခ်ဥ္လည္းခ်ဥ္တယ္၊ ခ်ဳိလည္း ခ်ဳိတယ္၊ ဒါေပမယ့္ အခြံ ထူ တ ယ္ ။ ဟို ခ ရမ္း ခ်ဥ္ သီး ၾကေတာ့ အခြပ ံ ါးၿပီး အႏွစမ ္ ်ားတယ္။ င႐ုတပ ္ အ ြ နီန႔ဲ အဝါလည္း ရတယ္။ မ်ဳိးအေနနဲ႔ F1 မ်ဳိးကိပ ု ဲ သံုးတာ” လိ႔ု အသံုးျပဳ ပံုကို သိရပါတယ္။
tpfrwdkY txkyfxJrSmygwJh [if;oD;? [if;&Gufukd trdIufyHk;xJ ra&mufap&bl;/ tavvGifh rjzpfap&bl;/ ... ေရာင္းခ်ပံက ု ို “ေရသန္န ႔ ႔ဲ ေဆးေပးတယ္။ ဝယ္သူ အိမ္ ေရာက္ရင္ တစ္ေခါက္ေရေဆးၿပီး အသင့္ေၾကာ္ႏိုင္ ေအာင္ထိ ျပင္ဆင္ထုပ္ပိုးေပးထားတယ္။ ေဆးလို႔မရ တဲ့ ဟင္းသီးဟင္းရြက္ေတာ့ ေဆးမထားဘူး။ ဥပမာ ခရမ္း ခ်ဥ္ သီး လို မ ်ဳိးေပါ့ ။ မသန္ ႔ မ ွာ စိုး လို ႔ ဆားတို ႔ ၊ ရွာလကာရည္တို႔ စိမ္ထားရတဲ့ အခ်ိန္ေတြ သက္သာ တယ္” ဆက္လက္ၿပီး “ဟင္းသီးဟင္းရြက္ကရတဲ့ ဗီတာမင္ ေတြလိုခ်င္လို႔ စားၾကတယ္။ ဗီတာမင္ကို လိုခ်င္လို႔ စားေပမယ့္ Chemical အဆိပ္ေတြ စားမိၿပီး ဆိုးက်ဳိး ေတြ ျဖစ္ေစတယ္။ Chemical Free စားရတဲ့အတြက္ ဗီ တာမင္ လ ည္း ရမယ္ ၊ Chemical ေတြ လ ည္း ေရွာင္ရွားၿပီးသားျဖစ္မယ္၊ အစာစားၿပီး ေဆးမကုရ ေအာင္ အစ္မတို႔ အတတ္ႏိုင္ဆံုး ႀကိဳးစားထားေပး
ပါတယ္” လို႔ မေမျမတ္သြယ္က ေျပာပါတယ္။ လက္ ရိ ွ Go Green ရဲ ႔ ေစ်းကြ က္ မ ွာေတာ့ ျမန္ မာ စားသံုးသူေတြ ဝယ္ယမ ူ တ ႈ ိုးတက္လာၿပီး ဒီလို က်န္းမာ ေရးအတြက္ေကာင္းတဲ့ အသီးအႏွံေတြကို ဘာေၾကာင့္ စားသင့္တယ္ ဆိုတာ ပိုိသိလာတယ္လို႔ Go Green မွ သိရပါတယ္။ “ ဟင္းသီးဟင္းရြက၊္ မုနည ္ င္း၊ ကိက ု လ ္ န္၊ ခရမ္းခ်ဥ္သီး ေတြကို အၾကမ္းဖ်ဥ္း ၾကားလိုက္မယ္ဆိုရင္ ကန္စြန္း ရြက္တစ္စည္း ၄ဝဝ ေပါ့။ ဟာ ၄ဝဝ လားေပါ့။ အစ္မ တို႔ ကန္စြန္းရြက္က ျမန္မာမိသားစုအတြက္ ဟင္းရံ တစ္ ပ ြဲ ရ တယ္ ။ သံုး ၊ ေလးေယာက္ ေလာက္ တ ယ္ ။ အစ္မတိ႔ု အထုပထ ္ မ ဲ ွာပါတဲ့ ဟင္းရြကသ ္ ည္ အမိက ႈ ပ ္ ံုး ထဲကို မေရာက္ေစရဘူး။ အေလလြင့္မျဖစ္ေစရဘူး” လို႔ သူတို႔ရဲ႕အာမခံခ်က္ကို ေျပာပါတယ္။ Go Green အေနနဲ႔ ျမန္မာ Organic အဖြဲ႕ ( MOAG) ၊ ဘက္စံုစိုက္ပ်ဳိးေမြးျမဴမႈ ဖြံ႕ၿဖိဳးတိုးတက္ေရးအသင္း (MADA) တိန ႔ု အ ႔ဲ တူ လုပ္ေဆာင္လ်က္ရၿွိ ပီး ဂ်ပန္ႏင ို င ္ မ ံ ွ International Nature Farming Research Centre (INFRC) နဲ ႔ ပူးေပါင္းေဆာင္ ရ ြ က္ ရ န္ ရိ ွေ နပါတယ္ ။ စိုက္ပ်ဳိးေရးဝန္ႀကီးဌာန၊ ဓာတ္ခြဲခန္းမွလည္း ဓာတု ကင္းစင္တဲ့ ဟင္းသီးဟင္းရြက္အျဖစ္ ေထာက္ခံခ်က္ ရရွိထားၿပီး ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ အဲ ဒီ ကေနအျပန္ ကၽြ န္ မ တို ႔ ေန႔ စ ဥ္ လ ႈ မ ႈ ဘ ဝေတြ ဘယ္ေလာက္ထိခိုက္ေနၿပီလဲ၊ ဘာေတြ ကာကြယ္ဖို႔ လိုလဲလို႔ အေတြးေတြနဲ႔ ျပန္ခဲ့ပါတယ္။
Go Green (Fruits & Vegetables) Nat Mauk Street( Kan Taw Gyi Kan Pat Lann), Myay Padaythar Garden, Bahan Tsp. 09 97 4693478 @ MYYangon
MY Yangon Magazine
19
Yangon Trends
MYANMAR’S FOOD AND BEVERAGES SECTOR
With the liberalization of Myanmar’s economy, the country is now experiencing a lot of changes in the food and beverages sector. The sector is fast growing in Myanmar which is one of food surplus countries in the world producing between 55 and 60 million tons of agricultural food per annum. Some 1.2 million people are employed in the food and beverage industry according to Myanmar Food and Beverages 2018 report by Stanton Emms Strategy. The demand is increasing for processed food and drinks caused by rapidly growing middle-income group in the country. Japan’s Nikkei reported that the average Myanmar native spends around US$60 a year eating out, roughly one-fifth of what his/her neighbour 20
in Southeast Asian nations spends. This means the potential for local food production and trade is significant, which is crucial to Myanmar’s overall economic development, given agriculture accounts for almost 50 percent of GDP and 75 per cent of Myanmar’s workforce. However, value addition in Myanmar’s food industry is currently relatively low with the vast majority of the industry focusing on more traditional manufacturing methods and products. After the sanctions imposed by the western countries were lifted many international food and beverage companies re-entered the country and the changes have been taking place in the local food and beverage industry. Myanmar has also welcomed many international franchises and
businesses over the last couple of years. Coca-Cola started its operations in 2013 after it left the country more than 60 years ago. Pepsi Co. which left Myanmar in 1997 is back in Myanmar since 2014. Canadian ice cream parlor Swensen’s operated by a Thai restaurant company Minor Food Group has a number of branches in Yangon. South Korea’s Lotteria, a fast food chain opened its first outlet in 2013. Fried chicken chain operator BBQ Chicken, also from South Korea, entered the country in 2013 and now has many branches. Yum brands’ KFC has an impressive outlet in the heart of Yangon and plans to open several more outlets. Myanmar franchisee of KFC has also introduced Yum Brands’ Pizza Huts restaurants to
Aye Lwin
the country. Swiss giant Nestle is active since late 2013. Worldfamous food and beverages companies such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Unilever have already built factories in Myanmar. Others, such as Heineken, Carlsberg, Chang Beer and Singapore’s Pokka are beginning construction of their factories here. Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever which operations were nationalized in 1965 has come back in 2010. Globally popular McDonalds Restaurants has started accepting applications from franchise for Myanmar operations though they did not indicate when they intend to enter the market.
MYyangon _ issue 19
Trends
Food Safety in Myanmar
Popular Franchises in Yangon
Food hygiene is quite low in Yangon and much has to be done to correct this. The first Food and Drug Act was enacted in 1928 and Public Health Law (1972), National Drug Law (1992) were promulgated to control food quality. The public awareness about hygiene is quite low ( carrying hot food in polythene bags is a normal practice here ) and the effective quality control on the food and beverage industry by the authorities is much needed. Hygiene issues persist at every level, from raw ingredients to cooked foods both domestically and commercially. Many organizations are taking up the matter. Multinationals like Unilever Food Solutions have been investing both money and effort since 2010, to train staff in Myanmar’s formal hospitality sector about the need and significance of food hygiene. Most of the cooked foods sold in Yangon are from street stalls. The food is cheap and tasty but the problem is a lack of personal hygiene of food vendors, dirty food counters, and unclean environment. Most of the diarrheal disease cases are due to food contamination in Myanmar. Other than diarrhea food or waterborne diseases like Hepatitis A, Hepatitis E, and Typhoid fever are common. Another report says that testing of food samples from numerous food stalls show that 35% of the food contained dangerous food bacteria causing food poisoning. Food in many mid-range restaurants are quite hygienic and eating in upscale restaurants are safe. But they are out of reach for common man. With the changing lifestyle of Myanmar people, we are going to see more positive changes in food and beverages sector.
KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) Origin: United States First opened: July 2015 Signature: Fried Chicken 5 outlets
The Pizza Company Origin: Thailand First opened: December 2013 Signature: Different types of pizza 2 outlets
Astons Specialities Origin: Singapore December 2015 Signature: BBQ, and steaks 2 outlets
Gong-Cha Origin: Taiwan First Opened: 28th June 2013 Signature: Milk Green Tea, Coffee, Healthy Series and Ice Smoothies 5 outlets
Chatime Origin: Taiwan First Opened: 2013 Signature: Bubble Tea and Iced Tea Over 10 outlets in Yangon and 2 in Mandalay
The Manhattan Fish Market
For addresses go to the Yangon Directory website at www.yangondirectory.com
@ MYYangon
MY Yangon Magazine
Origin: United States First Opened: April 2014 Signature: Fish’n Chips and Seafood platter 1 outlet
Rasa Lasa Origin: Malaysia First Opened: 2015 Signature: Malaysia Cuisines 1 outlet
Gloria Jean’s Coffees Origin: Australia Signature: Moochers, chillers and brewed coffees 1 outlet
Ya Kun Kaya Toast Origin: Singapore Signature: Coffee & Toast 4 outlets
Lotteria Origin: Korea First Opened: April 2013 Signature: Burger and Fried Chicken
Imperial Garden Origin: Hong Kong First Opened: December 2015 Signature: Dim Sum and Chinese cuisines 1 outlet
Swensen’s Origin: United States First Opened: December 2013 Signature: Sundae and various kinds of ice-creams 5 outlets
21
Yangon Trends
Food Changing Lives
There are a number of great social enterprise projects where eating food is helping to change the lives of poorer members of our society. Genius Coffee
SoyAi (Soy Milk & Tofu) Members of the Children of Tomorrow Youth Centre produce soy milk and tofu for sale. The profits go towards education and life skills development of children based at three different orphanages in Yangon. The products can be bought for personal use, but can also be
purchased for donation to underprivileged homes. Minimum delivery order is 20 bottles (1 litre per bottle), but smaller orders can be collected from the Youth Centre. Building 2, Mingyi Street, Yankin 09 254 441 837 They produce 100% Arabica coffee from the Ywar Ngan in Shan State. Not only is it great tasting coffee, the company is environmentally and socially conscious. The packaging is recyclable and reusable, they educate the farmers to minimise deforestation and 10% of all income is donated to
Linkage Restaurant A great Myanmar restaurant run by street children who are trained by Forever Humanitarian & Development Project in cooking and food hygiene skills as well as restaurant management. 141, 1st Floor, Seikkantha St, 09 495 836 18 22
the Danu farmers of Ywar Ngan. They have a small coffee shop in Tamwe. 455, Kyikekasan Road, Near Old Tarmwe Market Tel: +95 9 73088068, +95 9 8500538
Sai’s Tacos
Shwe Sa Bwe
One of the very few Mexican restaurants in Myanmar. They employ young people from the Shan community who enjoy fair employment, free training and profit sharing. Inya Myaing Rd, 01 514 950
A fine dining French restaurant offering gourmet set lunches and dinners. Chefs and waiters are all young underprivileged Myanmar nationals who benefit from free culinary and service training. Malikha Rd, Mayangone 09 421 005 085
Yangon Bakehouse A great coffee shop with healthy lunches, baked goods and a delivery service. They train and employ disadvantaged women and offer them fair wages and skills development. Ground Floor, Pearl Condo 09 977 117 932 MYyangon _ issue 19
Best of
Culinary Training Programmes A number of organisations are focused on just providing culinary training to disadvantaged people.
My Red Elephant Association - Mary’s Cooking Class They provide three-month cooking classes for deaf students from Mary Chapman’s School for the Deaf so that they are ready to undergo chef training at hotels and restaurants in Yangon. Many of the students have been permanently employed after the training.
Swisscontact Hotel Training Initiative The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation is funding the training of 3000 people from disadvantaged backgrounds in hospitality occupations, including food & beverage service, in Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw. The curriculum for the training has been provided by the Swiss Hotel Management Academy Lucerne. 3J, Minkyaung St, Mayangone
Myanmar Chefs Association The Myanmar Chefs Association, founded in December 1996, regularly conducts charitable activities – whether it is conducting its Dental Care & Education sessions in schools and orphanages, to running culinary training courses. They have established pastry training centres and plan to set one up at the Young Women Prison Centre. 30, 5th Floor, (A/B) Bo Moe St, Sanchaung http://www.myanmarchefs.com
Bagan Vocational Training Restaurant Myanmar Youth Development Institute has partnered with TREE-Alliance (Training Restaurants for Employment & Entrepreneurship) to set up a vocational restaurant training programme for young people in Bagan. They will aim to train up 20 hospitality graduates each year. 42, 3rd Floor, Strand Rd, 01 383 676
For addresses go to the Yangon Directory website at www.yangondirectory.com @ MYYangon
MY Yangon Magazine
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Business
Interview with
Sonny Aung Khin Padonmar Restaurant
Rico Kyaw
MY Yangon got the chance for an interview with U Sonny Aung Khin, the owner of the renowned Padonmar Myanmar and Thai Fine Dining Restaurant and the former Chairman of the Myanmar Restaurant Association. U Sonny is also an advocate for the preservation of traditional Myanmar cuisine and is pushing for international recognition. His restaurant Padonmar has served widely known global politicians such as U.S. Senator John McCain and French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Alain Juppe. He told us what the future holds for the restaurants in Myanmar amid increasing influence from overseas. Why has Myanmar food not been popular when compared to other S.E.A. cuisines? Myanmar food has been branded as oily, unhealthy and unhygienic by foreigners. We have been trying to address that issue by creating healthier versions and amend their mindsets. A lot of Myanmar dishes can be cooked using less and better quality oil resulting in quality dishes. We have found that using 30% less oil can result in the same tasty dishes, but healthier. At my restaurant, we use only sunflower oil which is cholesteraol free.
How is the Myanmar restaurant scene in Yangon? Could you explain your opinion on the dining scene here? There are a lot of locally owned restaurants, but you will be surprised to learn that only a handful of fine dining restaurants actually specialize in preparing Myanmar traditional meals and dishes. We are gradually losing the identity of Myanmar traditional meals. Now Yangon’s restaurant scenes are ruled by Korean, Japanese, Thai, European and even Vietnamese cuisine. That is not acceptable. We need associations that can help to grow the identity of Myanmar cultural food which includes the traditional food from ethnic groups like Shan, Kachin, Chin, Rakhine and Mon. There is definitely a market out there for these kinds of cuisines especially with 24
the repats and expats entering the country. The dining sector for traditional Myanmar food is here to stay.
Myanmar in the past few years has seen quite a lot of international franchise launches. How has this impacted the restaurants in Myanmar? International franchises have greatly impacted of a lot of restaurants in Yangon. Not only has the local customer base moved but also the tourist sector as well. In Yangon, there are now a lot of options to choose from. We have lost about one third of our customers to those franchises and international foods. Fast food chains aren’t directly competing with us MYyangon _ issue 19
Business Can you explain more about Myanmar Restaurant Association and its objectives? What MRA has been doing is trying to educate local restaurants to be better in their service and their products/dishes. We are also arranging the training programme for healthier Myanmar dishes for the local Myanmar restaurants partnering with foreign associations. In January, we hosted a training program in Japan and out of 16, only 4 restaurants were traditional food restaurants where the rest of them were mostly Chinese and European style restaurants
Now let us move on to your restaurant, Padonmar. Can you tell us about your customer base? Half of our diners are the foreigners brought to us by the tour operators. We have a long-standing relationship with them and contracts with over 400 tour companies of which 200 are currently active. Most tour operators will bring the guests here for at least one meal. Generally, another 30% walk-in dinners are foreign businessmen, mostly investors, looking to open and start-up businesses and investments here in Myanmar. Sometimes, Myanmar-owned companies also bring their guests here to try our traditional Myanmar food.
How do you recruit and qualify your staff? That is a very tricky question. I do not like to hire qualified staff as they like to jump from one business to another especially these days as there are new restaurants popping up. They only think about the pay. There are even some cases where people would dine here at my restaurant and recruit my staff. I like the step-by-step process where my staff would move up from the most basic jobs such as service waiter, helpers to become qualified service staff.
What future service plans do you plan to offer for your diners? We are providing the highest level of service and dining available in Myanmar. Our aim now is not to drop that standard and try to maintain it as long as we can. Practically it is not as easy as it sounds. Staff problems are the most difficult in keeping the standard as they like to jump the ship after two or three years working here. However if they will like to go abroad to further their career, I give them my approval with blessings as it is their future.
Do you have plans to expand your restaurant business?
but indirectly playing a role especially for our local diners who are about one-third of total diners here in Padonmar.
Sounds like you have a challenge keeping your Myanmar diners. What do you do to keep customers coming and interested in your traditional Myanmar food? We have to maintain a good relationship with our regular customers and tour operators. Restaurants here can’t ignore the power of these people even when a restaurant is successful.
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MY Yangon Magazine
The location of close proximity to Shwedagon Pagoda is the big selling point for us. For example, the Thai pilgrimage tour groups would come here for dinner after visiting Shwedagon. They will usually call us five minutes before leaving the pagoda and would like the table to be set up in ten minutes. Of course I do have the plan to expand only if the location is suited for this kind of service.
Padonmar Restaurant 105/107, Kha-Yae-Bin Road, Dagon Tsp 01 538 895, 09 7324 2410 padonmar.restaurant@gmail.com
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Property Business
Yangon’s Changing Urban Landscape Spotlight on Junction City What does the project include? Junction City is a world-class integrated development at the heart of Yangon. It comprises prime Grade (A) office space, jointly developed with Singapore’s Keppel Land Limited; a 5-star luxury hotel jointly developed and operated by Pan Pacific Hotels Group; a world-class lifestyle shopping centre managed by Shwe Taung Property Management; and high rise serviced residences.
friendly building materials and water-efficient and energy-efficient technologies that meet the stringent Green Mark standards by the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore. Examples of green features that will be included are solar panels installed on the rooftop of the development, wastewater treatment as well as recycling and harvesting of rain water. We expect energy consumption to be reduced by 15 - 20% as a result of these green features.
When did the project start and when will it finish? Construction started in 2013. Phase 1 of Junction City is scheduled for completion in early 2017. This phase includes the office tower, hotel, and shopping centre. Phase 2, comprising of high-rise serviced residences, is scheduled to be completed in 2019.
Junction City Shopping Centre will feature a unique terrarium concept within the shopping centre. This creates a very green space and a special retail experience for visitors to the mall.
What stand out architectural features or products do you have? Junction City will be a pioneer in the green design and sustainable development in Myanmar. It will incorporate environmentally26
What parts of the construction process have gone smoothly and what parts have been challenging? Junction City is located in an extremely prime location in downtown Yangon, at the intersection of Bogyoke Aung San Road and Shwedagon Pagoda Road. Being located at such a prime spot also means that traffic is heavier than a suburban location, and we have to be mindful of how we plan the vehicular movements around the project. We engaged the services of a Singapore consultant to carry out traffic impact assessments. To ease the shortage of parking spaces in downtown Yangon, Junction City will have one of the largest parking facilities in Yangon with more than 1,500 car park lots. Who are the contractors and suppliers that you are using, especially local agencies, and are you looking for suppliers? The main contractor is the Shwe Taung Development Co., Ltd. Ahlone Tower, 2nd Floor, Strand Road MYyangon _ issue 19
Burmese Snacks
San Lin Tun
agent for one’s chest in Burmese. One of its main ingredients, Kyauk Kyaw, is agar jelly usually set in two layers with coconut milk. Also added is the taste of sweet syrup of thickened coconut juice and, sagu or tapioca, plus a slice of bread to soak up the syrup. Moat Let Saung is the concoction of the green coloured Mote Phat (rice droplets), sagu and the sweet solution of squeezed coconut. It can be served with another solution made of jaggery. It is another sweet option for those who don’t like the taste of coconut.
We, Myanmar, love afternoon snacks. Many street hawkers and tea houses in downtown Yangon are often crowded with people of all types having traditional snacks with a cup of tea. But, again, it is noteworthy that tea is an option, not compulsory. Street vendors walk up and down the roads calling out from the depths of their throats, “Shwe Yin Aye, Moat Let Saung!” trying to get attention from those living above. Thirsty householders rush out to the balcony and call out to the seller to halt. They send a @ MYYangon
MY Yangon Magazine
child down the stairs to buy and bring up their cups of Shwe Yin Aye and Moat Let Saung. Normally, the diligent vendors start hitting the streets around one in the afternoon. There is no set time for tea but it usually falls anytime between 1.00 to 4.00 in the afternoon. For those residents wishing to escape the confines of their home, there are now many food chains to get their tea fix with some offering splendid and dazzling modern delicacies. Traditional snacks, though are still their preference. “Shwe Yin Aye”, is suitable for the hot and sunny hours of Tabotwe, Tabaung, and Tagoo as ”Shwe Yin Aye”, means the cooling
Another favourite snack that the vendors have is Moat Lin Ma Yar, literally translated as the Couple Snack. To make this snack, they use a special pan which has 50 cavities in it. The dough is poured into the shallow cavities so that the outer layers are fried to a crisp shell but the inside is still runny. Boiled peas or quail eggs are put on top to add to the taste. Finally, the seller sprinkles pounded sesame to add a nutty taste. Another popular snack is “Baine Moat”, which is “Myanmar Pan Cake” and there are two kinds. The tawny coloured one is sweeter, the smell is really good, and the taste is exceptional. For those who like a bit of spice, the Baine Moat sometimes has chopped chillies placed on the top. These are just some of the many Myanmar snacks which are definitely worth exploring and are the best ways to suppress one’s hunger. 27
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MYyangon _ issue 19
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MY Yangon Magazine
29
Business
Freshly Home Grown: Fresco
Jaiden Coonan
Fresco’s origins began in 2007 when a group of agronomists had a dream of providing fresh produce to supermarkets, like City Mart in Yangon, plus restaurants and hotels around Taunggyi and Inle Lake. The idea was to grow highly nutritious vegetables from all over the world such as beef tomatoes, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, melons, red radishes, fennel, leeks, and beetroots. MY Yangon spoke to the Managing Director of Fresco, Paolo Cerati, about their company including their infrastructure troubles, pesticide usage and sustainable practices. 30
Could you tell our readers a little bit about yourself and why you’re in Myanmar? I’m an agronomist from Italy who arrived in Myanmar 11 years ago. I was originally working for an Italian NGO that was based in Taunggyi, Shan State. I lived there for two and a half years, after that I was in charge of a food security project there. The idea of growing vegetables for the town’s restaurants came to me because at that time there was nothing.
What inspired you to start Fresco? The first reason is that living in Shan State I was able to work with farmers and I was able to see the amounts of chemicals used, and, despite what people think, Myanmar is not an organic country – it’s totally the opposite, unfortunately. I was scared from seeing what the local farmers were using. One reason is that I wanted to produce something clean and safe for the people. Also to help them, I saw local farmers struggling to get any profit out of their farm. The idea was to teach them that the solution is to diversify their product. So if everybody is growing cabbage, you grow something else.
You said you had some concerns about the produce grown here, what are some of those concerns? Mainly it is the way how they produce it. So basically, most farmers don’t have any knowledge about insecticides, pesticides or fungicides. You have people who spray chemicals on the cabbage the day before it is harvested, so you have contaminated vegetables. So it is definitely a very big problem, and in my opinion, it is much underestimated. MYyangon _ issue 19
Business We grow in the dry zone during the winter time because we discovered you can grow tomatoes without using chemicals because vegetables aren’t grown in the area, so there is less of threat from insects.
How does the weather affect produce cultivation in Myanmar? Unfortunately, I’d have to say 100%. Because in Myanmar everything is open field cultivation, they don’t have any access to any materials that can help grow the vegetables in certain conditions. In Kayin we tried to grow tomatoes there but it rains more there than anywhere else in the country.
What are the sustainable methods used at Fresco? What we use on our farm and what we teach our farmers is called companion planting where we plant certain plants next to each other that prove growing together works, for example; the scent of carrots repels an insect that feeds on tomato. So if you grow a line of carrots and a line of tomatoes it helps. We are not teaching our farmers mono-cropping but how to work with small crops.
What difficulties has Fresco faced? If you consider that from Heho to Yangon it is only 600km, it takes 12 hours. That’s the kind of infrastructure missing here - the roads are really bad. The other thing is the lack of technical input, so for us we want to do organic farming, but we can’t be completely organic - nobody can. We don’t have access to really good quality organic products such as organic insecticides. We are now testing some products that are finally available here from a company based in India. Most of the staff are daily labourers and want to stay daily labourers, so it is very difficult to have workers who know how to do their job properly. In Myanmar, there are only around 100 agronomists graduating a year.
How many people are working for Fresco? On the farm, we have 30 employees and in the Yangon office, we have normally around ten. We have only two Myanmar agronomists, we are looking for one more. We have more projects starting so we need an agronomist in charge of that, but we cannot find them. There are very few agronomists, and those graduating go to work in big chemical companies that pay a lot. Right now we grow most of our products in Heho, but we also grow here in Yangon – we’ve had this project for the past two years. We provide the technical support and the seeds and we fix the price, we teach them how much to grow based on our needs. We run similar projects in Shan State involving 600 farmers.
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MY Yangon Magazine
We are also in talks with a Netherland’s company about bio-pest controls that you can use in organic farming; we hope to have some imported soon. So we’ll teach the farmers how to use that. As well as creating shelters during the wet season so farmers won’t have to use fungicides.
What are Myanmar supply chains like? From Shan State to Yangon, we use local buses to transport our vegetables, if I bought my own truck I’d have to hire two drivers for the 12-hour drive so it’s safer. But it is not only that but maintenance of the truck over long distances and old roads. It can take up to 3 days for our produce to get to supermarkets. The only way around this is improved infrastructure; we want to improve our logistics. We harvest in the afternoon and put the produce on an overnight bus, so we can have it to them by the afternoon the next day.
What places use and sell Fresco produce? We have four different sectors in our market, the one big sector is supermarkets like City Mart – we work with them a lot. Another sector is hotels and restaurants, we have clients around Inle Lake or in the country side like Bagan, Mandalay, Ngapali and Ngwe Saung sometimes and Nay Pyi Taw sometimes. The last one is the vegetable box delivery scheme that is booming. www.frescomyanmar.com 09 792 226 852, 09 792 227 491 info@frescomyanmar.com
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Meet
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ရန္ကန ု က ္ ေန အေ၀းေရာက္ေနတဲအ ့ ခါ ရန္ကန ု မ ္ ွာရိတ ွ ဲ့ ဘယ္စားေသာက္ဆင ို ္ေတြ၊ အစား အစာေတြကို သတိရမိတာရိွလဲ။ ရ န္ ကု န္ လ က္ ရာ အ စား အ စာ ဆို လို ႔ အ ခု ဆို ရ င္ ရ န္ ကု န္ မ ွာ ႏို င္ ငံ တ ကာ အဆင္မ ့ ဆ ီ င ို ္ေတြ၊ Food Courts ေတြ၊ ႏိင ု္ င ္ ျံ ခားသားကိယ ု တ ္ င ို လ ္ ာဖြငတ ့္ ဲ့ ဆိင ု ္ေတြ၊ နာမည္ေက်ာ္ တ႐ုတ္၊ ကိုရီးယား၊ အေမရိကန္ အစားအစာဆိုင္ေတြ၊ ျမန္မာ၊ ထိုင္း၊ မေလးရွား၊ စကၤာပူ၊ ဗီယက္နမ္ အစားအစာ နာမည္ရဆိုင္ေတြေပါမ်ားတဲ့အတြက္ ကိုယ့္အႀကိဳက္နဲ႔ကိုယ့္ဆိုင္လို႔ပဲ ေျပာလို႔ရပါတယ္။ စိတ္အပန္းေျဖရန္အတြက္ ဘယ္လိုေနရာေတြက အေကာင္းဆံုးလဲ။ ကၽြန္ေတာ့အတြက္ စိတအ ္ ပန္းေျဖဖုက ႔ိ ေတာ့ အားကစားကြင္းပါပဲ။ ေက်ာင္းတုန္းက ႐ူ ပေဗဒ အသင္း ရဲ ႕ လက္ေ ရြး စင္ တို က္ စ စ္ မ ွ ဴးျဖစ္ ခဲ့ လုိ ႔ ေဘာလံုး ကစားရတာ ႏွစ္သက္ပါတယ္။ အခုဆိုရင္ အေျခအေနအရ တင္းနစ္နဲ႔ ေဂါ့ဖ္ ကစားျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ အႀကိဳက္ဆံုးစားေသာက္ဆိုင္ (ရန္ကုန္) ရ န္ ကု န္ မ ွာ စားေ သာ က္ ဆို င္ အ စု အေ ၀းေ န ရာေ တ ြ ရ ွိ ပ ါ တ ယ္ ။ ဥ ပ မာ ေရွာ့ ပ င္း စင္ တာတို င္း လို လို မ ွာ လည္း ရွိ တ ယ္ ။ ပု လဲ က ြ န္ ဒို နဲ ႔ ဆရာစံ လ မ္း ၊ ကန္ေတာ္ႀကီးနဲ႔ အင္းယားကန္၊ အလံုလမ္းနဲ႔ ျပည္သူ႔ဥယ်ာဥ္ စတာေတြ အျပင္ ရ န္ ကု န္ ၿ မိ ဳ ႕ က နာ မ ည္ ႀ ကီး ၊ နာ မ ည္ ရ စားေ သာ က္ ဆို င္ေ တ ြ ကို လ ည္း တကူးတကနဲ႔သြားၿပီး စားၾကရပါတယ္။ ဒါေၾကာင့္ အစားအေသာက္မေကာင္းရင္ ရ ပ္ တ ည္ လုိ ႔ မ ရ တဲ့ အ တ ြ က္ အ ႀ ကိ ဳ က္ ဆံုး စားေ သာ က္ ဆို င္ ကို ေ ရ ြး ရ င္ မိ မိ အ ႀကိ ဳ က္ အ စားအစာနဲ ႔ ေငြေ ၾကး ကု န္ က ်မႈ ၊ ၀န္ေ ဆာင္ မ ႈေ ကာင္း မႈေ ပၚမွာ မူတည္ပါတယ္။
MYyangon _ issue 19
Food Village
အေကာင္းဆံုးအစားအစာ (Best Meal) ရယ္စရာေျပာရရင္ အေကာင္းဆံုးအစားအစာဆိတ ု ာ ေစ်းအႀကီးဆံုးကိုေျပာတာပါ။ ဘယ္ဆိုင္ကေန မိမိလိုအပ္ေသာ ပစၥည္း၀ယ္တာ အေကာင္းဆံုးျဖစ္မလဲ။ ျမ န္ မာျပ ည္ မ ွာ ႏို င္ ငံ တ ကာအဆင့္ မီ ေရွာ့ ပ င္း စင္ တာေတြရွိ လာၿပီ ျဖ စ္ လုိ ႔ ကို ယ္ လို ခ ် င္ တာ ရ ွာ ၀ ယ္ လုိ ႔ ရ ပ ါ ၿ ပီ ။ ကို ယ္ လို အ ပ္ တဲ့ ပ စ ၥ ည္းေ တ ြ ကို ေနရာအမ်ဳိးအစားေပၚ မူတည္ၿပီး ေရွာ႔ပင္းစင္တာ ေတြမွာလည္း ဝယ္လို႔ရပါတယ္။ အရင္ကထက္စာရင္ ေရြးခ်ယ္စရာေနရာေရာ ပိုမ်ားလာတယ္။ စိတ္ကူးယဥ္စရာေကာင္းတာမ်ဳိး ဘယ္လိုအျဖစ္အပ်က္မ်ဳိးရွိလဲ။ သီ ခ ် င္း အ ပ ါ အ ၀ င္ ကို ယ္ နဲ ႔ ပ တ္ သ က္ တဲ့ အ လု ပ္ေ တ ြ အ တ ြ က္ ဖ န္ တီး ဖုိ ႔ စိတက ္ ူးေနပါတယ္။ ကၽြန္ေတာ္ကယ ို တ ္ င ို က ္ လည္း စိတက ္ ူးဖန္တီးတီထြငရ ္ တာမ်ဳိး ႀကိဳက္တယ္။ အႀကိဳက္ဆံုး ရွာေဖြေတြ႕ရွိမႈ ကၽြ န္ေ တာ့ အ ျမင္ ကေတာ့ ေမတၱာ တရားနဲ ႔ ကို ယ္ ခ ်င္း စာနာမႈ ပ ါပဲ ။ ဒါေတြ လိုအပ္ပါတယ္။ အလွအပေတြကိုၾကည့္႐ႈရန္ ဘယ္လိုေနရာေတြ သြားတတ္သလဲ။ ပုဂံ၊ မႏၱေလး၊ ျပင္ဦးလြင္လိုေနရာမ်ဳိးေတြ၊ အေျခအေနေပးရင္ ပင္လယ္ကမ္းေျခ သဲေသာင္ေပၚ ကေန ေနလံုးႀကီးကို ၾကည့္ေနရတာမ်ဳိး သေဘာက်တယ္။ မိသားစုနဲ႔အတူ ခရီးထြက္ရင္ ဘယ္လိုေနရာေတြကေကာင္းလဲ။ မိသားစုနဲ႔ဆိုရင္ ဘယ္သြားသြား အျမဲ ေပ်ာ္စရာ ေကာင္းေနတာပါပဲ။ မႏၱေလး၊ ျပင္ဦးလြင္၊ ေတာင္ႀကီး၊ အင္းေလးနဲ႔ပုဂံ၊ ပုပၸါးေတြဆို သြားဖုိ႔ အရမ္းေကာင္းတယ္။ ဘယ္လိုအစားအေသာက္မ်ဳိးကို ႏွစ္သက္သလဲ။ ဘယ္အစားအစာျဖစ္ျဖစ္ ႏွစ္သက္ပါတယ္။ ဒါေပမယ့္ အဆီနည္းနည္းနဲ႔ င႐ုတ္သီး မပါတာေတြ ပို ေရြးခ်ယ္ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ အႀကိဳက္ဆံုး Menu တစ္ခုကိုေျပာျပပါ။ ကၽြန္ေတာ့အၾကိဳက္ကေတာ့ သံပုရာဆမ္းထားတဲ့ ငါးရံ႕ခဲပတ္အကင္ပါပဲ။ @ MYYangon
MY Yangon Magazine
If you happen to be in Hledan by any chance, do try and visit this newly opened Food Village at Hledan Centre. This dining centre offers a chance to escape from Yangon’s blazing heat and to satisfy your grumbling stomach. Food Village is located on the second floor of this Hledan Centre which means you can do some shopping as well. It is said to be the first ever international standard food court in Myanmar. European (EAT), Thai (Aroy Thai Thai), Chinese, Malaysian (Rasa Lasa) and Myanmar cuisine (9th street & PALACE) are available with a variety of hot and cold drinks at reasonable prices. Some dishes you definitely should try are the Thai street food, Old English style Fish n Chips, Myeikstyle noodle, and the Malaysian Biryani. These dishes really live up to the hype. For healthy and vegetarian options, there is a salad bar (Sprouts) with western fusion. There is also Espressonite for a good blend with an artisanal flavour for coffee lovers. “Food Village” comprises of seven restaurants and is organized and managed by KREATE Holdings Company. A prepaid card system is used instead of cash payment at the food court, aiming to upgrade Myanmar’s street food culture and safety. The Food Village was first introduced on January 23 this year to the customers and the grand opening was on February 19. Level 2, Hledan Center Shopping Mall Weekdays: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Weekends: 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. 33
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MYyangon _ issue 19
Health & Beauty
A touch better Aung Myo Sint
“No soothing music, no air-con and little privacy?” I sighed quietly upon entering the parlour. Perfect is not perfect. It is housed in a ground floor flat in Kyauk Myaung. The ambience is very different from your regular therapeutic oil massage parlours, and the place feels crowded as the massage beds are aligned almost next to each other with no curtains to separate them. Through word of mouth, I came to Perfect, a massage parlour run by sight-impaired masseurs. As it is located within a few minutes’ drive away from downtown, I decided to give it a try. The male receptionist greeted me and asked me how long I would like to be massaged. “An hour is enough.” I replied him. I was then brought to a massage bed and introduced to my masseur, Zaw Zaw. He is about 25, built slimly with a very timid voice. He asked me to lie down and relax. I explained to him about the backache I am having and asked him to focus on it. @ MYYangon
MY Yangon Magazine
The first touch says it all. I have been to a few massage parlours in Yangon and also overseas. Some masseurs are good, some are okay and some are downright awful making you want to leave the place before your session ends. By contrast, Zaw Zaw’s hands seem to know where my muscle issues were and how to use the right amount of pressure to the joints. It was definitely one of the best reflexology massages I have had. I am very impressed by his constant attentiveness and asking me about how I feel and whether he is using the right amount of pressure. He is the first masseur who seems to really care about my well-being. This is not a place for relaxation; it is a painful hardcore Burmese massage for your back pain and your tiring feet but well worth it. I hate talking when being massaged, but I could not keep my curiosity in check that time. Zaw Zaw was born in Myingyan, near Mandalay where his mother and sister still lives. He was blind
from birth, and his father passed away while he was still a child. He attended the government school for the blind where he learned how to read and write. His dream of being a teacher at the blind school ended abruptly when his mother suddenly fell ill, and he became the sole bread winner of the family. He heard about a Japanese NGO who was teaching massage and he decided to apply as he would gain a skill he could use to support his family especially with his younger sister still being in her early teens. At first he found it very difficult to make ends meet till he ‘heard’ his wife, Ma Ngae. Both being visually challenged, it was love at first speech. A phone conversation and a month later, they were married. He moved to Yangon to find greener pastures with his wife and ended up at “Perfect”. “The best thing about Yangon is its huge population. Even though there are many new massage parlours in Yangon, including those with blind masseuses, the customers keep growing. At Perfect, I get about 1500 Ks
from every one-hour session so I can finally support my family financially.” Zaw Zaw explained to me while finding my sore spots. He took his pride in giving the best he can saying, “One has to spend time and money to come here. If I were them, I would definitely want a good massage in return.” He then made a few jokes about his eyesight but perfectly in sync with his surroundings and his massage. “I know my limitation but that doesn’t stop me doing what makes me and my family happy. “ His story came to an end as well as his massage. My body is relaxed but my brain is not, admiring this young masseur and his courage. Zaw Zaw shows a great sense responsibility and an admiring character. After paying 4000 Ks at the counter and tips to Zaw Zaw, I left Perfect, truly a touch better than an hour before both in my body and my mind.
31, Zay Thila St, Htay Kywal Ward, Tamwe Tsp
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Mohinga Myanmar in a Bowl
Making a bowl of Mohinga is an art. It is the breakfast, lunch and dinner of choice for many people, even in the most remote regions of the country. Mohinga is a fish-based broth, thickened with chickpea flour, typically containing readily available ingredients such as garlic, onions, lemongrass, ginger, turmeric and crunchy edible banana stem. Normally served with noodles made from rice, this rich-in-flavour bowl is dressed and garnished with chopped coriander, fish sauce, dried chili powder and a squeeze of lime. Fried ingredients, usually chickpeas, gourd and boiled duck eggs simmered in the broth are also used as optional accompaniments. Sometimes fried fish cake and Chinese donuts are added as well. With contrasting textures, savory flavours and fragrances, this delicious meal is prepared differently from one part of Myanmar to another, depending on the ingredients available in that particular region. For example, Mohinga from Rakhine tends to be less soupy with more fish paste and spicier. A single bowl of Mohinga, to us, represents Myanmar. This is not because it is the national dish, but because its ingredients come from the length of breadth of the country.
Shallot
Shallot is an essential ingredient in cooking Mohinga. Diners love eating whole shallots straight from their bowl. Shallots are mostly grown in central Myanmar and in the Ayerwaddy Division. The best quality is from the Ayerwaddy Division due to the great soil from which they are grown.
Banana Stem
Banana stem (from the middle stem of the banana plant) is another essential ingredient Bananas are found all around Myanmar, but the stems from the warm and humid regions, such as Mon and Kayin States, are preferred as they are crunchier.
Chili, Ginger and Turmeric
These three essential items are always included and can be found in each and every part of Myanmar. Shan State, though, is the main producer with the best quality.
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MYyangon _ issue 19
Features
Chickpea Powder
How to Prepare Mohinga
Domestically called Ka La Be, chickpea is used in its powdered form. Sown and grown mostly in central Myanmar, such as Mandalay, Magway and Sagaing, as the drier weather gives the best results.
You can buy a bowl of Mohinga from tea shops, street hawkers and many restaurants in Myanmar. The price for a bowl ranges from 300 Ks to 700 Ks, depending on the additional accompaniments you want to add in. Although a variety of ingredients are needed, it is simple enough for one to cook at home.
Cat Fish
The fish used in the cooking process is essential to the flavor of the Mohinga. Usually Nga Khu (Catfish) and Nga Gyin (Carp) from Rakhine State and Ayeyarwaddy Division are usually used for their strong flavours and aroma.
Ingredients 1 kg of thin rice noodle 500g of cleaned fish (catfish recommended) 1 sliced banana stem (only edible inner core) 100g roasted rice/bean flour (stir with 100g of water) 160g chick pea (boil until tender and blend with blender) Springs of fresh cilantro (chopped) 10 fried pea 10 duck eggs (boil until cooked) 20 peeled shallots Lemongrass, chili, ginger, turmeric, paprika Peanut or vegetable oil 2 tbsp Shrimp paste In a large pan add water, lemon grass and turmeric and the fish. Bring the pan to boil and simmer for 6-10 minutes until the fish is just cooked. Remove the fish, peel the skin and flake the flesh removing any bones along the way. Reserve the fish stock for the soup. Pound the peeled onion, garlic, ginger, dried chilies and lemon grass into a fine paste in a pestle and mortar or instead chop as finely as you can or add to a food processor. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the paste. Cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes until the paste turns a gold colour and is caramelized. Add the shrimp paste, turmeric and paprika. Cook for a further couple of minutes until the aromas come out before adding the fish meat. Cover with the lid and cook for further 10-15 minutes, allowing all the flavours from the paste to flavour the fish.
Rice Noodle
Nga Sein rice is used to make the rice noodle and is produced in the Ayerwaddy Division. The noodle made from Nga Sein rice gives a hardened texture to the noodle which is well suited for a Mohinga broth.
@ MYYangon
MY Yangon Magazine
To make the broth, add rice powder to water or fish stock in a large pot. Bring to a boil while stirring continuously to make sure the rice powder doesn’t clump. Add the shallots and banana stem and simmer for 20-30 minutes until they are soft. Add the fish sauce and pepper and taste for seasoning. To serve, put a handful of noodles in a bowl and pour over the broth. Garnish with fried fritters, chili powder, lime wedges and coriander.
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Business
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Business
ygw,f? jrefrmEkdifiHukd ukd,fpm;jyKwJhrkefYawGukd urÇmu odoGm;ap csifyg w,f? 'gaMumifh 'Dvrdk sK;d aemufxyfqidk rf sK;d awG t NyKd it f qkid af y:ayguf avav 0rf;omyDwdjzpfavavygyJ? NrdKUe,fcGJwkdif;rSmvnf; wjcm;olawG vkyfwJh 'DvkdrsKd;qkdifav;awG awGUjrif&zkdY arQmfvifhrdygw,f? 'DtwGuf vuf urf;zkdY vnf; tqifhoifhyg}/ pD;yGm;a&;tusKd;twGufqkdwmxuf ukd,fhEkdif iH&JU½kd;&mtpm;tpmawGukd EkdifiHwumukd a&mufapvkdwJh apwemukd xif; xif;BuD;awGU&rSm jzpfygw,f/ qkid zf iG zhf t Ydk wGuf awGUBuKH&wJt h cuftcJawGuawmh trsm;Bu;D &Scd w hJ ,fvYdk qkdygw,f/ txl;ojzifh jrefrmh½kd;&mrkefYawGukd vkyfwwfwJh olawGukd &SmazG&wmyg/ 'gaMumifh jrefrmrkefYqkdifav;awGqD wul;wuoGm; NyD; pm;cJhygw,f/ rkefYvkyfenf;ukdvnf; av;av;pm;pm;eJYawmif;cH cJhayr,fh trsm;pku ray;vkdcJhMuygbl;/ wpfck&Sdwmu olr&JUtarukd,fwkdifu jrefrmh½kd;&mrkefYawG awmfawmfrsm;rsm;udk vkyfwwfcJhwm jzpfyg w,f/ uav;b0uwnf;u tarhudkul&if; rkefYvkyfenf;wpfcsKdUukd vufyGef; wwD;jzpfcJholyg/ 'ghaMumifhrkdYvnf; 'DvkdrsKd;&Sm;yg;wJhqkdifukd tcuf tcJawG Mum;uae jzpfatmifvkyfEkdifcJhwmvkdY qkd&ygr,f/ tdrfwGif;rIvkyfief;uae enf;emcH?oif,l&&SdcJhwJhrkefYvkyfenf;awGuvnf; taxmuf tyHhaumif; wpfcv k Ydk qk&d ygr,f/ aemufxyftcuftcJawGuawmh &moDtvku d yf aJ y:wJh ukefMurf;ypönf;awGaMumifhvkdY qkdygw,f/ xef;oD;rkefY vkdrsKd;?aumufvIdif; wDrkefYawGvkdrsKd; rkefYawGjzpfygw,f/ ]jrefrmh½kd;&mrkefYvkyf&if trmcHukefMurf;ypönf;jzpfwJh xef;vQufwkdY?qefwkdY? aumufnSif;wkdY?*sKHwkdYu tvG,fwul&Ekdifygw,f? xef;oD; rkefY vkyfzkdYus cJ,Of;w,f? xef;oD;rSnfhtppfeJYvkyfxm;wJhrkefYrsKd;ukdyJ vkyfcsif ygw,f? xef;oD;ukd oefvsifbufrSm &Ekdifw,fqkdayr,fh o,f,lykdY aqmif a&;p&dwfu BuD;oGm;ygw,f/ 'DvkdygyJ/ aumufvIdif;wDvkyf&ifvnf; aumuf vIdif;ay:csdefukd apmihf&ygw,f? 'Dawmh tuefYtowfawG &Sdwm aygh? aemufNyD; rkefYvifr,m;wkdY? a&rkefYwkdY pwmawGudk ae&mrSmyJ vkyfNyD; a&mif;cscsifw,f? 'gayrJh 'Drek aYf wGuv dk yk w f chJ g ae&mus,fzv Ydk dk w,f?npfywf aya&w,fav}vkYd ra&T&nfNzKd ;u ajymygw,f/ Ekid if jH cm;rkeaYf wGvdk jrefrmh½;dk &mrkeaYf wGudk &ufwm&Sncf aH tmifjyKvkyzf cYdk ufcw J m aMumifh wpfaeYpmwpfaeY csifhcsdefvkyf&wmuvnf; wm0efBuD;apwmawGU&rSmyg/ vkyf&wJhvkyfief; tqifhqifhuvnf; rsm;ygw,f/ jrefrmh½kd;&m rkefYyJoa&pmawGukd EkdifiHjcm;a&mufjrefrmawGu vmpm; rS m pm;Muovk d ouf v wf y k d i f ; eJ Y o uf B uD ; yk d i f ; awG v nf ; wul ; wu vmpm;Muygw,f / tck a emuf y k d i f ; vl i ,f a wG v nf ; tod r sm; vm w,fvkdYvnf; qkdygw,f/ 'Dqkdifukd wkd;c&D;pOftjzpf wcsKdU{nfh vrf;nTef awGu Ekid if jH cm;om;awGudk ac:aqmifvmavh&w dS ,fvv Ydk nf; od&ygw,f/ 'Dqkdifukd jrefrmh½kd;&mrkefYav;awGvmpm;MuwJholawGu 'DvkdrsKd; rkefYawGudk pm;&wm i,fb0awGuadk wmif owd&w,f? tJ'h t D wGuf aus;Zl;wifw,fv}Ydk ajymwJhtcg yDwdu bmeJYrSrvJEkdifbl;vkdYvnf; ajymygw,f/ qkdifrSma&mif; cswJhrkefYawG&JUaps;EIef;u 500 uae 700 txdyJ &SdwmaMumifh aps;EIef; oifw h ifrQwvSygw,f/ 'Dvrdk sKd; rket Yf qifx h d a&mufatmif pku d x f w k &f wm rsm;wmaMumifh vkyftm;uJrkefYawGvkdYawmif ajym&rSmyg/ xl;jcm;wmu 'DvkdrsKd;jrefrmh½kd;&mrkefYawGukd jyKvkyfwJhae&mrSm pm;okH;ol &JUusef;rma&;twGuf "mwkypönf;vkH;0 tokH;rjyKwm jzpf ygw,f/ aemufNyD; qkdifcef;twGif;tjyiftqifjzpfygw,f/ eH&HrSm jrefrmhobm0½IU cif;awGudk rD;a&mif eDusifu h sifah v; xGe;f ay;xm;wmu pdwMf unfE;l p&myg/ 'ghtjyif rkefYAef;awGukd cif;usif;jyifqifxm;ykHuvnf; oabmusp&myg/ rSeaf bmifawG cwfxm;wm jzpfygw,f/ wcsKdUpm;ok;H olawGu opfo;D azsmf &nfav;awGukdvnf; a&mif;csapcsifw,fvkdY awmif;qkdwmaMumifh @ MYYangon
MY Yangon Magazine
opfoD;azsmf&nfvnf; aomufokH;Ekdifygw,f/ tvkdufzufqkH;uawmh jrefrmh½kd;&mrkefYwpfckck pm;okH;NyD;wmeJY a&aEG;Murf;av; okH;aqmif&r,fh t&omjzpfygw,f/ &&SEd idk w f mawGuawmh aumufniS ;f a&Txrif;? aumufniS ;f aiG xrif;?tke;f Ek?Yd omulysOf? rkev f mOeDqEGi;f ruif;?a&TMunfqEGi;f ruif;? qefqEGi;f ruif;? auG u mtk w f q EG i f ; ruif ; ? uef p G e f ; OqEG i f ; ruif ; ? tm;vl ; qEGif;ruif;?jym&nfxkyf? a&Tz½kHoD;qEGif;ruif;?aumufnSif; a&TMunf? iSufaysma&TMunf? qDxrif;?aumufnSif;aygif;?tkef;EkdfYausmufausm?tkef; pdr;f ausmufausm?udwaf usmufausm?oD;pkaH usmufausm?acsmu vufEpYdk rd ;f ausmuf a usm? e*g;armuf o D ; ausmuf a usm? wd r f v T m ausmuf a usm? rkeu Yf RJo?J rkeAYf idk ;f awmif?h xef;oD;rke?Yf rkev Yf yd jf ym? rkeOYf ;D aESmuf? aumufvidI ;f wD? aumufnSif;xkyf (yJ?iSufaysm)?rkefYpdrf;aygif;eJY qef?*sKH bdef;rkefYwkdYyJ jzpfyg w,f/ wpfcsKdUrkefYtrsKd;tpm;awGu ukd,fwkdifzefwD;BuHqxm; wmawG jzpfygw,f/ 'D j ref r mh ½ k d ; &mrk e f Y a v;awG u k d oajy&d y f ( ausmuf u k e f ; )?oajy&d y f (vIdifom,m)? oajy&dyf(r*Fvm'kH)?oajy&dyf(rkdif-40tjrefvrf;)? Mega Star (a0Z,Eåm)eJY Mercury (ausmufukef;) tp&SdwJhae&mawGrSm qkdifcGJ aumifwmzGifhNyD; a&mif;csay;aewmyg/ OykofaeYuvGJ&if aeYwkdif;zGifh ygw,f/ rkefYAef;ig;Aef;eJYtxuf atmf'grSm wJholawGukdawmh yif&if; qkdifuae wkduf½kdufykdYay;wJh 0efaqmifrI&Sdygw,f/ 'Dxufenf;w,fqkd&if awmh eD ; pyf & mqk d i f c G J a umif w mawG r S m 0,f , l & &S d E k d i f y gvd r f h r ,f / TVª?arG;aeY?r*FvmyGJawGtwGuf atmf'grSmcsifw,fqkd&ifawmh ESpf&uf BuKd rmS &rSm jzpf ygw,f/ 'gaMumifh jrefrmvlrsK;d yDyD jref rmh½;dk &mrkerYf sK;d pku H dk t&om cHpm;okH;csifw,fqkd&ifawmh ]wifhwifh} jrefrmh½kd;&mrkefYrsKd;qkdifukd owd& vkdufygvkdY qkdyg&ap/ 39
Business
Tree Food
Jaggery is a rich, brown, and sugary sweet, with a hint of spice, often placed on the table by the waiter as a small sweet fix after your meal. This traditional candy is a hugely popular snack in the country. The Jaggery typically comes from the sap of palm trees which grow in the tropical environment especially in central Myanmar. In the ancient era of King Anawratha, the founder of the first Burmese Empire, people were knighted for their ability to climb palm trees. “Nga Lone Let Phae”, as the knight was called, is famous 40
for his skill of climbing thousands of palm trees in a single day. However, the real art lies in not just climbing the tree but tapping them so that the most sap can be extracted. It is a profession that is handed down in the family and demands training and neckbreaking efforts. Tapping is done to produce sweet toddy, fermented drinks (toddy wine, toddy alcohol), brown sugar (Jaggery) and refined sugar. The life of a tapper is hard, and they’re repeatedly mentioned in the Burmese folklores and
poems often with sad endings. “The story behind Jaggery is deep and meaningful and the process of making it is very labourious. That is the main reason why I want to present this traditional snack on an international level.” Ma Cho Lei Aung, the owner of Tree Food, who started selling the sweets made from Jaggery last September. Neatly packed, souvenir-quality Jaggery sweets are gaining popularity among foreigners. She added, “I can’t expand my
Aung Myo Sint
business into export-quantity just yet as it requires some investment, but I feel satisfied knowing that foreigners can know the taste of this delicious sweet from Myanmar and bring it back home as souvenirs.” Tree Food is adding a modern twist on this traditional sweet by adding flavours, such as the natural extracts of Ginger, Mint, Lemon and Yogurt. The finished jaggery is brought to Tree Food from central Myanmar, where the top-grade jaggery is, and the MYyangon _ issue 19
Shopping flavours are added according to Tree Food’s homemade receipe. “You see chocolates and sweets mixed with different kinds of nuts and other flavours. So I thought we could also add extra ingredients for a better taste. After testing out with many flavours, these four flavours stood out and become our final products.” Cho Lei Aung explained. For those who love its original natural taste, Tree Food also sells the jaggery without the added flavour. In Upper Myanmar, the 8-month tapping season consists of three tapping phases which include four different tapping techniques, two for both male and female trees. In Central Burma, sap collection can be continued all year round but mostly with low yields between November and January. Storage of sap at the local level is not possible as fermentation rapidly occurs even if it is delayed by some chemical agents. Processing sap into good quality Jaggery is even more difficult and time-consuming. It also requires an experienced and skilled worker, often a woman who keeps stirring the mixture, removing the froth, and making sure it keeps the right temperature.
@ MYYangon
MY Yangon Magazine
“I want to support those in need because in upper Myanmar, palm trees are everywhere. The drop in Jaggery price is now making it very difficult for a lot of people in this industry and this can affect whole families as this is usually a family business. Many of them are asking the government to establish measures to prop up its prices but no actions have been taken till now. Since the Jaggery business is dying, a lot of people have left this business and going to work elsewhere. So those palm trees are left untouched. Some palm trees are sold and some are being taken down. If it continues like that, then upper Myanmar could become a desert. Those palm trees are essential to the region’s ecosystem as they maintain the valuable ingredients in the soil for other crops to grow as well as giving shade.“ When asked about her future plan, Cho Lei Aung said, “I am currently studying how to extract vinegar from the palm sap and want to expand my business using proper machines.”
Available at
Pearl Condo Bogyoke Market United Living Mall www.mytreefood.com 09 793 107 725
How to make Jaggery
Usually the whole family is involved in making Jaggery but the men only are tappers. All the family is involved in sap collection and making Jaggery. Manipulative treatments such as pounding, bruising or tapping are required once or twice a day for sustained sap flow. The sap is then collected in the vessels, smoked and coated with lime. It is then collected twice a day to avoid fermentation, and to result in the best quality Jaggery.
The fire is prepared at the special ovens made from brick and mud. The collected sap is then boiled to evaporation normally by the females of the family until a thickened syrup is obtained. The temperature must be kept low and maintained at all times. The boiling syrup is then cooled and made into balls of Jaggery. The Jaggery balls are then left to solidify for another day.
41
Health & Beauty
GET FIT
Having that resolution about getting healthy but finding that gym membership is a bit pricey? No problem! Save money and use the city as your gym. Why not refresh yourself in the early morning and late in the evening by walking around a beautiful place, or go on a bike ride to discover new places that you haven’t seen before?
Walking Routes
1
2
3
OAD R A D
AGO
YE P A R A KAB
4
Inya Lake
Kandawgyi Lake
Route 1
Route 3
West Side (Seik Pyo Yay Bus stop – Pyay Road – Inya Lake) Length: 2.2 km (1.4 miles) long See: Historic Yangon University, the collection of tea shops, and Inya Lake
North Side (Bogyoke Park - Kandawgyi Park) See: Arboretum of different types of threatened and symbolic trees, aquarium, garden centres. In the morning, every corner has Keep Fit, Tai Chi - even salsa dancing - groups!
Route 2 East Side (University Avenue Rd – Kaba Aye Pagoda Rd – Micasa Residence) Length: 1.7 km long (1.1 miles) See: Chinese Temples, view of monastery, regular exercise groups
Route 4 South Side (across the wooden walkway) See: Magnificent views of Karaweik Barge, Shwedagon Pagoda, and the entirety of Kandawgyi Lake.
People’s Park Route 5 Corner of Ar Zarni St – U Wisara Rd – Peoples’ Square Length: 2km long (1.2 miles) See: Panorama of Shwedagon Pagoda.
42
MYyangon _ issue 19
Swimming Options There are four main public pools in Yangon - National Swimming Pool and Yangon University Swimming Pool for more serious swimmers, and Kokkine Swimming Pool and Kandawgyi Pool for families. For more information about swimming in Yangon, contact the Myanmar Swimming Federation. They all offer a variety of training courses.
Cycling Routes Places great for cycling are: • Around Kandawgyi Park • Around Inya Lake • Inya Road–Chindwin Road–U Wisara Rd–Pyay Road • Than Lwin Road–U Aung Khin St–Inya Myaing Road Be aware that 6 townships, Latha, Lanmadaw, Pabedan, Kyauktada, Botahtaung and Pazundaung are restricted areas and don’t permit cyclists. To go further afield, contact a cycling club. The main one is Bike World - club members gather weekly to ride around the city and they go outside of the city such as Twente, Nga Sutaung, Than Lyin and Dala. They provide transport to get you there and back as well as bike rental.
National Swimming Pool Facilities: 50m pool with a diving section Open: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Kandawgyi Swimming Pool Facilities: 32m pool, coffee shop, Open: 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Kokkine Swimming Pool Facilities: two 25m and 30m pools, restaurant on site Open: 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Yangon University Swimming Pool Facilities: 4 to 6ft deep pool Open: 6.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.
Tennis The two largest public courts to play tennis are: Yangon University Tennis Court - 12 outdoor courts Thein Phyu Tennis Court - home to the Myanmar Tennis Federation. There are 2 indoor courts, 3 training courts and 6 outdoor courts. Rackets, balls and ball boys can be hired. Open from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Badminton If you want to try this game, go to one of the four courts (Myo Ma Badminton Club, Thahtone Badminton Court, National Badminton Hall and YMCA) in Yangon. Most have rackets and birdies available for hire, and coaches to teach you the rules and skills of the game. For more information, contact the Myanmar Badminton Federation.
Football If you want to play or watch local amateur football matches, head for Yangon University Playground and Bahan Playground. Matches take place every day, and if you want to take part, just turn up to see if any of the teams need an extra player. Most townships have a football ground. Those that don’t, especially townships in downtown, footballers use any patch of ground they can find including the streets at night especially Sule Pagoda Road, Strand Road and Botahtaung Pier.
For addresses go to the Yangon Directory website at www.yangondirectory.com @ MYYangon
MY Yangon Magazine
43
Traditional Take On
Myanmar
Fine Dining (Padonmar Restaurant)
Over the last few years, Yangon has seen a huge number of restaurants open and with them, brings new cuisines and dishes. Compared to what it was like just a few years ago, there are more French, Italian, Thai, Indian and Japanese restaurants on offer. Against this huge wall of choices, it is very easy to forget the varied, scrumptious and delicious Myanmar fine dining restaurants on offer. Hope is not all lost, though. There are those like U Sonny Aung Khin, owner of Padonmar Restaurant and former Chairman of the Myanmar Restaurant Association, who recognise the potential and importance of traditional Myanmar cuisine. “Myanmar restaurants are not fully recognised”, says U Sonny, “I want to break the idea that Myanmar restaurants are not fine dining. Myanmar food has been branded as oily, unhealthy and unhygienic by foreigners. We have been trying to address that issue by creating healthier versions and amend their mindsets. A lot of Myanmar dishes can be cooked using less and better quality oil resulting in the quality dishes. We have found that using 30% less oil can result in the same tasty dishes, but healthier which is exactly what we do in Padonmar.” From our own dining experience, the food at Padonmar is certainly delicious while the service is sharp and attentive. Housed in a colonial-style home, the restaurant certainly gives off a calming ambience. In addition, the restaurant screams Myanmar with its wall paintings echoing ancient royal palaces and their landscapes. There is certainly no denying that this is a Myanmar restaurant! In the luxury area upstairs, there are four separate dining rooms which can be reserved for private occasions. The rooms are popular with foreign and local businessmen alike who flock to experience the taste of Myanmar and Thai food in international standards of comfort. That said few people know what to expect when first trying Myanmar food, but as U Sonny describes “Thai food is very extreme, very hot or sour and Indian food is very spicy. Myanmar food is in between this.” Looking through the a la carte and set menu it is easy to see this comparison; hearty curry mains are sandwiched between light and fresh spiced salads. 44
Myanmar food is actually very healthy at its core with the majority of its traditional dishes being based around freshwater fish, chicken and vegetables. Two of Padonmar’s most popular dishes focus on freshwater fish. One is the Hilsa Surprise, in which the fish, Hilsa (which tastes like a sardine) is steamed for a long time so that its many small bones become very soft and can be eaten. The other dish is based os the butterfish, which is so named because the meat melts in your mouth like butter. Padonmar restaurant uses only real butterfish “some restaurants use the fish that look and taste like a butterfish” explains U Sonny “it is tasty but it doesn’t melt”. The most popular dish at Padonmar is the fresh water prawns which sell at USD 20-50 a dish and are hugely popular with VIPs and businessmen. On top of this, the freshwater prawns aside, the prices are very reasonable with set menus starting from 10 USD.
Another worry about Myanmar cuisine can be the health and hygiene standards, however at Padonmar restaurant, they exemplify the health, hygiene and quality regulations that the Myanmar Restaurant Association is pushing across the country. The cuisines at Padonmar are strictly MSG free, and the restaurant uses only sunflower oil which is cholesterol free. So next time you want to treat yourself to a special evening you need not look for fine foreign flavours to tickle your taste buds, you will find there can be an equally luxurious taste of Myanmar waiting for you to explore instead. 105/107, Kha-Yae-Bin Road, Dagon Tsp 01 538 895, 09 7324 2410 padonmar.restaurant@gmail.com
MYyangon _ issue 19
Restaurant
Guide
Dining Guide The best restaurants, cafes and gastro food for casual and smart dining
H Star for critic's choice N New Opening
Downtown
50th Street Bar and Restaurant | Western/Bar | 9-13 50th Street, Botataung Tsp | 01 397 060
Café KSS | Café | 470-472,
Mahabandoola Road, Cor. Bo Sun Pat Street | 01 253 126, 09 431 67288
H Cherry Man | Myanmar/Indian
H Gekko | Japanese/Bar | 535
KFC | Fastfood | No. 375 Bogyoke
09 431 902 32
Township, Yangon.
Merchant Road | 01 386 986,
H Green Gallery | Thai | No.
Kinsakura Restaurant | Japanese
Botahtaung Tsp | 09 313 151 31
Aung Kyaw Street, Kyauktada Tsp |
| 78/80 Latha Street, Lower block |
58, 52nd Street (lower block),
International Compound
Coka Suki Restaurant | Thai/
Harley’s | Fastfood | 285, Ground
999 Shan Noodle Shop | Shan | 130 B,
Strand Road, Ahlone Tsp | 01 229
& Anaw Ya Htar Road, (2) Ward,
365 Café | Café/Western | Yangon
34th Street | 01 389 363, 01 384 779
H APK | Thai | 392-396 Shwebonthar Street, Pabedan Tsp | 09 432 076 59
H Aung Mingalar Shan Noodle Restaurant | Shan | No. 34 Bo Yar
Nyunt Street & Corner of Nawaday
Street, Dagon Tsp | 09 507 077 8, 01 385 185, 09 250 150 376
H Aung Pyae Phyo Indian Foods | Indian | No. 37th Street, Corner of
Mahabandoola Road, Kyauktada Tsp Bar Boon | Café/Western | Just
outside FMI Center, 380 Bo Gyoke Road | 09 420 321 058
Bharat Indian Restaurant |
Indian | 356 Mahabandoola Road,
Seikkantha Street, Kyauktada Tsp | 01 382 253
@ MYYangon @ MYYangon
01 374 891, 01 389 705
Hotpot | 104/108, Kyee Myin Daing 904 ext. 229 905
Lanmadaw Tsp | 09 250 086 204 Heaven Pizza | Pizza | 38~40, Bo
Ward, Dagon Tsp, Yangon
09 855 1383
Yar Nyunt Street, Dagon Tsp |
H Easy Café & Restaurant | Asian |
Heiwa | Japanese Restaurant
722, 01 246 755, 09 250 141 098
Pabedan Tsp | 01 375931
30A/C1, Bo Yar Nyunt Road | 01 220
| 207,32 Street (Upper Block),
| BAK, Olympic Tower, 1st Floor, Bo 09 514 7840
H Kosan Café | Bar | Branch
2-Café/Bar-108, 19th Street (Upper Block), Latha Tsp | 01 503 232
H Linkage Restaurant |
Myanmar/Asian | 221, 1st Flr,
Mahar Bandoola Garden Street | 09 495 836 18, 09 430 529 16
Lotteria@China Town | Fastfood | No 827, Corner of Hledan
Street and Mahabandola Road,
Fat Man -Steak Bistro & Cafe |
India Kitchen | Indian | 297
Tsp | 09 420 305 666
Tsp | 01 389 367
Lotteria@Central Tower |
Feel | Myanmar | 124, Pyihtaungsu
Ingyin Restaurant | Indian | 232
between 39th and 40th Street,
09 732 08 132
(no number)
Western | Bo Yar Nyunt Rd, Dagon
Avenue Street, Dagon Tsp |
Mahabandoola Road, Botahtaung
Anawratha Road (30th St) |
H Frozee Gelato Creamery | Ice
Junior Duck | Chinese | Nanthidar
Dagon Tsp | 01 1233 874
Strand Road, Kyauktada Tsp | 01 249 421
Cream | No. 23 Nawaday Street,
Jetty Compound, Pan Soe Tan Saikkan
Gallery Bar & Restaurant | Café/
Kanpai | Japanese | 207 Bo Aung
Shangrila Hotel | 01 242 828 ext. 6430
09 421 739 599
Bar | 223 Sule Pagoda Road @ Sule MY Yangon Magazine MY Yangon Magazine
Floor, The Corner of 6th Street
Craft Cafe | 33, Corner of Nawaday & Boyar Nyunt Street, Yawmingyi
Aung San Road, Pabedan
Kyaw Street, Botataung Tsp |
Lanmadaw Tsp | 01 230 3097
Fastfood | 79/81, Room (001/002), Kyauktada Tsp | 09 258 521 385 Marry Brown | Fastfood | 180-182,
Mahabandoola Garden Street (Middle Block), Kyauktada Tsp | 01 384 780
Maru Grill Restaurant | Japanese |
134 Shwe Taung Tan Street (Upper Block), Lanmadaw Tsp | 011 221 568, 09 420 308 350
45 45
Dining
H Miyoshi Ramen | Japanese |
42/E, Bo Yar Nyunt Street, Dagon Tsp | 09 420 098 866
H Mondo | Japanese | 26 (B) Yaw
Min Gyi Street | 01 252 261,
H Pa Pa Pizza | Pizza Delivery | Yaw Min Gyi Street | 09 421 124 373
Parisian Cake & Coffee | Coffee Shop/Café | 46 Mahabandoola Garden Street (Lower Block),
Shwe Kaung Hot Pot | Chinese/
The Blind Tiger | Western/Tapas
Maw Tin, Corner of Anawrahta
Thar Road (Lower Block) Kyauttadar
Hot Pot | 306, Level 3, Junction
Road & Lanthit Road, Lanmadaw Tsp | 09 731 120 46
Kyauktada Tsp | 01 242 650
Spice Brasserie | Asian Fusion
H Monsoon | Asian | No. 85-87,
Peacock Lounge | Café | Sule-
Pagoda Road, Dagon Tsp |
Botataung Tsp | 01 295 224
Road | 01 242 828 ext. 6456 or
09 450 066 782
Theinbyu Road (lower block),
My Garden | Asian | Ahlone Road
Shangri-La Hotel, 223 Sule Pagoda 6434
@ People’s Park | 01 372 822
Phoenix Court (Si Chaun Dou
Nam Kham Shan Restaurant
33 Alan Pya Pagoda Road, Dagon
| Shan | 37th Street, Corner of Mahabandoola Road (middle
hua) | Chinese | Park Royal Hotel Tsp | 01 250 388
| Park Royal Hotel 33 Alan Pya 01 250 388
H Sprouts | Salad Bar/Café | 68A
Yaw Min Gyi Street, Dagon Tsp | 09 421 102 223
Sukiya Japanese Resturant |
Japanese | 42/B, Yaw Min Gyi Street, Dagon Tsp |
block), Kyauktada Tsp
Rangoon Teahouse | Myanmar
Nan Yu | Indian/Cantonese | 81
Kyauktada Tsp | 09 517 832 9
H Sule Shangri -La Café | Bakery/
01 252 702
Saigon Baguette & Café | Coffee
Pagoda Road |
H Nepali Food House | Nepalese
Tsp | 09 250 956 019
Pansodan Street, Kyauktada Tsp |
| 63, Bon Sun Pet Street, Lower
| 1st Flr, 77 Pansodan Street,
Shop | 11 Nawaday street , Dagon
Township | 09 786 833 847
The Manhattan Fish Market |
Seafood/Western | 44/56 Kannar
Road, Ground Floor M.M.G. Tower, 41st - 42nd Street | 01 375 064
The Lobby Bar | Bar | Park Royal
Hotel 33 Alan Pya Pagoda Road, Dagon Tsp | 01 250 388
The Strand Café | Fine dining/ Western | 92 Strand Road | 01 243 377~92
The Strand Grill | Western | 92 Strand Road | 01 243 377
Café | Shangri La Hotel, 223 Sule
The Thiripyitsaya Sky Bistro |
01 242 828 ext. 6421, 6422
Tower, 339 Bogyoke Aung San
H Summer Palace | Chinese |
Asian/Western | 20th Floor, Sakura Road, Kyauktada Tsp | 01 255 277
Sule Shangri La, 223 Sule Pagoda
Titu’s Indian Banana Leaf | Indian
01 387 880
ext: 6428, 6429
09 302 583 77, 09 312 854 39
Japanese /Thai | No. 387/397,
Sharky’s Pansodan | Western/Fine
Sushi Ichi | Japanese | No. 105,
Tin Tin | Bar | No. 116 - 118,
Road, Pabedan Tsp |
Middle Block) Kyauktada Tsp | 09
01 218 282
Botahtaug Tsp.| 01 559 548
Block, Pabedan Tsp | 09 402 552 245, 09 731 423 86
Nooch Restaurant & Bar |
Room K1, Upper Shwe Bon Thar 01 378 166
Oishii Branch 1 | Japanese | 98,
Latha Street(Middle Block), Latha Tsp | 01 708 685, 09 312 870 53
Santino Café |Coffee Shop | 18/A-
09 311 350 26
| No. 93/95 Ground Floor Seik Kan
1, Bo Yar Nyunt Street, Dagon Tsp |
Dining | 81, Pansodan, (Lower 264 589 615, 01 252 702, 01 370 971
H Shiawase | Sushi | 38/40 A1 Bo
Yar Nyunt Street | 09 492 591 84
Road | 01 242 828
Phone Gyi Street, Lanmadaw Tsp |
| 235, Ground floor, 32nd Street |
Bogalazay street (Middle),
H Sydney’s | Western Bakery
Toba Restaurant Café |
1st Flr, Shwe Dagon Pagoda Road,
Dagon Tsp | 09 302 238 75
(Order only) | 288/290 (Rm 106), MWEA Tower | 01 381 607
Indonesian | 15 Nawaday Street,
N
Tomo Sushi & Japanese
Olive Garden | Mediterranean |
Shiki-Tei | Japanese | Park Royal
Thai 47 | Thai | No (153), Cornar
Restaurant | Japanese | 702,
01 256 797
Dagon Tsp | 01 250 388
Botahtaung Tsp | 095169215
09 511 6183, 01 251 302
170/176 Bo Aung Kyaw Street |
46
Hotel, 33 Alan Pya Pagoda Road,
of 47th Street & Anawyahta Road,
Maharbandoola Road, Latha Tsp |
MYyangon _ issue 19
Union Bar & Grill | Western/Bar | 42 Strand Road, Left corner of
the Myanmar Red Cross Building, Botahtaung Tsp | 09 420 101 854 Ureshii Kitchen | Japanese | 111 Shwe Taung Tan Street,
Lanmadaw Tsp | 01 224 810 Ya Kun Kaya Toast | Singaporean | 4th Floor, Junction Square, Corner of Narnattaw Road and Kyun Taw
Midtown
Adamas | Seafood | Golden Valley,
Astons Specialities | Steak House
| Myanmar Plaza (HAGL), 3rd Floor,
Kabar Aye Pagoda Road, Bahan Tsp.
Bahan Tsp | 09-254 006 636
Aung Thuka | Myanmar | 17(A),
After Work Bistro and Bar | Café/
525 194
Bar | 38, A1, Shan Gone Street,
Sanchaung Tsp | 09 420 239 828, 09 250 400 753
H Agnes | French/Fine Dining |
West Shwegondine, Bahan Tsp | 01
Tsp, Yangon | 01 394 837~ 9
Road,Tamwe Tsp | 09 730 137 92
YKKO@Seikkantha Street- Also
Road, Golden Valley | 01 534 513
various branches | Chinese/Thai |
286, Seikkantha Street, Kyauktada Tsp | 01 379 754
Bar Boon | Dutch Deli | No.380,
Ananda Coffee and Cocoa | Café/
Barista Lavazza | Café/Coffee
Mart, Dhamazedi Road, 09 333 935 70
Tamwe Tsp | 018 604 415
01 216 001
Pabedan Tsp | 09 250 001 392
shop | 16 Kyaik Ka San Road,
N
Barwachi | Indian | 37, Ground
shop | 330 Ahlone Road, In front of Tsp | 01 395 052
Brasserie International
Restaurant Level 1, Sedona Hotel Ph 09 516 669 00 Ext :7714,7503
Café Bellagio | Western | 81 New University Ave Road, Bahan Tsp | 01 544 930
Cafe Napoli | Italian | No,287, East Shwe Gon Dine Road, Bahan Tsp | 01 554 957, 09 420 207 233
| Western | Corner of Kyun Taw
Floor 1, La Pyayt Wun Plaza, Alan
Café Terrace 320 | Café/Thai |
Kamaryut Tsp | 01 539 598
092535 00002
Road | 09 430 919 59
Road and Nar Nat Taw Street, MY Yangon Magazine
N
Bogyoke Aunhg San Road,
Asagiri Sausage & Restaurant
@ MYYangon
Kandawgyi Natural Park,Nat Mauk
French | 60B/Shwe Taun Gyar
Coffee shop | Market Place by City
Hotel Compound (Ahlone Road) |
Yangon International Hotel, Dagon
H Yhet’s | Japanese | 57, 37 Street
** Alamanda Inn Restaurant |
Dining | Yangon International
Road | 09 254 345 381
Bangkok Kitchen | Thai |
377 212
Billion Gold Restaurant | Fine
Black Canyon Coffee | Coffee
Floor, No(76/80)(B), Banyardala
Kandawgyi Palace Hotel, Kan Yeik
(Lower Block), Kyauktada Tsp | 01
|Bogyoke Street | 01 388 981
H AV’s | Indian | Room A, Ground
Road, Kamayut Tsp | 09 312 854 39
Tha Road, Mingalar Taung Nyunt
BBQ Chicken Restaurant|Fastfood
Pya Pagoda Road, Dagon Tsp |
Corner of Pyay Road and Ahlone
47
Dining Chatime (various branches) |
Freshness Burger (Myanmar
Haru | Japanese | 81 Kabar Aye
H Kachin Agape Restaurant
Mon Housing, Bargayar Road,
| People’s Park & People’s Square, U
09 421 149 721
off Bagayar Street (Closed
Café | 29 B-002 Shwe Pyi Aye Yeik Sanchaung Tsp | www.chatime. com.mm
Cocoon Bar | Asian/bar | 22/24 Shinsawpu Road and corner of Baho Road | 01 500 863
Coffee Circles | Café | 107(A)
Dhammazedi Road, Kamayut Tsp | 01 525 157 N
Daren Bread | Bakery/Café |
No.57, Yawmingyi Street, Dagon Tsp | 09 253 522 048
Daruma | Japanese | Yangon
International Hotel, Ahlone Road, Dagon Tsp | 09 492 702 71 Dining Fukurou Japanese
Resturant | Japanese | No.81 (C), New University Avenue Road, Bahan Tsp | 01 542 871
H DiVINO | Italian | 61 University
Avenue Road, Bahan Tsp | 01 525 935, 01 505 247
Doremi Café | Asian/Western
|No. 33, Nigyawda Street, Kyauk
Myaung, Tamwe Tsp | 01 546 850 Du Fu Restaurant | Chinese | Level 2 | Sedona Hotel | 01 666900
Dynasty Bistro at Marketplace | Chinese | 430/A, City Mart
Marketplace, Dhamazeddi Road, Bahan Tsp | 01 523 840
Easy Café | Café | 30 A, Bo Yar
Nyunt St, Kamayut Tsp | 09 250 141 098.
H Edo Zushi | Japanese |
No.290-B, U Wisara Road, 10 Ward Kamaryut Tsp | 09 259 040 853
EK Enjoy Kitchen | Fast Food | 68-
B, Daw Thein Road & Bandar Gone
Culture Valley) | Fastfood/burger Wisara Road, Dagon Tsp | 09 323 160 61 Freshness Burger (Nawaday
Road) | Fastfood/burger | No.
18/D Nawaday Road, Dagon Tsp.| 01 375 900
H Fuji Coffee House | Japanese |
Golden Valley Street, Bahan Tsp |
Sundays) | 01 518 239, 09 421 167 008
09 420 033 110
Karaweik Palace | Western/
H House of Memories | Myanmar
Mingalar Taung Nyunt Tsp |
| 290 U Wisara Road | 01534 242
Asian | Kandawgyi Compound, 09 459 222 222
Ice Berry | Western | 230 Bargayar
Kobe-Ya | Japanese | 615/B Marlar
512561
01 516 506, 01 700 680 - Various
01 535 072
Kamaryut Tsp | 01 535 371 ext.
H Furusato | Japanese | 137 Shwe
Gon Daing Road, Bahan Tsp | 01
Road, opposite Dagon Centre | branches.
H Ichiban-Kan | Japanese | G17-
556 265
18, Gyo Phyu Street, Aung San
H Golden City Chetty Restaurant
Taung Nyunt Tsp | 01 394 824
| Indian | No 115~117 Sule Pagoda
Stadium (North Wing), Mingalar
Street. Pyay Road, Kamaryut Tsp |
Kokine Bar & Restaurant | Asian/ Western | 32, Kokkine Swimming Club Lane, off Saya San Road, Bahan Tsp | 095 411 253, 09 421 060 505
Road, Kyaukdata Tsp
Jaspar House | Western | No. 54,
Kohaku | Japanese | Chatrium
H Golden Duck Restaurant
2589, 012 302 011
Tamwe Tsp | 01 544 500
| Chinese | Kan Taw Mingalar
Garden Compound, Shwedagon Pagoda Road | 01 240 216
Golden View Japanese Teppanaki
Ahlone Street, Dagon Tsp | 09 517
Hotel No 40 Natmauk Road,
Jo Jo | HotPot | Address: 23(A),
Ko Piteria | Café | No.23, A-1,
| 09 976 503 040
730 503 61
Nawaday Street, Dagon Township
Hledan Road, Kamayut Tsp | 09
Restaurant | Japanese | 23 Golden View Tower (A), G3, U Aung Myat Street, Mingalar Taungnyunt Tsp (opposite of Karaweik Park en-
trance) | 018 619 194, 095 080 466
H Golden Kitchen Tori | Asian
fusion | 135 Inya Road, opposite of Savoy Hotel | 09 315 747 47 N
Goya Restaurant | Western |
Hotel Esperado, Top Floor, 23 U
Aung Myat Street, Mingalar Taung Nyunt Tsp | 01 861 9486
Green Elephant Restaurant | Myanmar | No. 37, University
Avenue, Bahan Tsp | 01 536 498 Gusto Café | Coffee Shop/Italian | 150 Dhamazedi Road, Next to Monument Bookstore | 09 362 145 23
Happy Café & Noodles |
H Family Sushi | Japanese | No.
Road, Kamayut Tsp |
48
Horn | Japanese Beef Steak | 36(A),
| Kachin | Shwe Pyi Aye, just
No.116, University Avenue Road,
Street, Kandawkalay. 09 310 41 915
330, Ahlone Road | 09 512 160 01
Pagoda Road, Bahan Tsp |
Myanmar/Asian | 104(B), Inya 01 536 985
MYyangon _ issue 19
H Le Bistrot | French | Savoy Hotel,
Mom’s Kitchen | Asian/Singaporean
Tsp | 01 526 289, 01 526 298
Super One), Tamwe Tsp | 01 545 871
129, Dhammazedi Road, Kamaryut
| Lay Daungkan Road (in front of
LE CELLIER | Wine Bar & Restaurant
Mr. Sushi | Japanese | No. 330
Pyay Road, Kamayut Tsp
240 047 373
Rooftop, Novotel Yangon Max 459
Legacy Thai Restaurant | Thai |
Banyadala Street, Tamwe Tsp | 09
H Nacha Thai | Thai | 86 Shin Saw Pu
Peppers | Western | University Avenue Road | 01 548 046
Port Autonomy | Gastro Pub | 22A, Kabar Aye Pagoda Road, Bahan Tsp | 09 253 710 651
Potato Break | Fastfood |
Myanmar Culture Valley, U Wisara
Dhama Zedi Road
Road, Sanchaung Tsp | 01 510 731
Le Planteur | Fine Dining/French |
Nervin Café and Bistro | Café |
Putao Resturant | Kachin | 30
Nature Park, Mingalar Taung Nyunt
Myay Ni Gone | 09 257 171 464
80, University Avenue | 01 541 230 Lotteria @ Junction Square
| Fastfood | Junction Square,
Between Kyun Taw Road and Pyay Road, Kamayut Tsp | 012 305 798 Lotteria @ Ocean | Fastfood |
Ocean Super Centre, Tamwe Tsp | 01 525 947 N
Lucky Bak-kut-Teh |
Singaporean | The Best Music Pub, Near Utopia Tower, Kandawgyi
Nature Park, Bahan Tsp | 09 513 775 3, 09 250 648 820
H Manpuku | Japanese BBQ | No.
Karaweik Oo Yin Kabar, Kandawgyi Tsp | 01 541 188
Off the Beaten Track | Café/Bar |
Kandawgyi Natural Park, Karaweik
Oo-Yin Kabar, Mingla Taung Nyunt Tsp | 09 510 265 7
Oriental House Restaurant |
Chinese/Dim Sum | Shin Saw Pu Street, San Chaung Tsp
Orzo Italian Restaurant Pool level |
Sedona Hotel | 01 666 900, 01 666 911 Onyx Wine Tree Restaurant |12/B,
Road, People’s Park | 01 241 103
Ground Floor Dammayone Street,
Royal Garden | Chinese | Natmauk
Salud Restaurant | Mexican/Latin American | 70 C, Shwegone tine
Road, Bahan Tsp | 09 450 061 748 Samuri Sushi | Japanese | No.3/A1, Parmouthkha Street Aung-theikhti Road, Mayangone Tsp N
Secret Recipe | Cafe | Shwe Gon
018 603 215
Peri Peri | Fastfood | 52 E/F, Royal
H Shwe Kaung Hot Pot | Hot Pot/
H Min Lann | Seafood/Rakhine
Street, Dagon Tsp | 09 791 666923
Road, Shwe Gon Dine, Bahan Tsp |
Shwe Gon Daing Road, Bahan Tsp |
| 45 Baho Road, near Asia Royal
Bin Road, Dagon Tsp | 01 538 895
Yaw Min Gyi Condo, Yaw Min Gyi
Gone, Sanchaung Tsp | 01 504 932, 09 731 817 58
Swe Thai Restaurant | Thai | 34
New University Ave Road, Kokkine, Bahan Tsp | 01 704 067
Floor | 018604618
Dhamazedi Rd | 01 524 677, 01 373 009
Chinese | No. 18, Ko Min Ko Chin
Stadium, North Stand, Upper
Thai Kitchen | Thai | Tantaman Street, Dagon | 09 740 028 64
Thai Pot | Thai/Hotpot | 250 East
Myin Pyine Kwin Road, Tamwe Tsp | 09 260 523 688
H The Coriander Leaf | Indian | 12
Yangon International Hotel Compound | 01 293 006, 09 431 850 08
The Emporia | Western/Asian |
Chatrium Hotel, 40 Natmauk Road, Tamwe Tsp | 01 544 500 ext. 6253
The Fingers Food Garden | Myanmar | 55 Shan Kone Street | 01535350
Business Center (UBC) Annex B,
H Shwe Li BBQ | BBQ | 485 Corner
of Kan Yeikthar Street, Bahan Street,
Bahan Tsp | 09 302 583 99
Kamayut Tsp | 01 535 394
H Mojo | Asian Fusion/Tapas | 135
Nat Mauk Road, Bo Cho Quarter
MY Yangon Magazine
Swensen’s | Ice Cream | Myay Ni
H The Garden Bistro Signature
Pepperoni Pizza | Italian | Union
@ MYYangon
(Ahlone Road) | 01 216 001
01 559 339
hospital | 01 510 285, 09 431 251 52
Inya Road, Bahan Tsp | 01 511 418
International Hotel Compound
Pansodan Road | 09 252 451 353.
H Sharky’s | Western/Ice Cream | 117
Marry Brown | Fastfood | 220,
Sport Bar | Bar | Yangon
09 515 462 02
Pandomar | Asian | 105/107, Kha-Yae-
214 284
Compound, Ahlone Road | 01 216 001
The Taj | Indian | B-9, Aung San
Central Forest Zone, Bahan Tsp |
Daing Ocean Supercenter, 2nd
09 507 1847
| Yangon International Hotel
Road, Kandawgyi Nature Park,
Bogyoke Pya Tike Street, Bahan |
30, Sagawar Street, Dagon Tsp | 01
Singapore Kitchen | Singaporean
of Pyay Road & Narnattaw Road.
Restaurant | Western/Asian | Corner Near U Htaung Bo Roundabout, Bahan Tsp | 01 546 488
49
Dining Fuji | Japanese | Hanthawaddy Road | 09 515 147 76
Gangam Restaurant | Korean | Kabaraye Pagoda Road,
Mayangone Tsp | 01 650 689 Gourmet Corner Restaurant |
Myanmar | Parami Road | 01 667 449, 092 006 777
Her’s Korean Restaurant | Taw
Win Centre, Yangon | 01 663 636
(Parami), 01 860 011 1 (Ext : 1148) Indian Tadka | Indian | 7(A), Pyay Road, 6 ½ Miles, Hlaing Tsp | 09
H The Lab | Tapas | 70a
Shwegondaing Rd | 09 250 537 979 The Pizza Company (various
Wild Ginger | Bar | 12(A), Shin Saw Pu Road, Sanchaung Tsp.| 09 260 690 135
H Acacia Tea Salon | Fine Dining/
Bakery | 52 Saya San Road | 01 554 739
Innlay Ahmataya | Shan | 8 Kyout
Always Café | Café | Ground
and Kyout Kone street, Yankin Tsp
N
chains) | Italian | Dagon Centre 1
Win Star | BBQ/bar | No (27/30),
Floor, Ga Mone Pwint Shopping
534 036, 09 730 697 24
Padon-mar Street, Sanchaung Tsp
Mayangone Tsp | 01 653 644,
Shopping Mall, Sanchaung Tsp | 01
The Serenity Restaurant |
Myanmar | No. 114/ B, Inya Road,
Corner of Sanchaung Street & | 01 505 467
H Xie Yang Yang (Xiao Long Bao)
Kamayut Tsp | 01 524 890
| Dim Sum | On corner of Nyaung
H Tiger Hill | Chinese | Chatrium
502 582
Hotel, 40 Natmauk Road, Tamwe
Tong (No. 4) and Baho Road | 01
Tsp | 01 544 500 ext. 6294
Yamagoya Ramen Restaurant
Tony Roma’s | Steak House | No.
Sayasan Quater, Bahan Tsp | 01
42-1, Sayar San Road (in front of
Cafe SS), Bahan Tsp | 01 860 3907.
and Manawharri Road, Dagon Tsp | 01 221 721, 01 214 361
Western Park Restaurant |
Chinese | Newar Bahan 3rd Street Bus Stop, Maha Myaing Kyun,
Kandawgyi Nature Park, Bahan Tsp | 01 554 266, 01 553 931, 09 730 064 91
White Rice Restaurant | Chinese | Nat Mauk Road, Kandawgyi Lake | 01 511 656
50
Bar | Yankin Tsp
Arirang Restaurant | Korean | Thiri
Mingalar Street, Hledan | 09 493 351 72
01 661 125
Dining | 31/A Kan Yeik Tha Road |
H Yangon Bakehouse | Bakery/
BB Cake & Coffee | Café | 48, Coner
Ground Floor, Kabar Aye Pagoda
Street, Yankin Tsp | 09 421 180 670
Road | 09 450 055 924, 09 250 178
European | Corner of Pyay Road
Andaman II @ Yankin | Thai/Street
556 774
09 431 839 89
H Water Library | Fine Dining/
01 653 660
Aux Saisons | European/Fine
Café | Pearl Condo, Block C,
| 1A Phone Sein Road, Tamwe Tsp |
Mall, Kaba Aye Pagoda Road,
| Japanese | 520 Uyin Street,
H Vietnam Kitchen | Vietnamese
879, 01 557 448, ext. 818
Zeal | Western/Café | No. 99, Myay
420 187 010
of Parami Road and Myint Zu
Café 47 | Western | 47 A, Pyay
Road, Mayangone Tsp | 01 651 774
Kone street, Corner of Thitisar Road
Kone Myin Thar | Myanmar | 69 (A) Pyay St, 71/2 Mile, Mayangone Tsp |
L’Alchimiste | French | 5 U Tun Nyein Street, Mayangone Tsp | 01 660 612 La Maison 20 | Fine Dining | 20, Kabar Aye Pagoda Road,
Mayangone Tsp | 01 664 204
H L’Opera Restaurant | Italian
| 62D, U Htun Nyein Street,
Mayangone Tsp | 09 730 307 55
HLa Tartine | French Bakery | Pearl
Condo A, Bahan Tsp | 01 557 448 ext. 858 Little Tokyo | Japanese | 10D,
Kabaung Road, Hlaing Tsp | 09 731 851 68, 09 731 789 46
Nu Street | 09 731 272 80
Epic Bar & Restaurant | Western
Lotteria @ Junction 8 | Fastfood
Zephyr Coffee & Restaurant |
Hninsi Road | 09 255 863 839
Mall, Kyik Wine Pagoda Road,
Asian | Inya Road, Kamayut Tsp | (no phone number)
Uptown
Agora Café & Restaurant |
No41, Corner of Parami Road and
Fook Mun Lau | Chinese | 102,
Nawaday Cinema Garden, Corner
| G21- G24, Junction 8 Shopping Myangone Tsp | 01 650 771
H Min Lan | Rakhine/Seafood
Of Kabaraye Pagoda Road & Oak
| No. 16, Parami Road & West of
01 661 839, 01 663 743
656 941, 099 926 959
Pone Seik Road, Mayangone Tsp |
Maykha Road, Mayangone Tsp | 01
Mexican | 84, Kanbae Road
Frolick | Frozen Yoghurt | Kyun
Orchid Café | Café | Inya Lake
Yankin Tsp | 09 301 989 68
Floor | 01 527 242
Bahan Tsp | 019 662 866
(Opposite Yankin Childrens Hospital)
Taw Street, Junction Square, 3rd
Hotel, Kabar Aye Pagoda Road,
MYyangon _ issue 19
@ MYYangon
MY Yangon Magazine
51
Bars &
Clubs
Nightlife Bars
Yangon has an expanding nightlife scene. No longer limited to hotel
Gallery Bar: Shangri-La Hotel,
Lobby Lounge: Chatrium Hotel,
Pool Bar: Yangon International
01-242 828 ext. 6433 | Excellent
Tamwe Tsp | 01 544 500, ext. 6277
Tsp | Lively bar with pool tables-
Level 2, 223 Sule Pagoda Road | Happy Hour with cosy corners
bars and beer stations, there is
Gekko: 535 Merchant Street,
to party and socialise.
| Stylish and discreet with
now an emerging variety of places
50th Street: 9/13 50th Street |
Popular with the Sports crowd After-Work Bistro and Bar: 31, A1,
Shan Gone Street, Sanchaung Tsp | 09 250 400 753, 09 420 239 822 | A new Sanchaung bar
The Blind Tiger: | No. 93/95 Ground Floor Seik Kan Thar Road (Lower Block) Kyauttadar Tsp | 09 786 833847
Captain’s Bar: Savoy Hotel, 129,
Dhammazedi Rd Yangon | 01-526 289, 01-526 298, 01-526 305 | Casual yet classic
Ground Level, 40 Natmauk Road, | A relaxed hotel lobby bar with garden views
Kyauktada Tsp, 4th Quarter
Maru Wine Bar: 130, Shwe Taung
excellent yet unusual Japanese
Tsp | 01- 122 156 8 , 09 420 308 350 |
inspiredcocktails
Tan Street (Upper Block), Lanmadaw Small and interesting wine bar
Ginki Kids: 18 Kambawza Road,
Mojo: No.135, Corner of Innya and
Relaxed atmosphere with cold
Popular spot with good events
Bahan Township, Yangon | beers
Ice Bar: Sedona Hotel, 1 Kabar Aye Pagoda Road | Not quite
frozen but getting there with dry ice and a lively in-house band
KOSAN 19th St. Snack & Bar |
No.108, 19th Street, Latha
Township | Yangon | 01 503 232
Dhammazedi Road | 01-511 418 |
Hotel, 330 Ahlone Road, Dagon open late
Sapphire Lounge & Bar: Alfa
Hotel, 41 Nawaday Street, Dagon
Tsp | Discreet outside rooftop bar with great views
The Blind Tiger : No. 93/95
Ground Floor Seik Kan Thar
Road (Lower Block) Kyauttadar Township | 09 786 833847 |
Music Box: Yangon International
The Space Bar: No126 Kabaraye
Road, Dagon Tsp | 01 730 364 33
Yangon| Outdoor and indoor
Hotel Complex, No.330, Ahlone | A karaoke bar with individual booths and dance-floor
Off the Beaten Track: Kandawgyi
Natural Park, Karaweik Oo-Yin Kabar, Mingla Taung Nyunt Tsp | 09 541
6437 | A place to meet other travelers
Pagoda Rd 007 Pent House rooftop setting
Sports Bar: 20 Pearl Street, Mya
Yeik Nyo Royal Hotel, Shwe Taung Gyar Ward (2), Bahan Tsp | 09 731 321 61 | Popular outdoor bar/ restaurant
Cocoon Bar: 22/24 Shinsawpu
Road and corner of Baho Road | 01 500 863 | Great views
Club Rizzoli: Chatrium Hotel 42, Natmauk Road, Tamwe Tsp | 01
544 500 ext. 6243/6244 | Private
party paradise with Cuban cigars,
karaoke and well-stocked sake bar Escape Gastro Bar: 31D Kan Yeik Thar Street, Mayangone Tsp | 01-660 737 | A Myanmar celebrity hang-out
Friendship Bar: No(135)corner of Dhamazedi Road & Inya Road | Cheap and cheerful
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Advertise with us Enquiries for advertising 09 448 00 1653, 09 795 14 2905 Book your advertisement with MY Yangon magazine The Local Insight Guide to Yangon
MY Yangon r* ¾Zif;ESifh aMumfjimvdkufyg/ &efukefNrdKUwGif;vrf;òef
For details or enquiries email: myyangon@mmrdpub.com
tao;pdwfod&Sdvdkygu-
email: myyangon@mmrdpub.com
MYyangon _ issue 19
The Lab: 70A Shwegondaing
Union Bar & Grill: 42 Strand Rd,
250 537 979 | A new and busy bar/
Cross Building, Botahtaung Tsp |
Road, Bahan | 09- 250 018 200, 09-
restaurant with excellent cocktails The Phayre: 292 Upper Pansodan
Road | 01 246 968 | A new, no-frills downtown bar
The Strand Bar: 92 Strand Rd | 01 243
377 ext. 92 | Historical spot with some excellent free happy hour snacks
The Water Library: Pyay Road/
Clubs
Left corner of the Myanmar Red 09-420 180 214 | Famous for
Club Rizzoli: Chatrium Hotel 42,
winner of Yangon’s Bartenders
ext. 6243/6244 | Private party
their Moscow Mule cocktails and competition. Runs a good variety of events, including guest DJ nights
paradise with Cuban cigars,
Road, Dagon Tsp | 01 250 388 |
karaoke, live percussion band and in-house DJ
Yay Tar Shay Street | Open-air
option
| Loud music and a good up-town
of Shwe Dagon Pagoda
GTR: 37 Kaba Aye Pagoda Road
cocktails
Win Star Pub: 27/30, Corner of
crowd
The Yangon Sailing Club: 132
Street, Sanchaung Tsp | 01
JJ: Mingalar Mon Market, 4th Flr,
beer station with frosted beer
sized dance floor. Club is spread
Manawharri Road intersection | A swanky spot for high-end
Inya Rd | Beautiful lake-views with live music. Only open to non-
u
p res
on s e
5,000 copies per month
@ MYYangon
505 467 | A Local and popular glasses
| Popular with a young and hip
Basement One, 33 Alan Pha Phaya Enjoy the occasional live band and themed nights; as well as regular nights with the in-house DJ
Please check out "Plot Ahead" for Nightlife events happening around Yangon.
Mingalar Taung Nyunt Tsp | Wellout over four floors
M A G A Z I N E
We Bring
yo
members on Fridays
Sanchaung Street & Padonmar
crowd with pop/club music
The Music Club: Park Royal Hotel,
DJ Bar: U Htun Nyein Street, Yangon
rooftop bar with amazing views
Hotel, No.330, Ahlone Road | Fun
Natmauk Rd, Tamwe | 01544 500
Vista Bar: 168, Corner of
Shwegonedaing Road and Old
Pioneer: Yangon International
MY Yangon Magazine
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MYyangon _ issue 19
@ MYYangon
MY Yangon Magazine
55
Person and chair, together in motion, advancing how you sit.
Mirra 2
Call us today at Breathable Comfort
Authorized Dealer
+95 9 510 1017, +95 9 4362 7777 to explore how we can inspire you! Support in Motion
Balanced Feel
Butterfly Back
6-9th Floor, Building C, New Mingalar Market, Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township, Yangon. Ph +95 1 9000712-3 (ext: 330/332) Email: enquiries.HM@mmrdrs.com www.hermanmiller.com