Burmese food

Not tried the unique Southeast Asian food of Myanmar (formerly Burma) before? Now’s your chance. Fragrant and lightly spiced, many Burmese dishes contain fish sauce, tamarind, cardamom and fresh herbs such as coriander and lemongrass. Such was the success of Burmese Lahpet’s Hackney warehouse pop-up that it opened a permanent restaurant in Shoreditch in 2018, as well as a street-food kitchen at Old Spitalfields Market. Signature dishes at Lahpet include hake masala with lemongrass rosti, and stuffed aubergine with dried shrimp and oyster mushroom.

In Huddersfield, Cafe Mandalay serves dishes such as sautéed wild mushrooms on a bed of chilli-dressed udon noodles, pickled mushrooms, mustard greens, crispy rice noodles and shallots. And, Nila’s Burmese Café in Manchester’s Trafford Park is proving a hit thanks to main courses including local pork shoulder slow-cooked with tamarind, spices, garlic and ginger.

And it’s not just restaurants where people are discovering Burmese food. The success of east London supper club Rangoon Sisters – aka NHS doctors Emily and Amy Chung, who were listed in the OFM Top 50 this year – has seen more Burmese supper clubs start up, and this June sees the launch of Mandalay: Burmese Food & Beyond, a new book by MiMi Aye featuring nearly 100 simple Burmese recipes – from the national dish of mohinga (a fish chowder with rice noodles and lemongrass, traditionally served at breakfast) to lahpet thoke, a classic Burmese salad of pickled green tea leaves.