lonely-planet-myanmar-burma-11-edition

DOS & DON’TS331» A fork is held in the left hand and used as a probe to push food onto the spoon;you eat from the spoon.» Locals tend to focus on the flavours, not table talk, during meals.» If you’re asked to join someone at a restaurant, they will expect to pay for themeal. Expect to do likewise if you invite a local out for a meal.lined up in curry pots to be examined. Mon curries are also more likelyto contain chillies than those of other cuisines.Rakhaing (Arakan) food most resembles dishes found in Bangladeshand India’s Bengal state, featuring lots of bean and pulse dishes, veryspicy curries and flatbreads. Minn Lane Rakhaing Monte & Fresh Seafood(p 60 ) in Yangon is a good place to sample Rakhaing-influenced seafoodand noodles.In towns large and small throughout Myanmar you’ll find plenty ofChinese restaurants, many of which do a distinctly Burmese (eg oily)take on Chinese standards. Despite being the most ubiquitous type ofdining in Myanmar (upcountry this is often the only kind of restaurantyou’ll find), it’s probably the least interesting.Indian restaurants are also common, although much more so in Yangonthan elsewhere. Most are run by Muslim Indians, a few by Hindus.Excellent chicken dan-bauq (biryani), as well as all-you-can-eat vegetar-ian thali served on a banana leaf, is easy to find in the capital. The Myan-mar people call Indian restaurants that serve all-you-can-eat thali ‘Chitty’or ‘Chetty’ restaurants.SweetsThe typical Burmese dessert is often little more than a pinch of pickledtea leaves or a lump of palm sugar (jaggery). You can visit places makingjaggery and toddy (see p 333 ) on the road between Bagan and Mt Popa(see p 128 ). Bagan is also famous for its tamarind flakes, delicious candiesmade from the dried pulp of the sweet-sour fruit and wrapped in twistsof white paper; they’re made in Chauk, an hour’s drive south of Baganon the way to Salay.More substantial sweet dishes, generally referred to as moún (some-times written moun or mont), are regarded as snacks, and are often tak-en with equally sweet tea in the morning or afternoon.Prime ingredients for Burmese sweets include grated coconut, coconutmilk, rice flour (from white rice or sticky rice), cooked sticky rice,tapioca and various fruits. Some Burmese sweets have been influencedby Indian cooking and include more exotic ingredients such as semolinaand poppy seeds. In general, Burmese sweets are slightly less syrupysweet than those of neighbouring Thailand, and often take a somewhatfamiliar form, such as bein moun and moun pyit thalet, Burmese-stylepancakes served sweet or savoury.A good place to sample Burmese sweets in Yangon is from the street-sidevendors (see p 61 ) who set up every afternoon in front of the FMI Centre.DrinksNonalcoholic DrinksBlack tea, brewed in the Indian style with lots of milk and sugar, is ubiquitousand cheap, costing K250 per cup at the time of research. See belowfor more about the very Burmese institution of teahouses. If this is not toyour liking, ask for Chinese tea, which is weak and comes without milk.Pregnant women,stay away frombananas! Accordingto localbeliefs, yourbaby will be bornoverweight if youindulge whilepregnant.BANANASEATING IN MYANMAR (BURMA) SWEETS