3 Best Restaurants in Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar

This casual, light-filled restaurant would be at home in Sydney or Singapore, and yet it somehow feels distinctly Yangon. Set on the first floor of a beautifully restored white colonial building, it can nevertheless be tricky to find, located above an electrical appliance store; look for the doorway and stairs on the right of the building. Once inside you’ll find a lovely whitewashed space with wooden floorboards and whooshing ceiling fans, and the most delicious food you’ll find in Myanmar. Expect anything from traditional samosas (K2,500) and tea leaf salad (K2,000) to modern pan-Asian favorites such as pork belly bao (K3,000). Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you can order a full meal or simply pop in for tea or cocktails (K4,000). Try the Mandalay rum sour or Dragon martini.

Arguably Yangon’s, if not Myanmar’s, finest Japanese restaurant, Kohaku is a favorite with affluent Burmese, business travelers, and tourists looking for a change from local food, and is therefore full most nights, so call ahead. Everything’s fresh, especially the sushi (the fish is flown in daily), and the hamachi nigiri sushi is sublime. Best values are the generous all-you-can-eat buffet menus: the Japanese À La Carte Buffet (US$38; Monday to Thursday) and Kohaku Deluxe Buffet (US$42; Friday to Sunday).

The food of the Shan State is the "it" cuisine in Yangon, and this two-story restaurant in a refurbished teakwood house claims to be the first Shan fine-dining restaurant in Myanmar. Specializing in the cuisines of the Shan ethnic minorities, the highlight is the lovely, light food of the Intha people of Inle Lake. Don’t miss sa kone, a traditional beef salad and the fried fish with tamarind sauce. Upstairs has more atmosphere than the modernized downstairs space with the annoying television; however, service is slower.