2 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.

You’ll see few tourists at this cheap, cheerful, and unpretentious family-owned eatery, which gets packed with local office workers during the day, students in the late afternoon, and local residents and expats in the early evening. While there’s a long menu of dishes from across Myanmar, unlike other Shan eateries, the specialty is Shan noodles, so order the heavenly warm tofu chicken noodle (K1,500). The fried tofu is also delicious, and if you’re with a few friends it’s hard to go past the big plate of fried pork dumplings (18 for K3,500).