Burmese Food - Curries and Such

Burmese food as I've experienced it is an interesting blend of Chinese and South Asian flavors, much like other Southeast Asian cuisines. It tends to be rather heavy and oily, but deliciously so, with lots of savory and fragrant dishes.

Mohinga is the famous national dish, noodles cooked in a spicy and pungent fish curry, flavored with lime and coriander among other herbs. Our host at the guesthouse made us her version of mohinga for breakfast one morning, claiming that she makes the best in all of Myanmar! I have to admit it was really good.

The photo below is of another curried noodle dish that I ate at a large roadside restaurant called the Lucky Flower. The Lucky Flower caters almost exclusively to locals. We only ended up there because we had just made friends with a local travel agent who brought us to lunch. There was very little pretense - simple dishes, cheap prices, minimal service. I'm not sure exactly what was in my bowl - some sort of meat and egg, and it was certainly not the most presentable in terms of appearance, but the broth was great!  

We also had the chance to experience some higher-end restaurants, including House of Memories, a restaurant inside a historical colonial house that contains the secret office used by Aung San, the father of Aung San Suu Kyi. Here I ordered really great grilled prawns with vegetables and pineapple.

One memorable meal was at a place that our driver took us to. It had an easy way of ordering - all the dishes that are available are presented behind a glass counter, and you just point at whatever looks good and the server will bring it in a small portion to your table. We picked a variety of different curried meats, seafood, and vegetables.

Fruits are for sale by vendors all over the city. There are giant durians, dragon fruit, and an abundance of citrus fruits. Lots of little stands offer fresh squeezed fruit smoothies.

On one of our last days we went to the popular restaurant called Feel Myanmar, which has a similar system of ordering where you look at all the dishes on offer and point. Again, we picked out a variety of foods that looked good. 

Fish, or other seafood, was always a staple in our meals! 

All the food is served with a big vegetable platter made of lightly steamed greens with a type of fish dip. These platters usually include green beans, leafy greens, and sometimes eggplant.

On our last night we experienced a Yangon Food Tour, where a local guide takes you across different eateries throughout a night and you can enjoy four courses across the range of Burmese food. Our first course consisted of fried appetizers - fried corn, potato, tofu, and pennywort leaves, eaten at a casual restaurant near the shores of Inya Lake. 

Then we went to a seafood restaurant and had some prawns and soft-shell crab. 

Our third stop was at a tiny roadside shop famous for its various salads. I think this may have been where we contracted food poisoning, due to eating raw vegetables, so do be careful if you ever want to try these dishes! They were delicious and spicy though - very very spicy! All of us were sweating and tearing up due to the raw chilis and peppers. In order to combat the spice, our last stop at a teahouse allowed us to enjoy avocado shakes and lime juice. 

Across my five days I got to experience a lot of different parts of Burmese cuisine - many unique dishes that I can't find authentic versions of elsewhere. There isn't too much of a possibility of eating other foods, since due to the economic sanctions on the country, you can't find many of the multinational chains that have spread to much of Asia, including McDonalds and Starbucks. At the most, we saw some regional smaller fast food places that I've seen in Singapore, but nothing that would be recognizable by people in other parts of the world. 

The sanctions have also prevented the import of many western products. When I fell ill from food poisoning, I went to a higher end grocery store, something reminiscent of Whole Foods, where I found Vitamin Water and other foreign made items. However, upon reading the label of the bottle of Vitamin Water I found that it had been made and marketed for Singapore. I suppose that Myanmar had imported the product from Singapore. Some of the other things I bought, such as a small box of cornflakes and a package of saltines, I later discovered had been expired for several months. With the gradual lifting of some sanctions, I hope the situation will improve, though hopefully in a way that does not erode the traditional cuisine.  

Shanghai Nights

So after a tiring day at the Expo, we went out to a nice restaurant for dinner. This restaurant is unique in that when you order dishes off the menu, you pick out the fresh ingredients yourself. There were numerous types of produce on display for our choosing.

There was also plenty of fresh seafood. I find that most Chinese people scorn the idea of frozen seafood because there is always a large supply of live, freshly-caught seafood. If there isn't a river or ocean nearby, there are usually lakes to raise fish.

Then we went out to enjoy the beautiful Shanghai evening. We went to the riverside, which was lively and full of people relaxing and enjoying the view.

Across the river is where the old government buildings are located.

What would be a gorgeous night out by the river without some ice cream? Ice cream, especially western brands, is one of the more expensive goods here in China. For example, the Haagen-Dazs we went to might be considered a luxury brand.

There was riverside seating. Unlike the ice cream places in the states, there was also wait staff, real silverware, complimentary water with lemon slices, and a hefty price. One tiny scoop of ice cream cost 28 Yuan. While this might not be a ton when translated into dollars (it's around $4-5), consider that you can buy a cheap meal for under 10 Yuan.

Here we are, enjoying our expensive dessert happily. That's my nine-year-old cousin beside me, too busy enjoying her treat to pose.

What a view!

Goodbye, Changsha

So I'm actually back in Shenzhen for a few days before heading to the World Expo in Shanghai. I left Changsha by train on Sunday night. On my camera there still are many random pictures of my Changsha days.

Does this above dish look familiar? It is hotpot, and I had it once in Beijing here. Only this time, I remembered to take pictures of the many different foods that we cooked in the soup.

For example, we had fish balls, noodles, cabbage, hot dogs...

...bok choy, more fish balls, more cabbage, imitation crab...

...and second helpings of all of the above. Blame my cousin, who ordered 2 portions of every single dish. Still, it was really cheap! Including drinks, the whole meal added up to about 50 Yuan, which is about $8. Insane!

Here is a hole-in-the-wall place that my cousin and her friends like to frequent in downtown Changsha. It specializes in hot and sour noodles.

On another day, my oldest cousin treated us to lunch at a Japanese sushi place. It was a really fun restaurant where the sushi is plated and placed upon a conveyor belt. When we saw something we liked we would remove it from the belt. Each plate was colored differently to indicate a different price. After we were finished eating the waitress calculated the price by looking at the number and type of empty plates we had.

This next photo was actually not taken in Changsha but Xiangyin, the little town where my paternal grandparents live. It's a billboard proudly showing off the three students in the town who got accepted into the top two Chinese universities. One is Qinghua University and the other is Beijing University. Underneath their photo are their examination scores. I think this really shows not only the importance of education but also the closeness of the citizens of this small town.

I just thought this next sign was strange but witty. "Save Maoney Everyday." It's in a large Wal-mart in Changsha.

Well, I'm off to see the Expo! Wish me luck that I won't have to wait in lines for eight hours each day!

Beijing, Part IV

After my experience at the Beijing Silk Market, I met a friend to visit the Forbidden City. As I waited for her to arrive on the subway, I noticed that there was a quiet, unassuming entrance right by the main gate of the Forbidden City. It was called “The Working People’s Cultural Palace” or something of that nature. I had never heard of it before so I walked to the entrance and saw that the fee was only 2 Yuan, so I decided to go.

The “Cultural Palace” was not at all what I expected. It was basically a huge, beautiful, rather deserted park. The morning mist and drizzle made the place even more mysterious and fascinating. I was really happy to discover this little gem. So far, this is the only attraction that did not have huge crowds of people swarming all over it. Perhaps it is overshadowed by its big siblings Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.

The park had Cyprus trees that are 500 years old.

It also contained large temples. These were where the emperors would go to make sacrifices to their ancestors.



It was an absolutely gorgeous place. I’m really surprised more people haven’t discovered it. If you are ever in Beijing and need a moment of peace and quiet away from the crowds, I highly recommend this park. It is to the right of the main entrance of the Forbidden City.

Then I went to the Forbidden City. Even though it was raining pretty hard, there were so many visitors!

There were some quieter corners though.

For dinner, we went to feast on a famous specialty, Beijing roast duck. Basically, the fresh roasted duck is cut into slices. You take a wrap and roll up pieces of the duck meat and crispy skin along with green onions and a sweet bean sauce.

In the foreground of this photo are the wraps.

It was a delicious meal and I was sorry that I had to rush back to the hotel.

Beijing!

On Wednesday night, I took the train from Changsha to Beijing with my mother's college classmate. Chinese trains are so fun because instead of seats they have beds in little compartments.

This is known as the "soft sleeper," as opposed to the "hard sleeper" which has three cots, one on top of the other instead of two. We left Changsha around 6 on Sunday night and arrived bright and early in Beijing at 7 am.

After settling down in our hotel, I immediately went exploring with Carol, a friend from Yale. We met at her university and then walked to the Olympic Park. It took a long time as we wandered around the perimeter, trying to find the Bird's Nest, but we eventually achieved our goal.

I was really surprised at how expensive it was to get into the Bird's Nest comparatively. There was no charge to enter the Olympic Park, but it cost 60 yuan just to enter the stadium.

There were few visitors on this Wednesday afternoon. I was disappointed that tourists were not allowed on the actual field of the stadium, only the seating areas.

We also saw the Aquatics Center, known as the Water Cube.

Here's an overall look at the park area, with many vendors selling kites.

Later I visited a famous Beijing bookstore. It had probably five or six floors and basically any type of book you could think of. Additionally, there was artwork and DVDs and CDs.

At night I went to eat a Beijing specialty with another friend Wendy. We ate huoguo or hotpot. It is the same concept as fondue, except you cook raw foods such as meat and vegetables in a various types of broth. You also have your own sauce to dip the foods into after they are cooked. We chose a spicy broth on one side of the pot and a clear mushroom broth on the other. The pot was in the shape of a yin-yang symbol.

The foods we chose out of an extensive booklet included lamb, beef, spinach, mushrooms, and noodles. There were also interesting foods that we did not pick, such as tongue and tripe. Then after some shopping in a higher-end, modern district of the city, it was time for me to journey back to the hotel.

Xi’an, Part II

After visiting the residences of Mao Zedong and his fellow Communist leaders, we toured a museum in Yan’an dedicated to the Communist Revolution. The exhibits glorify the history of the Chinese Communist Party and its leader Mao.


Here is a showcase of Mao’s writings.


There were pictures and portraits of the Communist Party.


Here is the famous little horse that Mao rode. I think this might be its real preserved body!


I feel like the museum, while acknowledging the true actions of these historical figures, was very biased in its portrayal of history. For example, here is the explanation of the end of World War II below.


It doesn’t mention the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at all, which is surprising, since the atomic bombs were a huge reason for the Japanese surrender in World War II. Maybe something was lost in translation, since the English translation of the original Chinese paragraph isn’t very well done. Otherwise, the museum is sending a skewed message to its visitors.

That night we drove all the way back to Xi’an where we were able to try a specialty, translated as shredded pancake in lamb soup. The grand restaurant we ate at is apparently very famous for this dish and has served national heroes as well as foreign dignitaries. President Hu Jintao ate here once. Here is the tableware that he used.


So the famous dish requires a process, and starts like this: everyone is given a bowl and a hard flatbread, which I guess translates to pancake, even though it isn’t sweet and resembles a stale, thick piece of pita.


Then, one rips the bread into small pieces and places it in a bowl.


A waiter takes away all the bowls. A few minutes later, after the chef pours steaming hot lamp soup into the bowl, we receive our portions back. The hard chunks of bread are now softened in the savory soup, which includes noodles and shreds of meat.


I didn’t particularly enjoy the dish, but that was okay, since there were 21 more dishes served!


There were all kinds of food, including roasted lamb leg, pork buns, noodles, tofu, mantou, etc.
Needless to say, we were all stuffed at the end of the meal.