Southeast Asia

Burmese

Fermented tea leaves, fish-broth noodles, and the meeting point of Indian, Chinese, and Thai kitchens.

52 dishes · 131 ingredients · 16 techniquesOverview

Signature·Dish

Mohinga

Fish-broth rice noodle soup with banana stem, eaten before sunrise at street stalls. The Burmese national bowl.

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Burma sits at the kitchen-borders of India, China, and Thailand — and the cuisine is the conversation between them. Breakfast is mohinga, a fish-broth-and-rice-noodle soup so universal that street vendors with steel pots roll it through Yangon at dawn. Lunch is lahpet thoke, the fermented-tea-leaf salad — yes, you EAT tea — pungent, bitter, herbal, mixed with peanuts, fried garlic, sesame, lime. Curries are heavier on oil than Indian (a slick of yellow oil floats on top, a sign of doneness), and the spice profile is gentler — turmeric, ginger, garlic, fish sauce, not chili-fire. Shan-style noodles from the highlands, chickpea tofu, fried gourd fritters with tamarind sauce. Burmese cooking is dense with fermentation (ngapi shrimp paste, fish sauce, fermented bamboo) and slow-cooked oil — once you learn to read it, you can taste exactly where you are in the country.

The Palate

What makes it taste like itself

Chickpea Flour Turmeric Fish Sauce Peanut Oil Fried Garlic Ngapi

Start Here

Mohinga

Catfish-and-lemongrass broth thickened with toasted rice flour, ladled over thin rice noodles, finished with crispy chickpea fritter chunks, fish sauce, lime, and chili oil.

Why start here · Mohinga is the Burmese national breakfast — the dish that defines whether someone is from Burma. Learning this is a passport into the country's food culture.

Lahpet Thoke

Fermented tea leaves mixed with crunchy fried garlic, peanuts, sesame, dried shrimp, lime juice, and shredded cabbage. Pungent, herbal, addictive, and uniquely Burmese.

Why start here · Lahpet thoke is the most unusual salad on earth — Burma is the only country that turns tea into food. Once you taste it, you remember it for life.

Ohn No Khao Swè

Coconut-chicken broth thickened with chickpea flour, ladled over wheat noodles with sliced shallots, hard-boiled egg, crispy noodles, and lime. The Burmese cousin to laksa.

Why start here · If mohinga is the morning dish, ohn no khao swè is the celebration dish. Coconut, chicken, chickpea — the warmth of Burma in a single bowl.

Cook First

The easiest way in

Burmese Falooda

Burmese Milk Tea

Shan Tofu Salad

The Pantry

See all 131 ingredients›

Four Regions

Four Ayeyarwady-region kitchens — Bamar canon (mohinga, laphet), highland-fermented Shan, Bay-of-Bengal Rakhine, northern Kachin. Tap a region to see its table.