MYANMAR Times presents its guide to the best places in Yangon to sample Myanmar and Indian food, and to buy the perfect souvenirs to help you remember your trip for a lifetime.

Myanmar Restaurants
Aung Thukha Myanmar Restaurant
1st Street and West Shwe Gone Dine, near Shwedagon Pagoda, Bahan township
Tel: (951) 525194
This small restaurant may lack the ambience of some other places in Yangon, but it is well-known among locals and foreign visitors, and is always crowded with customers. Those who brave the lunchtime masses to find a seat at the simple wooden tables will find out why. The restaurant offers about 60 kinds of delicious Myanmar food. Meatless curries cost K200, while those with chicken will set customers back K700. Although desserts are not available, Aung Thukha does offer plain tea and laphet (pickled tea leaves). The restaurant is open daily from 8:30 am to 9 pm.

Feel Myanmar Restaurant
124 Pyidaung Su Avenue Street, Dagon township
Tel: (951) 725736
Just a 10-minute walk from the National Museum on Pyay Road, Feel looks like a small cottage in upper Myanmar. The restaurant offers breakfast, lunch and dinner. The manager, Ma Khin Theik Htwe, says the most popular dishes include spicy chicken curry, pork curry with mango, pork curry with dog fruit, nga pi sauce with onion and chili, fried prawn and sweet pork curry. Traditional Myanmar juices and desserts are also available. Main dishes cost K850 to K2500. Feel is open daily from 6 am to 8:30 pm.

Green Elephant (Yangon)
519 (A) Pyay Road at Thirimingalar Lane (Attia Road), Kamayut township
Tel: (951) 535231, 720375
Email: greenygn@myanmar.com.mm
Website: www.elephant-house.com

Green Elephant (Mandalay)
3 (H), Block 801, 27th Street, between 64th and 65th streets
Aung Daw Mu quarter, Mandalay
Tel: (952) 61237

Green Elephant (Bagan)
River View/Yamonar
Tel: (952) 67099
The Green Elephant restaurant in Yangon supplies special ambience with its two-storey, dark-wood building which is open to the outside air in the style of a traditional Myanmar house. The restaurant offers Chinese, Thai and Myanmar foods but focuses on the latter. Different menus offer healthy options (K1200 to K 3500), as well as set meals that include tempura, soup, vegetables, two meat curries and dessert (K8000 to K10,000). There are three Green Elephant restaurants in Myanmar, each with a souvenir shop attached so that diners can get some shopping done as well. The restaurants are open daily from 11 am to 9:30 pm.

Padonmar Restaurant
78 (C) Inya Road, Kamaryut township
Tel: (951) 536485
Email: goldengalon@mptmail.net.mm
This Myanmar and Thai restaurant offers a pleasant atmosphere in the form of an interior decorated with wall paintings influenced by traditional Myanmar style, and an outdoor garden with a roof that provides shelter from falling rain. U Aung Aung, the manager of the restaurant, says there are about 45 Myanmar dishes on the menu. Specialties include ah mae tha ar lu hnat (braised beef with potato), kayen talapaw (vegetable soup with bamboo shoots) and kyawe kaw thi thoke (pomelo salad). Prices for main dishes range from K2500 to K4000.

Sandy’s Myanmar Cuisine
Kandawgyi Hotel (Lake View), Kanyeiktha Road, Mingalar Taungnyunt township
Tel: (951) 382918, 249255
Email: sandy@sandymyanmar.com.mm
Located near Kandawgyi Lake, Sandy’s is well-known not only for its food but also as a place to relax and enjoy the natural beauty of Yangon. The restaurant specialises in authentic dishes from throughout Myanmar. Owner Daw Sandy Min Sein says she prepares her meals according to home-style Myanmar tastes. Cooking demonstrations, in which the chef prepares a meal in front of guests so they can see how the ingredients are combined, can be arranged by request. Sandy’s also serves breakfast, and its Inle Mohinga has won multiple cooking awards. Prices for lunch and dinner dishes range from K500 to K8000. There is also an entertainment program beginning at 7 pm featuring a traditional marionette show or traditional dances.

Indian Restaurants
The Raj Indian Restaurant
1-A 5½ mile, Pyay Road, Hlaing township
Tel: (951) 514402, 514404
Email:ForumMyanmar@mptmail.net.mm
Portrait, scenic and historic paintings from bygone eras give this restaurant a nostalgic Indian ambience. Tranquility can be found in special private rooms. There is a wide variety of meat options, plus a number of vegetarian choices. The set menu ranges in price from US$2 to $5, while two-person vegetarian plates cost $2 to $3.50. Lunch is served 11:00 am to 2:30 pm, and dinner from 6 pm to 9:30 pm.

Shanti Indian Cuisine
51 Kaba Aye Pagoda Road, Mayangone township
Tel: (951) 661 216.
Within one year of its opening Shanti has become one of the most famous Indian restaurants in Yangon. The buffet-style presentation gives guests options among six meat dishes, five vegetable curries, two kinds of soups and Indian bread, with choices changing from one day to the next. Rice varieties include steamed, coconut, lemon, tomato and mango. Dessert options include homemade yogurt, fruit, coffee and curry powder tea. The buffet-style lunch and dinner is K2900 a person. Lunch is available 10:30 am to 3 pm, and dinner 6pm to 10 pm, daily.

Shopping Guide
Bagan Gift Centre
1. 15/90 Front Row, Bogyoke Market; Tel: (951) 289478
2. 101 University Avenue Road; Tel: (951) 534041
3. Bagan Gift Centre Show Room, Yin Min Pike open space, New Bagan;
Tel: (952) 67139
Bagan Gift Centre offers a wide variety of lacquerware, lacquer furniture, artwork and wall hangings. Custom orders are accepted.

J’s Irrawaddy Dream
59 Taw Win Road, Dagon township
Tel: (951) 221695, 220284
Fax: (951) 228632
Email: irrawaddytrade@mptmail.net.mm
Website: www.rangoonshop.com
Approaching this aptly named souvenir shop is like entering a dream. Outside is a flourishing garden and fountain, as well as a restaurant serving French and Asian food. Inside is a wide array of top-quality handmade Myanmar items for sale, including silk fabrics, lacquerware, paintings and antiques. Blouses, shirts, skirts, dresses and pants made from high-quality Myanmar textiles are also for sale

Myanmar Lacquerware Shop
7 13th Street, Lanmadaw township
Tel: (951) 226261
Email: myatkhine@mptmail.net.mm
Website: www.myanmarlacquerware.com
Ever Stand (2)
97 Phone Gyi Road, between Anawyahta and Mahabandola roads, Lanmadaw township
Tel: (951) 229499
Email: moe@cfs.com.mm (attention: Ever Stand)
Lacquerware items of all shapes and sizes are available here, including jewel boxes, plates, bowls and folding screens. Shipping for large items can also be arranged. Special orders are accepted but may take at least six months to fill. Prices are negotiable at Ever Stand, but are fixed at Myanmar Lacquerware Shop.

Royal Rose
Office and Sales Centre 1
28/KL Inya Yeik Thar Street at Kaba Aye Pagoda Road, Mayangon township
Tel: (951) 665662, 4411156
Email: kyolone@mptmail.net.mm, Klrrose@myanmar.com.mm
Sales Centre 2
A/11-12, Thitsar Street, Yankin township
Sales Centre 3
126 Dhamazadi Street at West Shwe Gone Taing, Bahan township
Tel: (951) 514569

Sales Centre 4
394 83rd Street, between 32nd and 33rd streets
Gontan ward, Mandalay
Tel: (02) 38137
Royal Rose sells elegant and high-quality Myanmar made shoes, heels, slippers and bags. A wide variety of colourful designs are available, all made from Myanmar cotton and silk. The manager says their shoes and handbags are exported to France, Japan, Australia and Singapore. Clients who have trouble finding the right size shoes can place customs orders, which take about three weeks to fill.

Zawgyi House
The Myanmar Silk Shop
Bogyoke Road, adjacent to FMI center and Bogyoke Aung San Market
Tel: 256355 (ext. 3027)
Email: zawgyifk@yangon.net.mm
Products range from silk clothing to lacquerware. A large collection of colourful silk neckties is on display, each costing about US$10. Silk shawls, available in more than 100 Myanmar designs, range from $12 to $50. Carrés de soie designed by the owner, Mr François Kenedi, carry unique designs depicting stories and legends from Myanmar culture. Silk fabrics can be bought for about US$12 to $35 a yard and tailor-made into custom clothing on the premises.