THE team behind the original Mr Guitar café – a Yangon institution – has opened a second restaurant on Shwe Gon Dine Road.

But Mr Guitar patrons who are expecting a carbon copy of the original will be disappointed.
Owner Nay Myo Say has employed a novel concept – setting the restaurant out as a number of private rooms unlike the one central dining hall at the original Mr Guitar – to create a venue that is full of atmosphere and is truly unique.

There are 12 rooms altogether and each can seat 10 people.
Each of the rooms carries a catchy name – there is the A-dmired room, the B-eloved, the C-herish room and so on from A to L.

Nay Myo Say, a practicing artist, did all the decorating himself. As at Mr Guitar, quirkiness abounds, but here the décor is a little more upmarket.
My friend and I chose the B-eloved room.

When we were presented with the menu we were dumbstruck — there were so many choices.

The restaurant serves Suki – a Thai-style of hot pot – in addition to other Thai and Chinese dishes.

Our waiter stood patiently as we gazed at the photos of the countless dishes in the thick menu. All the prices are in FEC.

Finally we decided on the Chinese fried rice (admittedly not a very adventurous choice) for FEC 1.8, pepper crab (FEC 3.8), fried Taiwanese mustard (FEC 1.8) and Tom Yam soup (FEC 2).

If you are a lover of Suki, there are two types of Suki menus, one for FEC 5.8 and one for FEC 7.8.

The bubbling hot chicken broth to which you can add your favourite of ingredients looked very tempting and we were sorry we did not order it.
But when our dishes arrived we were not disappointed.

With a buttery aroma, the fried rice with chicken and vegetables was delicious. It was complemented so well by the fried Taiwanese mustard that I forgot to try the rest of the dishes.

My friend, a big crab-lover, murmured appreciatively between large mouthfuls.
But the spicy Tom Yam soup was the best of the lot. The chef really needs to be congratulated on this one – the dish had the authentic taste of Thai Tom Yam, with just the right amount of heat and, the prawns were absolutely succulent.

To complement your meal, there is a large array of wines, beers, cocktails and fresh fruit juices on offer.

Our meal was satisfying all a round and the restaurant is recommended for anyone who likes good Asian food and friendly service, regardless of whether they have been to the original Mr Guitar or not.

In fact my friend, who’s birthday is in August, remarked that she liked the restaurant so much that she was going to celebrate her upcoming birthday there. I will definitely be looking forward to making a second visit to this restaurant.