Burmese Restaurant In Chiang Mai?

[Cnxforever]

you can make the salad quite easily yourself-no kidding with little packages that contain the tea leave stuff and some crunchy mix.you add tomato garlic lime cilantro and red onion maybe a little oil and it is cheap and authentic.the packages are cheap and keep forever-buy them at the friday market across the mosque first soi on changklan rd.also other burmese specialties,some very bad tasting to me anyway.went to burma and know some burmese people here in cm ,i like them a lot but the food is not their forte.

Thanks for that, "...myfriend". That sounds just the way Nong Bee's off Nimmanheamin makes tea leaf salad and the way I prefer it. I tried the tea leaf salad at the Swan and it was really just cabbage salad with a few tea leaves and tomato. The Swan has a beautiful garden and a more extensive menu than Nong Bee's but the tea leaf salad is not the reason to go.

They have that and other really good salads at the place described above in the back of Ruam Chok Market. It's called Mee Mee's and the owner (Mee Mee) is a very nice lady. She's only there sometimes. Some items on the menu are only available on Saturday and Sunday. Prices are reasonable.

She also has a nice gift shop in the same plaza that sells really nice and unusual gifts; all made in Myanmar.

Yes thats the place I went to - Mee Mee's - very friendly - good food and cheap!

Edited December 19, 2010 by Cnxforever

[ctrunfree]

We ended up going to the Swan last night and came away disappointed. Thought the tea leaf salad OK (haven't had any others to compare) but lots of cabbage, and very similar to one of the other salads we ordered, although it sounded very different on the menu. Couldn't locate a lot of the listed ingredients, (but did find the large thorn in one meal that had escaped the chef's attention). The one stirfry we had was very ordinary, dominated by the good old green capsicum...Won't be going back

Edited December 20, 2010 by ctrunfree

[junglechef]

The Swan is good but self-proclaimed toned down Burmese food. I've eaten at two others that I found too dirty for me and I'm not too squemish. My fav is Mee Mee's behind Rum chook market which is next to Rimping San Sai. Tea salad etc but try the fish curry!

[Paagai]

The longevity of this thread is amazing

Sadly, two great opportunities for eating great Burmese (Tai) food have just passed. The Poy Sang Long festival first ar Wat Ku Tao then this last week at Wat Pa Pao. Any number of stalls selling Tai delicacies at both events; remember for next year

There are a couple of newish Tai Yai karaoke bars which also sell Tai food. Was eating Tea Leaf Salad there just last night whilst waiting on the rain abating They are in a row of local bars/restaurants in a Soi off Viangbua Rd, about 250M past Viangbua Mansion (Chang Puek district). It's called Viangbua entertain plaza or something like that and has a 7-11 on the corner. Bars are on the opposite side to 7-11 and towards the other end. Look for Tai Yai language on the Karaoke screens. Very local rough and ready but the food is OK and cheap.

[SausageKing]

Their is a place called mee mee Burmese eating place sansai in the old market next to mee chok rimping shopping complex, the shop is accross from the sunday motor bike selling place.Good burmese food and green salad.

[naugastyle]

This is an old thread, but I thought I'd contribute. The place I mostly go when in Chiang Mai is D-Lo, which is on the same soi as Holiday Garden Hotel, just off Huay Keow west of Nimmanhaemin. Very clean & nice. Have tried their mohinga, coconut noodles, tomato salad, aubergine salad, beef curry, rice salad, tamarind salad, pennywort salad...ummm... I might have tried the lemon salad and ginger salad, can't remember but I'm sure they're good. Better renditions of many of these dishes in Mae Sot of course (where I live), and I prefer the cheaper, smaller portions in MS tea shops where you can get more items in one sitting, but it's still very tasty. Haven't tried the tealeaf salad or sour roselle leaf, these are so common to me in MS I don't seek them out. Some restaurants do pickle their own leaves rather than use Yuzana brand packets, but I haven't asked them. Their Burmese tea is also quite good.

D-Lo is open most of the day. All staff can speak English and there is a picture menu. Close at 11PM and I know they are definitely open by 9AM but probably earlier. Mohinga and coconut noodles only available on weekends.

Also, Wat Pa Pao was mentioned above for Shan food, but please note the food is available all the time as far as I can tell, not just during festivals. One vendor I saw there once seems to have left (sold noodles and preserved pork wraps) but the remaining vendor has tofu salad, fried tofu warm tofu, and noodles. For those who aren't familiar, Shan tofu is made of chickpeas instead of soybeans, and "warm tofu" means it hasn't solidified yet. It's like savory goo with noodles mixed in. The fried tofu isn't freshly-made and crispy, but it's great in a salad mixed with the non-fried tofu.

There are Muslim foods at the Friday Yunnan market like chickpeas and naan, samosas, fried lentil balls, etc. But again, I'm in Mae Sot so it's not draw for me since the naan isn't made on the spot.

Edited November 13, 2011 by naugastyle

[ianf]

I know there are at least 2 Burmese restaurants, but don't know the exact location.

I think one near Ton Payom market, and one in the soi that goes from Chotana Road past Rajabhat University towards Kham Tiang, and then a sub-soi of that.. I think.

OK, thats a clue. Maybe if I meet a Burmese person there I can get some help finding. Surely they have to eat and miss their food.

restaurant The Swan

http://www.chiangmainews.com/ecmn/viewfa.php?id=3005

The Swan is 100% fantastic. Go there or be square!

[IEMDavid]

How to get to the swan ? would like to try and open times ?[/size]

I know there are at least 2 Burmese restaurants, but don't know the exact location.

I think one near Ton Payom market, and one in the soi that goes from Chotana Road past Rajabhat University towards Kham Tiang, and then a sub-soi of that.. I think.

OK, thats a clue. Maybe if I meet a Burmese person there I can get some help finding. Surely they have to eat and miss their food.

restaurant The Swan

http://www.chiangmainews.com/ecmn/viewfa.php?id=3005

The Swan is 100% fantastic. Go there or be square!

[jez56]

There's a small Burmese place at Mee Chok market. It's called Mee Mee. Never been inside so I don't know if it's any good. Not that I know anything about Burmese food anyway. Don't know about opening hours either.

Umm . . . if you head north out of town on Highway 1001 towards Mae Jo, past the Mitsubishi dealership on the left, straight across at the traffic lights, then the next left is the turning in to Mee Chok Plaza. There's a new McDonalds there (retch) which you can hardly avoid seeing. That's also the turning for the Rimping store.

Well, don't take that turn. Maybe 50 yards later there's another left turn. Take that one. Mee Mee is a few doors down that little road, on the left.

Edited November 14, 2011 by jez56

[junglechef]

Use to go to Mee Mee's all the time loved it! (see my post from last April above). But now the owner, and perhaps her family, don't seem to be there and the food quality has gone downhill. They have moved across the parking lot but just before things changed. Use to never get a bad dish and now never get a good one. What a shame, Mee Mee was nice and really helped those having trouble with the menu etc. and the staff was also very good and friendly and the last time I went the cook was cleaning his toenails at the outside table next to the front door if that's not enough to turn one off.

The Swan has good food but not traditional Burmese and the owner told me he tones it down for the Western palate.

The one on Nimmanheamin I found real dirty (where the Burmese Friend's Library use to be) as well as the one behind the Pa Yom market (Suthep Rd and Canal Rd.).

At Pun Pun (not the veggie one but the one on the river) the owners wife is Shan and also makes Shan Noodles, not sure if it's on menu but just ask as they are very accommodating.

Can't wait to try D-Lo.

[dave2]

iemdavid.

re .. How to get to the swan ? would like to try

from thapae gate walk past the amora hotel on the outer moat and the swans next to the blue 24 hour laundry

dave2

[naugastyle]

Didn't realize I could add photos! Here is mohinga & aubergine salad at D-Lo; aubergine salad, tamarind salad and...can't remember...at D-Lo; and Shan tofu salad at Wat Pa Pao.

[hyperdimension]

I checked The Swan and the place looked too clean and touristy for me, with prices to match when I looked at the menu (which was in English). I looked for mohinga in the menu but couldn't find any. I know Burmese food fairly well but I couldn't recognize a lot of what they had on the menu, other than maybe "nga pi cho" (I forgot how they spelled it). Is the cuisine from a different part of Myanmar than Yangon? I may still try it one day out of curiosity, it's just that the prices aren't enticing as the bill would add up to well over a few hundred baht based on the amount I like to eat in one sitting.

It's strange that Burmese restaurants aren't all over the place, considering that Lanna culture has a lot of influence from Myanmar with similarities in dress, music, architecture and even script. Has the lack of Burmese food in Thailand got to do with racism? Burmese people in Thailand these days seem to be considered as a lower class minority group.

By the way, did Khao Soi originate from a Burmese dish? There is a Burmese dish called "O No Khao Swe" which means "coconut noodles" and it is a curry egg noodle soup with a lot of coconut milk. I'm thinking Khao Soi was derived from this Burmese dish.

Edited November 14, 2011 by hyperdimension

[dave2]

naugastyle.

re .. and Shan tofu salad at Wat Pa Pao.

do you mean from the woman / cook by the gate whos sister is an accountant at wat pa pao ?

just wondering .. dave2

[bristolgeoff]

just near mikes burger and the soi to buy scooter parts and get a new bike seat if ripped.

[IEMDavid]

Cheers Dave and i will try the swan.

iemdavid.

re .. How to get to the swan ? would like to try

from thapae gate walk past the amora hotel on the outer moat and the swans next to the blue 24 hour laundry

dave2

[naugastyle]

Dave, don't know about her sister, we didn't ask. My Shan/Burmese friend's Shan isn't that good so it was very basic small talk. She is right by the gate, though. The person who used to serve preserved pork was just on the other side of her. The woman who is still there said they might have the pork (wet tha chin) at Wat Chai Moon but she couldn't tell us where that was ("just get on any soongteow, it's only 20 baht") and I can't find it on the map.

EDITED: Just noticed your attached photo. Did you mean OUTSIDE of the gate? If so, no. The food stand is after you enter, to the left. It's obvious when you see it, as there's a glass case with blocks of Shan tofu and small squares of fried tofu.

What does khao soy mean in Thai? I thought "khao" was rice, thus rice noodles, but it's definitely egg noodles. Am pretty sure khao swey in Burmese is any type of general noodle, but occasionally the name changes depending on the dish. The coconut noodles in Mae Sot taste simliar to khao soi without the crunchy noodles (also using the bright yellow noodles). The one at D-Lo is totally different, it's spaghetti-type noodles and coconut flavor is not too strong, not too sweet. Thick gravy, not soupy. My friend said D-Lo's was Yangon style, and the other kind I'm used to is Karen/Mon style but with Malaysian influence. However, I've seen the bright yellow noodle type in Yangon as well, so I don't think he's the definitive word!

Again, I'd recommend D-Lo to anyone. It's not dirty at all (although some of the semi-dirty places I'm used to in Mae Sot have charm), while also totally non-Westernized. The presence of the Holiday Garden hotel just up the soi does not bring in any Western tourists (on all our visits, we just watch them walking by), nor stop them from offering pork viscera salad. It would be considered foreigner price in Mae Sot but portions are huge. We were generally paying 100 baht each for 2 dishes each (totally unnecessary due to size...we just wanted variety) plus milk tea.

Edited November 15, 2011 by naugastyle

[Jingthing]

For those without a lot of experience with Burmese food (and others) I think this slide show may be of interest. A bit like food porn as most of these dishes are not available at restaurants in Thailand, but still watching it you can get a fair idea of the wide variety (and distinctiveness) of Burmese food. The first part of the video starts in Maryland USA but be patient, before long it gets into the Burmese food.

http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-0101-c86e-0caa

Edited November 15, 2011 by Jingthing

[DGS1244]

Try Mee Mee's in the market behind Mea Chock Plaza, all the staff as well as the owner are Burmese.

[el jefe]

This is an old thread, but I thought I'd contribute. The place I mostly go when in Chiang Mai is D-Lo, which is on the same soi as Holiday Garden Hotel, just off Huay Keow west of Nimmanhaemin. Very clean & nice. Have tried their mohinga, coconut noodles, tomato salad, aubergine salad, beef curry, rice salad, tamarind salad, pennywort salad...ummm... I might have tried the lemon salad and ginger salad, can't remember but I'm sure they're good. Better renditions of many of these dishes in Mae Sot of course (where I live), and I prefer the cheaper, smaller portions in MS tea shops where you can get more items in one sitting, but it's still very tasty. Haven't tried the tealeaf salad or sour roselle leaf, these are so common to me in MS I don't seek them out. Some restaurants do pickle their own leaves rather than use Yuzana brand packets, but I haven't asked them. Their Burmese tea is also quite good.

D-Lo is open most of the day. All staff can speak English and there is a picture menu. Close at 11PM and I know they are definitely open by 9AM but probably earlier. Mohinga and coconut noodles only available on weekends.

I went to D-Lo based on the review above. Thanks for the recommendation, naugastyle!

We had the tea leaf salad and the roselle leaf salad, since those aren't widely available in CM. Both were excellent. We also had the spicy fried catfish, eggplant and pork curry, and the pork ribs. All were very good. As implied above, all servings were larger than we expected, but prices were still extremely reasonable at 30-60 baht per dish. This is our new "go-to" restaurant for Burmese food.

[2peteok]

• take Huay Kaew west across Super high/Nim. intersection and go about a half kilometer, half way to Canal rd.,
• your first possible right turn at Nail glo or like that, go just past the car wash place and there is a totally Burmese place for Burmese. go enjoy. it is a really sweet set up.

[elektrified]

Try Mee Mee's in the market behind Mea Chock Plaza, all the staff as well as the owner are Burmese.

I used to really like it there and went often. But something has changed. Seems like business is nonexistent. The last two times I went for take out, the food was not as good. I noticed them microwaving the food which appears to all be frozen. I ordered two of the Burmese salads and they were not nearly as good as they were at one time.

[junglechef]

Went to D-Lo and it was great! Nice people and the food was really good w/generous portions esp. for the price. It's my new go to Burmese place to eat, thank for the tip!

[meadish_sweetball]

What does khao soy mean in Thai? I thought "khao" was rice, thus rice noodles, but it's definitely egg noodles. Am pretty sure khao swey in Burmese is any type of general noodle, but occasionally the name changes depending on the dish. The coconut noodles in Mae Sot taste simliar to khao soi without the crunchy noodles (also using the bright yellow noodles). The one at D-Lo is totally different, it's spaghetti-type noodles and coconut flavor is not too strong, not too sweet. Thick gravy, not soupy. My friend said D-Lo's was Yangon style, and the other kind I'm used to is Karen/Mon style but with Malaysian influence. However, I've seen the bright yellow noodle type in Yangon as well, so I don't think he's the definitive word!

If you just translate the Thai words individually and try to parse them into something comprehensible, you end up either with 'soi rice' (soi as in side street) or 'chopped rice'. Neither of these renditions makes sense, given what's actually in the dish, so I think that is a pretty strong indication that it originated in Burma and is a corruption (local rendition) of the Burmese name for the dish. Not to mention that none of the locals I've asked about the meaning can provide a reliable Thai internal etymology.

[naugastyle]

• take Huay Kaew west across Super high/Nim. intersection and go about a half kilometer, half way to Canal rd.,
• your first possible right turn at Nail glo or like that, go just past the car wash place and there is a totally Burmese place for Burmese. go enjoy. it is a really sweet set up.

You're describing D-Lo, recommended in my first post .

[Johpa]

I was recently taken to a Shan noodle shop near the Ton Payom market, a shop noted early in this thread and then never mentioned again. The acquaintance who took myself and my Burmese-American friend to this shop was a Thai doctor who has works extensively in Shan areas for many years. The Shan tofu noodle dishes were excellent, both the soft and the fried versions of tofu. The noodle shop is located down the first street that heads southward east of the canal road, just east of the market. That street intersects Suthep Rd at the Chiang Mai University Art Center. The shop is on the right when heading south, about 100 down from Suthep Rd. Don't know the name, but just look for a sign in Thai, Burmese, and Chinese. They also have an English menu on the wall.

Once being introduced to such food by knowledgeable people, I also was shown a similar noodle shop in the back of the morning market of Mae Hong Song. This Shan noodle shop is reputed to be known throughout Burma. I ended up sitting next to a Burmese professor who teaches in Bangkok. We both laughed that the Asian tourists, and MHS is a mecca for Asian tourism, were busy taking pictures of us eating from this market stall.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I was recently taken to a Shan noodle shop near the Ton Payom market, a shop noted early in this thread and then never mentioned again. The acquaintance who took myself and my Burmese-American friend to this shop was a Thai doctor who has works extensively in Shan areas for many years. The Shan tofu noodle dishes were excellent, both the soft and the fried versions of tofu. The noodle shop is located down the first street that heads southward east of the canal road, just east of the market. That street intersects Suthep Rd at the Chiang Mai University Art Center. The shop is on the right when heading south, about 100 down from Suthep Rd. Don't know the name, but just look for a sign in Thai, Burmese, and Chinese. They also have an English menu on the wall.

Once being introduced to such food by knowledgeable people, I also was shown a similar noodle shop in the back of the morning market of Mae Hong Song. This Shan noodle shop is reputed to be known throughout Burma. I ended up sitting next to a Burmese professor who teaches in Bangkok. We both laughed that the Asian tourists, and MHS is a mecca for Asian tourism, were busy taking pictures of us eating from this market stall.

Would that be the road that leads to Wing 41, where the Ping Payom brothel is on the corner, or the tiny road before that, alongside Payom market? The latter is really tiny and often semi-blocked due to market traffic and stuff.

[Johpa]

Would that be the road that leads to Wing 41...

Yes, I believe it is the same road to the airport.

Edited December 8, 2011 by Johpa