Burmese food is underrated and distinct from its neighbours. It draws on Chinese, Indian, and Thai influences while doing its own thing. The base of most meals is rice, accompanied by a curry (fish, chicken, or pork in a rich, oily gravy), a clear soup, raw or blanched vegetables, and a dipping sauce. Everything comes to the table at once.
What to eat
Mohinga is the national dish — a catfish broth with rice noodles, often eaten for breakfast. A bowl from a street vendor or tea shop costs almost nothing and is one of the best things you'll eat in the country. Toppings vary: crispy fritters, hard-boiled egg, fried onions.
Lahpet thoke (tea leaf salad) is a uniquely Burmese obsession. Fermented tea leaves are mixed with tomato, cabbage, fried beans, peanuts, sesame, ginger, and garlic. It's served as a snack, an appetiser, and at ceremonies — no significant event happens without it. Earthy, crunchy, and utterly addictive.
Shan noodles — rice noodles with a light broth, pickled mustard greens, and chilli oil — are the staple of the Shan highlands and widely available in Mandalay and Yangon. Much lighter than mohinga.
Mont di (noodles in a chicken and coconut broth) is popular in Mandalay. Kaukswe — egg noodles in coconut chicken curry — is another comfort dish.
Curries throughout the country tend toward the oily and slow-cooked. Mon curries (from the Mawlamyine area) are among the most complex. Rakhine food is spicier and heavily influenced by Bengali cuisine, with a lot of seafood.
For breakfast, most tea shops serve htamin jaw (fried rice), steamed glutinous rice with sesame and coconut, and assorted fritters. The Chinese-style tea shop breakfast — with endless cups of milky tea and small dishes to pick at — is an institution.
Drinking
Green tea is served free at virtually every restaurant and tea shop — it's the default drink with food. Drink it. Black tea with condensed milk (laphet yay) is the tea-shop staple.
Myanmar Beer is the main local lager, widely available and perfectly drinkable. Dagon and Mandalay beers are also common. Palm toddy and sugarcane spirits exist but are rough.
Fresh fruit is exceptional: mangoes, papayas, jackfruit, pomelos, and mangosteens depending on season. Street stalls sell freshly cut fruit everywhere.
Where to eat
Eat in tea shops and basic restaurants, not tourist-oriented places with photos on the menu. Ask locals where they eat. The further you get from the menu in English, the better the food tends to be. Burmese meals are typically served early — lunch around 11am, dinner around 5–6pm. By 8pm many local restaurants are closed.