Mahlzeit : The first German restaurant in Yangon

Are you boring eating local food in Myanmar (Burma)?

You may have been dining in Burmese restaurant, Chinese restaurant and some Western restaurants but when it comes to German food there will be a little difficult to find German restaurants in Yangon.

Hey, wait, Mahlzeit is here that will let you taste the first ever German taste in Myanmar.

Mahlzeit is the first restaurant in Yangon serving German cuisine. Beside the famous pork knuckles and familiar sausages there are many more delicious dishes and exquisite desserts from the various regions of Germany.

Indonesia Toba in Yangon

In particular, this Wednesday evening, Toba was the scene of an increasingly rare in the modern district Yaw Min Gyi Yangon phenomenon of going to a restaurant and realize that you’re the only Western there. It was not due to lack of customers, both; the tight space reminiscent of a train car was almost full, which is always a good sign.

The restaurant probably 24 hours, which is named after the largest volcanic lake in the world, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, opened without fanfare at the end of 2014. Fortunately, the food is much more Indonesian restaurant 24/7 , and although it is certainly a good option late at night, reports are that the Toba, restaurants in Yangon will close its doors sporadically in these key moments when the border between late night and early morning blur.

The menu offers customers reason to wait. It is a thick binder with rolled pages and Indonesia and Indochina (with lots of options for vegetarians) page, and although prices are not shown, ranging from 1.700 to 4.900 kyat (about US $ 2 to US $ 5) plate. The restaurant does not sell beer or alcohol, but the waiters are ready to pop in the shop nearby to buy what they want for just 100 kyat payment.

As for decoration, the kindest thing that can be said of leatherette booths and tables do not match Toba is symbolic that the efforts in creating an environment are appealing. The ground floor walls were painted with giant murals if rudimentary inspired by landscapes of Indonesia, and it is remarkable how closely the selected tone green like green tempera used by children of Fingerpaint schools. The draw for a place like Toba, however, is not on your furniture or mats, but strictly in the food.

Start the meal with Gado Gado, a generous portion of steamed mixed vegetables seasoned with a good dose of peanut sauce and Krupuk, which are essentially delicious fried “crispy bits”. The dish is sweet and peanuts with a perfect bottom spicy, and is a good way to introduce your taste buds to the different range of flavors that food is about to reveal. Accompany this with one of the many varieties of nasi goreng on the menu, since the varieties of Toba fried rice are some of the less greasy that I found in the city.

Highlights include SAPI rendang, a coconut milk, lemongrass beef soup is surprisingly tender and tasty. With pan-size portions, be sure to ask more than one. While the udung sambal had the right touch of shrimp paste and tamarind, there was something in the shrimp did not taste fresh, which is worrying in view of the fact that our photographer was denied access to the kitchen, because it was not “tidy”. the perkedel kentang (potato dumplings) were tasty if not memorable, and the same way, the chicken skewers were well seasoned with turmeric and a pinch of curry, although in turn were a little ‘dry.

overall the food was hearty, satisfying and inexpensive, that seems to be exactly what is going on in Toba. So far Indonesian, Toba is certainly worthy of note among the Rangoon options, but if you are in Jakarta or in some lost street Bandung, many possibilities are not present. The risk with such an extensive menu in a restaurant that is relatively small is that the kitchen makes some of the most popular dishes, and often very good, but then an error occurs in others. Yet, I return to Toba, if only in the hope of proving his elusive tempeh, which all seem to hear good things about, but only a lucky few have ever had the privilege to try it.

Also Read : Korea increase their investment in Myanmar

Japanese Food House Gekko in Yangon

The kitchen was bustling at this Japanese-inspired bar and restaurants in Yangon and also a beautifully refurbished building in downtown Rangoon. Growling stomachs streamed into to the dining area of Gekko around lunch time as Aung Myo Oo laid a few bright cherry tomatoes beside a chunk of lightly fried fish, a slightly modified version of a traditional Japanese recipe.

“This is one of our signature dishes,” said the 45-year-old sous chef, showing off a plate of Hichibachi salmon, a well-sauced pan-fried fish with a small serving of wasabi risotto prepared with rice sourced from the land of the rising sun.

Behind him, another chef fried two chunks of salmon imported from Norway, getting ready for the next order. Another manned a charcoal yakitori (a Japanese skewer grill), as helpers shuttled between the main and back kitchen. Dishes were queuing up, waiting for the final touches from Aung Myo Oo.

“Gekko is my second home. You can find me here six days a week, from 1pm to 11pm, apart from Sundays,” he said after the last customer left and his hectic hours cooled down for a while. His professional devotion seems to have paid off. The 14-month-old restaurant was recently ranked the third best of Rangoon’s 312 eateries by Trip Advisor, which granted it a certificate of excellence just last week.

“I feel really happy about it,” said the accomplished cook, who has 18 years of Japanese culinary experience in both local and international hotels. His resume includes such establishments as the Shangri-La in Dubai. He now oversees all 15 members of Gekko’s kitchen staff.

The most thrilling thing for him is the fact that, according to manager Zay Yar Aung—unlike many other new restaurants in town—Gekko is managed by Burmese. As Zay Yar Aung put it: “We are Burmese with international experience, who are now running an establishment founded by a foreigner. I told the founder, ‘Just give us the support we need, and we’ll take care of the rest.’”

With a proud smile, Aung Myo Oo added, “Now we have proven we could make it.”

A Rangoon native with a lifelong interest in cooking, Aung Myo Oo joined the kitchen crew of a Japanese-run restaurant in his mid-20s after graduating from Rangoon University as a history major.

“On my first day in the kitchen,” he recalled, “I was asked by the Japanese chef to wash the dishes.”

But his enthusiasm earned the chef’s trust, and he eventually took Aung Myo Oo under his wing, teaching him to prepare Japanese food and master basic kitchen skills that later enabled him to join international hotel chains at home and abroad. After an eight-year stint in Dubai hotel restaurants, Aung Myo Oo joined Gekko as a sous chef.

Read Also : Myanmar Government Ban Bagan Sunset View

“Even though we have a Japanese-inspired menu here, we don’t just stick to the Japanese food because we have very diverse customer base, and we want to satisfy them,” he explained, showing off a menu that ranges from Japanese ramen to Korean fried chicken and fresh Vietnamese starters. With the Japanese items, he doesn’t stray too far from the original recipes, but tries to add a bit of flair to the combinations, as with the Hichibachi salmon.

“Originally, all you have to do is grill the fish and enjoy it with a few splashes of lime and sauce,” he said, “but here I add the risotto as a touch of western flavor, but with Japanese rice.”

His advice for aspiring chefs? “Learn your trade and master the basics.”

Myint Zin, one Gekko’s line cooks, said he still remembers his first day at work with Aung Myo Oo, about 14 years ago when they both worked in the kitchen at Rangoon’s Traders Hotel, now known as the Sule Shangri-La.

“He was both a chef de partie and my trainer,” Myint Zin recalled. “The first task he gave me was to clean a rice cooker. I have to admit, while he is a good-natured man, he has no tolerance for doing a job wrong.”

His brand of perfectionism and diligence is clear in every dish he makes, according to manager Zay Yar Aung, who said his star chef “has confidence in every dish he works on.”

Asked about Gekko’s recent honor from Trip Advisor, Zay Yar Aung said the team wasn’t fishing for compliments.

“We just fulfill our customers’ needs by paying attention to every detail. The rank is just the result of the work we all have done,” he said.

Ref : http://www.irrawaddy.com