The Jing Hpaw Myay Restaurant (or Kachin Land Traditional Restaurant)
is in Sanchaung Township, close to the Myay Ni Ghone neighbourhood of Yangon (Rangoon). The restaurant has two premises, a couple of doors apart.
The restaurants are tiny,
with only a half-dozen tables each, and they specialize in the food of the mountainous Kachin region of Burma (Myanmar)
which is in the far north of the country.
Kachin State borders the Chinese province of Yunnan on one side and India’s Assam state on the other, both of which have extraordinarily rich cuisines. Kachin State therefore stands upon a
culinary crossroads, between Northeast India, Southwest China and South-East Asia. Yet, although it is open to many influences, its cuisine is very much its own, formed by the distinctive products and resources of a unique environment.
Fortunately, the Jing Hpaw Myay Restaurant (II) has an English menu, which lists items like Chicken Mustard Pickle Curry, Beef Tournedos with Pure Oil, Kachin Style Pork Curry, Dried Kachin Mountain Mushroom, and so on – depending of course, on the seasonal availability of the ingredients.
Fortunately Mrs Bauk Nu,
who co-owns the restaurant with her sister Esther, is very helpful.
We start with a subtle and delicious concoction of mashed potatoes,
pounded with spices and garnished with fried shallots.
Next is a dish of pork, stir fried with fermented bamboo shoots,
a marvelous contrast of textures and flavours.
Then comes a bamboo shoot salad
with fish and peanuts,
along with a salad of pounded beef:
both are amazing.
They are accompanied by
an extraordinarily fine soup of bitter leaves,
and a taro soup with pickled mustard leaves –
everyone at the table agrees that taro has never tasted this good.
Mrs Bauk Nu
and the waiter are not done yet; other delicacies are still to come –
a salad of fermented soya beans,
stir-fried bamboo shoots with pork ribs,
and finally, a truly sublime beef noodle soup, served with ‘Kachin kimchi’, a relish of fermented greens.
Not to be forgotten is the ‘hot and strong’ quince brandy that is served with the meal.
All in all, this Kachin banquet was one of the finest meals I have ever eaten in Burma, which is saying a great deal!