Tea Shops

Mawlamyine tea shop
Tea Shop on Lower Main Rd, Myangone
Tea shops are an integral part of Myanmar life. A part from being a place for eating light snacks and drinking tea, they are often used as a place for socialising with friends or conducting ad-hoc business dealings, similar to how pubs and bars are used in this role in western society.

Coffee of course is also available in tea shops although it is usually served using the three-in-one pre-mixed sachets containing coffee, sugar and powdered creamer. If you order coffee, you'll often be asked whether you'd like kawfi mate which refers to the brand name Coffee-Mate but means coffee mix. The typical snacks available at tea shops include  palata (Indian prata bread), popiya, samosa and keik moun.

 

Clay oven
Clay oven making fresh Indian bread
Needless to say that there are countless of tea shops around Mawlamyine but two of the better ones that we can recommend is the one pictured here on Lower Main Rd in Myangone Quarter. Unfortunately, this tea shop doesn't have any English signs but it's one of most popular tea shops in Mawlamyine serving fresh Indian palata, dosa and other kinds of bread eaten a side dish of lentil or potato curry.

The bread is freshly made using a clay oven as shown in the picture left of page. Other dishes are also available such as fried rice (htamin kyaw) and fried noodles (kuay suay kyaw). Showing a picture of this page to a seikah taxi driver will no doubt be enough to identify this tea shop and get you there.

 

Indian bread
A typical breakfast at a tea-shop
 
Last Updated ( Friday, 01 June 2007 )