Austin Bush

writer/photographer

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Rich, curdy, barely sweet: love the ‘gurt at Shwe Bali. 🇲🇲

I’m not here in Yangon simply to post cool IG pics; this Saturday I’ll be hosting a #thefoodofnorthernthailand dinner at Union Bar & Grill! We’ll be doing a couple northern Thai snacks and a set meal that includes ingredients and dishes you’d be hard-pressed to find in Bangkok, let alone Yangon. To book, contact nikki@57below.com

One of SE Asia’s best breakfast dishes: mohinga, an herbal, fish-based broth served over thin rice noodles. At Myaung Mya Daw Cho, that broth is thick, salty and savory, studded w whole shallots (they’re carefully doled out) and crunchy strips of the stalk from the banana tree. If you like, you can get your bowl topped w fish cakes, lentil fritters or a hard-boiled egg. But get there before 8am or you’re not eating at all. 🇲🇲

Wasn’t hungry at all so of course I had to order from this stall that sells deep-fried stuff (Shan tofu, baji, shallot fritters, etc.) served w a tamarind/chili dip. Fact: the Burmese make the tastiest potato chips in the world. 🇲🇲

The semolina cake at Golden Tea: entering my tum-tum since 2004. 🇲🇲

I don’t know where people eat in Yangon these days, but before even checking into my hotel I slammed a meal at decades-old Aung Thuka. There’s a curry station, a veg station and a Burmese-style salad station, and I ate a tomatoey and pleasantly oily fish curry, a rich, fragrant mutton curry and a tart salad of Burmese citrus. And any order comes w a herbaceous broth and a platter of veg and herbs to be eaten w a dip of fermented fish. Oh, and the trad dessert of pickled tea leaves and nuts or mounds of raw sugar. SO DAMN TASTY. Looking forward to future meals in this city! 🇲🇲

Visiting Myanmar for the first time in a few years and dug into my stash of foreign currency. Is this still the banknote situation there? 🇲🇲

Hong Kong and Macau

November 09, 2009 in blog

Chefs at work in the kitchen of the InterContinental Hong Kong's Chinese restaurant

I apologise for my silence -- I've spent the last several days in Hong Kong (my first time there) and Macau (my third) and have had no time to blog. I'll be posting on some of the more interesting things I saw and ate in these two places over the next few days.