Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Restaurant Doubled as Art Gallery

After I bid farewell to my fellow tour group-mates and guide at The Secretariat Building at the end of our morning heritage tour, I followed our original path back to a restaurant called Pansuriya for an early lunch before I left for the airport in the afternoon. The place was quite easy to spot on Bo Galay Zay Street on the eastern side of the city just across the street from the YWCA Building (another heritage structure built in 1902) – the path right outside is almost like a little garden of theirs lined with pots of green plants and the shop sign clearly visible.



The restaurant space also doubled as an art gallery, occasional performance venue and retail shop featuring artisan goods from social enterprises across the country, so it’s spacious and comfortable with high ceiling. Old pictures and posters hung on the wall, surrounding the dining area filled with dark wood furniture. During day time, the menu features a good number of appetizers, noodles and rice dishes, and a number of curry sets, plus drinks.  This time I went for their chicken and potato curry set, which came with a few vegetable sides, soup, tomato chutney and dried shrimp condiment, and the chicken curry stew served in small plates – like a bento, plus a plate of jasmine rice infused with coconut milk.


I loved the sautéed cabbage, fresh and crisp with good flavor of fish sauce, plus the tomato chutney which was salivating and worked well with the mild but aromatic curry with the rice. The other vegetable sides included shredded carrot and potatoes, both served warm, and with good flavor. I also ordered an additional shan fried tofu, which came just slightly before my curry set arrived. The tofu was sliced thin into triangle shape, battered and deep-fried, giving it a golden crispy crust, while inside was mild, soft and silky. In the middle was the spicy dipping sauce garnished with cilantro. It worked well as a snack.

There were a handful customers when I arrived, most of them having a coffee break or using the space as their mobile office, working on their laptop, minding their own business. Midway through my meal it approached lunch hours for office workers, so the pace began to pick up with more customers. I also managed to browse through the many products on sale on the rack and picked up something that I like. This is a good place to chill and take a break, for simple and tasty Burmese fare, especially if you are in the neighborhood – as I mentioned, this is just minutes away from The Secretariat Building which I am sure will soon became a major attraction for anyone visiting Yangon once the renovation completed.

When? February 28 2018
Where? Pansuriya, 102 Bo Galay Zay Street, Botataung Township, Yangon, Myanmar
Menu Highlights? Chicken and Curry Set
Web: (Facebook) https://www.facebook.com/pansuriyamyanmar/

More pictures from my Myanmar journey: https://www.flickr.com/photos/g4gary/albums/72157694130625305



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