Most Shan food lovers in Yangon would have by now heard of Wai Wai’s Place, a five-floor guesthouse with a rooftop kitchen that has gained a loyal following since opening six years ago in Sanchaung township.
Business was almost too good, says its eponymous owner who hired an army of restaurant and guesthouse workers from her hometown, Momeik, or Mong Mit, in northern Shan state.
Like its more famous neighbour Mogok, Momeik has a high concentration of precious stones. Once the scene of a short-lived communist insurgency, the town sits on the banks of the Shweli River that snakes south from China’s Yunnan.
Sugar cane, avocado and rice grow in abundance, though, most importantly to Wai Wai, so does tea leaf—the basis of one of their two staple dishes, laphet thoke.
Wai Wai’s mother makes the salad using tea leaves from a Momeik plantation, and, bolstered by the other staple—Shan rice noodles—the fresh, home-cooked feel made the kitchen destined for success.
But being consistently busy means turning away customers and so Wai Wai decided the time had come to open a second branch, shrewdly picking a two-floored setting opposite the newly renovated Secretariat.
Much is the same: an emphasis on healthy eating and simple, unpretentious decor. Tables are laid out with flowers, Shan vegetable pickle, chilli and lime; downstairs has the same wooden deckchairs as its Sanchaung counterpart, while upstairs are big cushions and low tables.
The menus are also similar: curries are between 3,200 and 4,500 kyats and include butterbean, tofu, eggplant as well as the much-loved pumpkin and chicken.
Salads are mostly 3,000 kyats—pennyworth, potato, ginger, and, of course, tea leaves, to name a few—and use seasonal ingredients. Wai Wai’s specials are Shan noodle soup and Shan noodles (2,500 kyats each), which come as sticky or non-sticky.
You may think a noodle bar with two choices of noodle dishes is, well, not much of a noodle bar, but why make things complicated?
A list of vegetable sides and uber-healthy juices complete the menu.
Surpassing the culinary output of the previous tenant Northlander will not be much of a stretch, but whether this second offering lives up to the Wai Wai name is for you to decide.
Address: 301 Bo Aung Kyaw street, middle block, Kyauktada township
Contact: 09 42115 0524
Hours: 11am-10pm every day except holidays
