5 Places to Enjoy Myanmar Cuisine in Yangon Night Market

In the Yangon night market, visitors can easily find many "specialty" dish of Yangon: from tiny fried cakes to grilled chicken legs, crush, corn, baked potatoes, etc. If you have more courageous, you can try grilled insects like scorpions or crickets, etc. displayed on the stalls.

1. Chinatown

Chinatown is one of the night markets in Myanmar known by many tourist lovers. As the name of this area, the items sold here are mostly related to Chinese culture. Every night, the Chinatown night market brings a bustling atmosphere. A lot of stalls with extremely eye-catching colors will attract even the most avid of foodies!

Barbecue Skewer

This Chinatown night market is located to the west of Sule Pagoda which is a very famous tourist destination in Yangon. Coming to this night market will bring you an exciting experience with extremely famous and delicious dishes not only from China but also from Myanmar.

In the evening of Yangon, nowhere is busier with hungry visitors than the Chinatown night market is. This night market is famous for its cool beers and a huge number of barbecue skewer kinds. Meat, seafood, and vegetables are stabbed and grills on the charcoal stoves. Many stalls sit out along the street so hungry tourists can easy to browse their favorite restaurants and stalls for a perfect meal. The food here is a bit more expensive when compared to other destinations for street food, but it is well worth the few extra dollars—if not for the experience alone.

However, eating food here is a bit more expensive when compared to street food in another night market, but it will allow you to explore Chinese cuisine and culture.

2. 19 Street

Now coming to Yangon, the place that you should not ignore is a street named "19". This is the only night market that you can comfortably drink until 3 am. In fact, not only "19 street" is a drinking street, but the numbered streets nearby are also bustling with lights, but "19 street" is still the most popular. If 19 Street has many stalls will a variety kind of goods during the day, at night it turns into a night market filled with barbecue: meat, squid, vegetables, and specialties are grilled fish.

19th Street

There are two main types of fish that are regularly sold in pubs on "19 street": Giant gourami and bass fish. Fish are marinated and cut notched, customers just need to pick and get fish, cost about 8,000 to 10,000 kyat per one. People often eat them with wine or beer. If you want wine, there are some kinds for you to choose from: traditional Thai Yee alcohol made from Burmese fruits and Johnnie Walker. Even at "19 street" night market, tourists are also able to have a Japanese Mojito cocktail for only 800 kyat. But most will choose beer. There are also many types of beer, but most choose ABC 8-degree black beer, which is quite heavy with a strange taste of confusion between soy sauce and ... Chinese medicine. Myanmar golden beer is easier to drink, each bottle costs about 1,000 kyat, a bit hard to get drunk or headache even though you drink a lot.

In addition, if you are enough brave, you can try unique dishes such as grilled scorpions, cricket, pupae, etc.

3. Strand Road

Whatever type of cuisine you want: Shan, Chinese, Thai or Burmese, the night market in Strand Road is able to satisfy you, open from 3 PM - 11 PM. Compared to 19 Street, it is hard for you to find any other foreign tourists in the Strand Road night market. Strand Road is a part of Chinatown so after visit Chinatown, tourist can have a short walk to enjoy this night market

Many colorful food stalls sit along with the Strand Road night market, tourist can find out some of the most delicious food in Yangon. Foreigners do not often visit this area so the price is very reasonable and almost stalls have no English menu. Therefore, you should list your favorite dishes before coming to Strand Road then showing the photo to the seller.

Snack Couple

Coming to Strand Road night market, you will have a chance to try Burmese traditional street-side snacks, dishes, drinks, and desserts, such as Crabs with masala curry; fried insect, many kinds of traditional Chinese cake are sold the whole year but commonly eaten on Lunar New Year, Mid – Autumn Festival and Ghost Festival; “snack couple” made from flour, quail egg and beans, etc.

4. Little India

You can find Little India near the Sule Pagoda. This night market is blended together with China Town, starting at 15th Street and heading to the East.

Nepali and Indian food

If you are a vegetarian or a fan of Indian cuisine, you will be happy to hear about “Little India” in Yangon. After Myanmar was not under the British anymore, many Indians moved here. The locals not only add some Myanmar features to upgrade their traditional dishes but also learn to cook some of the neighboring country’s most delicious food. Tourists are able to find chapatti with curry in the Yangon night market with the price of only 1,300 kyats as well as a lot of vegetarian restaurants. Nepal cuisine is also available in Little India.

5. Maha Bandula Park

Maha Bandula Park is located adjacent to the Sule Pagoda, in the center of Yangon. It is known for the large and Independent monument inside the park. In a busy Yangon, it is easy to see some travelers or couples have a picnic or walking around Maha Bandula Park.

Night market along Maha Bandula Park

Although Maha Bandula Park is a park for relaxing, this park also is home to many street food stalls that sit along the exterior. Street food here is very delicious and affordable to eat. Stalls have ingredients to cook all the best and biggest dishes, such as skewers, noodles, smoothies, etc.

Visiting the famous night market in Yangon will bring you more interesting experiences during the journey to discover Buddha-land. Besides the unique architecture and culture, Myanmar also attracts a lot of tourists by the night markets like that! Let’s start a short trip to these wonderful night markets with your friends right away!

Let's join our Yangon Tours to discover all of these places.

Thanh Van

(Image source: Internet)