Here’s some exciting news — laphet thoke, a unique Burmese tea salad dish, will be on the menu at Albany’s Constellation Cafe, which could soon become the city’s first Burmese restaurant.
Comprising more than a dozen ingredients, including deep-fried split yellow peas, sunflower and sesame seeds, raw cabbage, dry roasted peanuts, dried broad beans, it’s mixed with fish sauce, tomato, lime juice and of course the “stars”, pickled tea leaves and dried shrimp, which gives laphet thoke its signature crunch.
Burmese chef Thu Ya, co-owner of Rangoon Ruby in Christchurch, wonders why there still isn’t a Burmese restaurant in Auckland when it’s been around for more than two decades in Christchurch.
Rangoon Ruby’s sister restaurant, The Bodhi Tree, opened as the city’s first Burmese restaurant in 2001 but was forced to close in 2016 because the building it used had to be demolished after the earthquakes.
After more than two decades in Christchurch, Thu Ya says he is surprised that Burmese food is “not yet a thing” in Auckland.
Sandwiched between China, Thailand, Laos and India, Burmese cuisine, and as a result of the commingling, offers an interesting blend of flavours. But the cuisine is still fairly uncharted territory in Auckland, especially when it can be quite different from other Asian offerings that people may be used to.
Thu Ya, who was born in Burma and moved to New Zealand in 2004, says Burmese food was heavily influenced by the cuisines of India, China and Thailand.
“We use similar spices and ingredients as them, but we combine and mix them differently, which is why the taste of Burmese food is very unique. Our Burmese style of cuisine may be influenced by neighbouring countries, but it is also very much our own thing.”
Growing up, he learnt to cook and create the unique flavours of Burma first through his family, and then by learning to fine-tune his skills in cooking school back in 1995.
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He moved to Christchurch, where he got involved with The Bodhi Tree and then moved on to become a co-owner of Rangoon Ruby.
Noting political turmoil over several decades, since British colonialism faded into brutal military rule, the Burmese have been in a constant struggle to define themselves. Even though the nation goes by the name Myanmar, Thu Ya said many still preferred to be known as Burmese.
Now he is a man on a mission — leading a team of New Zealand-based Burmese chefs, some of whom have fled the military junta and did not want to be named or photographed for this story — to cook up a feast for a ticketed Thingyan Burmese New Year event on May 6.
Among the dishes on the 12-course menu will be ngar hinn (Burmese fish curry), pazun jaw (sauteed garlic prawns), ngar sein kaw (citrus-cured fish slices salad) and pazun nga sote (prawn cakes).
The purpose of the Thingyan dinner event, besides the proceeds going to help victims of the Myanmar conflict, is to establish what goes on the eatery’s new menu.
With its vast 2300km coastline, consisting of the western Arakan to the Irrawaddy and the north-south Tenasserim strip, Burma’s cuisine is seafood-driven.
Burmese curries tend to use fewer ingredients than their Indian neighbours and are also milder and made with more garlic and ginger.
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Advertise with NZME.For first-timers looking for an introduction, Thu Ya suggests trying a selection of different dishes, which are always eaten shared, family-style.
Constellation owner Wut Yi said the eatery was taking a cautious approach before turning into a full Burmese restaurant. “Unlike other Asian cuisine heavyweights like Chinese, Indian, Thai or Japanese, we still need baby steps to introduce Burmese dishes and find out what local New Zealanders like,” Wut Yi says.
Immediately after the Thingyan dinner, three Burmese dishes a day will be added to the Constellation Cafe menu as a start, and then a full Burmese menu will follow.
Find Constellation Cafe at 61 Constellation Drive, Rosedale, Albany. Tickets to Myanmar Thingyan Night, Saturday May 6 are $99, from Lincolnstable.co.nz
