Ordering Food & Drinks in Burmese 🍔 🍟 🍨 🍷

As a foreigner in Myanmar, you will find it very useful to be able to order food and beverages in Burmese. You will have to pick up some vocabulary used in ordering food. Secondly, you need to understand some likely answers from the waiter. That's exactly what we are going to learn in this lesson.

The phrase

xxxx ya1 ma1-la3

is used to ask if something is available.

be2-ya2 ya1 ma1-la3 — Beer available?

The likely answers to that question are:

ya1 meare2 — Yes, please wait (get + future tense)

htine2 ba2 — Please take a seat. (sit + polite word)

ma1-ya1 bu3 — Not available. (negative + available + negative ending)

kone2 byi2 — has just run out. (run out + present state of condition)

kone2 thwa3 byi2 — has run out for some time. (run out + gone + present state)

ma1-shi1 bu3 — We don't have it. (negative + present + negative ending)

Why is it taking so long? ⏰ 😠

If you have ordered something for a while and it is taking a long time, you can ask:

xxxx ma1-ya1 thay3 bu3 la3

or, simply

ma1-ya1 thay3 bu3 la3

without mentioning the food item.

Example:

khout-hsweare3 — noodle (noun)

kjau2 — fry (verb)

ma1 — not (particle)

ya1 — get; obtain (verb); roughly means "available"

thay3 — yet (particle)

bu3 — negative (particle)

la3 — ? (particle)

khout-hsweare3-jau2 ma1-ya1 thay3 bu3 la3

Fried noodles not ready yet?

The word

kjau2

means "to fry" and

khout-hsweare3

refers to noodles. So,

khout-hsweare3 jau2

means "fried noodles".

The likely answers you will hear are:

kha1-na1 lay3

Please wait a while. (a short while [noun] + [particle] indicating small amount)

ma1-ya1 thay3 bu3

Still not available. (negative + obtain + not yet + negative ending)

ya1 dau1 meare2

It will be ready soon. (available + indicating future action + future tense ending)

You can probably follow up with this response:

kja2 lite da2

Why is it taking so long?

kja2

means to be lengthy in time, or to take a long time.

lite da2

means to the extreme degree.

You have to be careful with

kha1-na1 lay3

by the Burmese waiter asking you to wait for awhile. He will never tell you

kja2 ome3 meare2,

meaning it will take a long time, even if you ask him:

kja2 ome3 ma1-la3

Is it going to take long?

It all depends on how busy they are and which eatery you dine at.

Measure Words for food and drinks ☕

You need to remember two primary measure words, also known as numerical classifiers. For food items, use

pweare3,

which can be soften to sound like

bweare3.

It means an order of something to eat. For drinks, use

khwet

meaning a glass or a cup.

Examples:

khout-hsweare3 jau2 da1-bweare3

a plate or an order of fried noodles


khout-hsweare3 jau2 hna1-pweare3

fried noodles for 2 persons


khout-hsweare3 jau2 thone3 bweare3

fried noodles for 3, and so on.

Please refer to Lesson 12 for numbers and measure words in details.

Similarly, you can say:

be2-ya2 ta1-khwet — a glass of beer 🍺

be2-ya2 hna1-khwet — two glasses of beer 🍺 🍺

Beer, alcohol, and liquors are available in a large number of eating houses and almost all up-scale restaurants that are licensed to sell alcoholic drinks. You can order local Myanmar draft beer in a glass or a jar cheaply. It is easy to remember the measure word for a jar. The same English word "jar" is used, and pronounced as ja3.

be2-ya2 da1-ja3

means one jar of beer, and it is about 5 glasses.

In some eating places, you will notice imported cold drinks in tin cans together with local soft drinks in glass bottles and purified drinking water in plastic bottles. They are usually kept inside a refrigerator with a glass door near the cashier's counter. You can have soft drinks like Coke, Pepsi, and Sunkist imported from Thailand.

In 2013, Coca Cola manufacturing plant in Hmobi, a town north of Yangon, has started its operations. Coca Cola made a $200 million investment with a projected job creation of 22,000 over five years span. In 2014, 1.25L bottle of Coke was sold for 700 kyat (approx. US 70 cent). 1.5L bottle is 1,000 Kyat (approx. US 67 cent) in 2019. Made in Myanmar Pepsi is also available in Myanmar now. (See Pepsi Cola Myanmar facebook page)

Tiger beer brand from Singapore is also available, but if you read the printing carefully, you will see that it is brewed and canned in Myanmar. Myanmar Beer also comes in tin cans.

Measure word for plastic bottles and tin can in Burmese is

bu3,

while

pa1-lin3

is used for glass bottles.

Tiger be2-ya2 da1-bu3 pay3 ba2

Give me a can of Tiger Beer. (Tiger + beer + one + can + give + polite word)

yay2-thun1 da1-bu3 pay3 ba2

Give me a bottle of mineral water. (water + clean + one + bottle + give + polite word)

If you have an urge for a stronger alcohol content, you can order Whiskey or Rum in "peg". If you want the whole bottle, then say:

Whisky da1-ba1-lin3 pay3 ba2

Give me a bottle of Whisky. (Whisky + one bottle + give + polite word)

While in Myanmar, try Myanmar made Aythaya Wine and Grand Royal Whisky. Aythaya Wine produced by a team of German experts is the first Western style wine in Myanmar made with grapes grown in the village of

ay3 tha2-ya2

located between Inle Lake and Taunggyi at the altitude of 1,300 meter above sea level. By the way, the name of the town means quiet and pleasant. Maybe it should be translated as "Pleasantville".

Grand Royal Whisky is the product of over 17 years of experience by Scottish Master Blender William Arthur.

Those are the affordable gift ideas. As for myself, I am always content with soft drinks or plain water for dinner.

As of April 2012, a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label in Ocean supermarket is sold for around 20,000 kyat (around USD 25) (Note: there was no sales tax added in Myanmar at that time but tax is now included in the selling price with much higher sticker prices compared to a few years ago.)

Take Out Food 🚗

English word "parcel" is used in restaurant and eating houses in Myanmar for take out food packed in styrofoam boxes. It may not be correct English, just like "packet", which is a direct translation of "pau" in Mandarin Chinese is used in Singapore for the take out order.

Example:

khout-hsweare3-jau2 da1-bweare3 - pa2-hseare2

One fried noodles to go!

Alternatively, you can say:

pa2-hseare2 htoat pay3 ba2

Can you put it in the bag? (parcel + to pack + give + suggestion)

Halal food for Muslims ☪

You will find a number of packaged and processed food with "Halal" printing both in English and Arabic. That means they are approved by Islamic Religious Affairs Council in Myanmar. You normally don't expect a Chinese person to be a Muslim, but some Chinese in Myanmar are Muslims, and you can ask the local people where you can get

pan3-dthay3 khout-hsweare3,

a type of fried noodle similar to Mee Gorang in Malaysia and Singapore. Their spicy cooking style probably comes from Sichuan, the south-western part of China. You can also get Halal biryani rice with chicken and mutton. Those shops are usually owned by Indian Muslims, and some are wealthy enough to expand into chain-restaurants.

kjet-tha3 dun2-bout da1-bweare3

One chicken biryani, 🍗 🍛 please! (chicken + biryani rice + one + order)

sate-tha3 dun2-bout hna1-pweare3

Two mutton biryani, please! (mutton + biryani rice + two + order)

Eating Utensils 🍴

Normally, you have a choice of either a spoon and a fork or a pair of chop sticks. Go to an American KFC style fast food restaurant, and you will be surprised to be served with a knife and a fork. This will be a totally new experience if you have considered fried chickens to be "finger licking good!" In early July 2015, the real American KFC opened it's first branch in Yangon near the busy intersection of Bogyoke Aung San Road and Sule Pagoda Road.

Now, KFC not only has more branches in Yangon, but also expanded to Mandalay and other smaller towns like Bago, Pyay, and Taunggyi.

As for eating rice, just like other south east asian countries, a spoon using your right hand is supposed to scoop up the rice while use your fork in the left hand to push the rice into the spoon in front. This makes more sense and certainly more efficient than using a fork — American style, or chinese chop sticks.

zoon3 neare1 kha1-yin3 pay3 ba2

Give me a spoon and a fork. (spoon + and + fork + give + polite word)

tu2 pay3 ba2

Give me chopsticks. (chopstick + give + polite word)

da3 ya1 ma1-la3

Can I have a knife? (knife + available + ?)

Burmese Food 🍲

For breakfast, Burmese people have

peare3-byoat,

a type of pea steamed and fried with rice, or eaten with

nun2-bya3,

round baked staple food made from dough of flour. Ethnic Shan or Kachin people eat

khau3-boat,

which is a type of black sticky rice grounded and baked or fried. Ungrounded Burmese version of glutinous rice is called

kout-hnyin3 boun3,

which is served with the mixture of grounded sesame seeds and salt sprinkled over it.

Another breakfast or lunch item favorite with the Burmese people is

mone1-hin3-ga3.

If you have ever tried Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup Pho Bo or Malay Laksa, it is the same idea, except for that the soup base is made from a type of cat fish, and the rice noodle has a distinct fermented aroma.

The soup base of mone1-hin3-ga3 contains baked rice and pea flour, banana stem, hard-boiled duck eggs, onions, lemon grass and fish sauce. The fish is separately fried with minced garlic, onion, ginger, and turmeric powder until golden brown for the appetizing aroma, and added to the soup base. It is eaten with crispy fried onions or fried melon, and garnished with fresh cilantro (parsley), lime or lemon, and sprinkle a little chili powder before serving. It is my favorite; the ingredients of mone1-hin3-ga3 seem to raise the overall endocrine system of the human body and one bowl is never enough. But I have to warn you, if you are a Westerner not accustomed to the taste of fish gravy, you might not find it pleasant.

Then, you should try

ome3-no1 khout-hsweare3,

which is another soup-based noodle, but made with coconut milk, garlic, ginger, onions, hard-boiled eggs, pea powder, chili powder and chicken. It is closer to Malay Laksa.

Another of my favorite is

khout-hsweare3 dthoat,

a kind of salad with the mixture of noodle, rice in chili oil, cabbage, bean sprout, green papaya, toufu, shredded dried shrimp flakes, mashed potatoes, fish sauce, tamarind sauce with garlic, and garnished with fried crispy garlic in oil. There are a number of decent restaurants specializing in Burmese food..

Food Poisoning & diarrhoea 🚑 😨

Be forewarned about eating in unclean roadside stalls. For some reasons, local people seem to have developed immunity to unhygienic food preparations in some roadside stalls. Is the immunity in the Burmese gene? No, even returning Burmese living abroad have lost this immunity and develop stomach upset problems. For your own convenience, bring medication for diarrhoea if you want to be adventurous. On the other hand, outbreak of e coli, cholera or hepatitis will affect local and foreigners alike. Learn how to say, "I have a stomach ache" in lesson 21.

Menu Items 📜 🍛

I think I have covered enough for you to be able to exchange a fairly good conversation with the waiter, and at the same time introduce you to the background of food in Myanmar. You will just have to build up some more vocabulary on the menu items. The main staple of Burmese is

hta1-min3 — rice

which is eaten with dishes called

hin3.

ba2 hin3 ya1 ma1-leare3

What do you have? or What dishes are available? (what + dish + available + choice word + ?)

To answer that question, I have listed the vocabulary of food menu items on the left side (or table near the top of the page for mobile users.) Visit Myanmar with Asia Pearl Travels, and enjoy your meal!