Indian Food

In Burma there is still an important community of South Asian ancestry, even though many in that community left the country after the military coup in 1962. There are South Asian shops and restaurants in Mandalay and in Rangoon especially, and Indian snacks, from samosas to parathas, are available at almost every tea shop. In the Indian restaurants, often referred to as “Chetty” restaurants (a link to the origins of some immigrants in Chettinand on India’s east coast), there’s a wide variety of pulaus and curries and dals available, especially at lunchtime. There’s been a notable adaptation to local tastes, because most of the time the meal comes served with a traditional-style Burmese sour soup and a small Burmese palate-freshening salad of grated lettuce and sliced shallots.