Alamanda Inn

A few weeks ago I finally made it to this place. We were in the neighbourhood and had wanted to eat at a place not too far away but that place had closed due to lack of business. Then someone in our group mentioned going to the Alamanda Inn for a bite. And iI must say I was pleasantly surprised. Of course we were in good company but the food was great and the ambiance is excellent. We stayed much longer than we had planned and were eventually the last to leave.  

I really like this place and I'm sure we'll be back here sometime soon. The prices are not much more expensive then anywhere else when you have good western food (there are cheaper places but then the food is usually less good as well). 

They have their own website Alamanda Inn and even a facebook page but I found the facebook page remarkably empty and of no help at all. This might change over time though.

 

 As always, my pictures don't do the place justice. I think it might be time for a new camera.

Great location, ok food

General Aung San's workplace

 Yesterday we had a  birthday party at this place. The food was good, the company better and the location really nice. After dinner, one of the party members suggested we'd have a look upstairs because General Aung San used to work here. So, upstairs we went. Me, I'm just a sucker for old buildings and history so I enjoyed our 10 minutes looking around.

I just like this room

From outside the building is fabulous. Unfortunately my camera doesn't do it justice by any means.

Beautiful colonial building that my camera can not capture

Downstairs

Upstairs

I did and still do find the menu uninspiring. I saw a lot of Thai dishes, some western food a bit of Indian. Almost as if they can't make up their minds. That said, we ordered a couple of Indian dishes and it was nice.



 Adress: 290, U Wisara Road
Kamayit Township
Yangon

Tel: 09501 534 242


Or follow them on Facebook House of Memories

Cooking classes

KK has finished his cooking classes for non-Myanmar food. This was usually my domain but lately he has a new-found confidence in his own ability. 

At school several teachers expressed an interest in learning how to cook Myanmar food, especially our two house guests who both felt that the biggest downside in leaving our hospitality apart from the company (especially the kids) was missing out on the wonderful food.

Over the years I have met quite a few tourists and often they don’t like the Myanmar food. They claim it is oily and not very tasty. More often than not, they don’t eat at really Myanmar places since those restaurants are often more difficult to find.  Many restaurants here are more Chinese oriented.

They have a point though, Myanmar food can be oily. Many people here believe that it is good to use q fair amount of oil in cooking. It shows of your wealth. In villages without electricity, oil is used to cover the curry to prevent it from going bad. 

At our house we cook (or I should say KK cooks) with little oil and the result s of his efforts are very tasty, hence the request for the help in learning how to cook Myanmar food. So Sunday two weeks ago four of my fellow teachers came over to our place to learn about some traditional dishes. 

They started with la-phe or pickled tea in an original lacquerware dish, very typical Myanmar. Pickled tea tastes a lot better than it sounds.  It makes for great salads as well. 

La-phe

I left the kitchen shortly after they started. Our kitchen is not roomy enough to accommodate so many people. I just waited for the end results. And they were worth getting out of the way for.  Green tomato salad, pumpkin curry, pickled mango salad, chicken or pork curry (being a vegetarian myself I have no idea what it was and never asked), and the day’s favourite: bean curry.

Some ingredients

Fresh herbs

Everything is ready1

The mixing

cook in the kitchen

chop chop

The result.. yum!

The idea is to continue the lessons coming Sunday. They haven’t started yet on the Mohinga and other noodles (my personal favourite there is noodles Shan – village style), soups, and desserts.  Some of this will be done coming lesson. Good for my tastebuds!

Cooking classes

KK has a friend who is a chef and he got him enrolled in a cooking course. Now KK has always loved cooking but he didn't like trying new recipes since he finds it difficult to read them.

Now, he goes to school every day during the week and comes home with food he learned to prepare at school. In the weekends, his friend comes over to help him prepare dishes we like to learn and aren't taught at school.

So, yesterday when I came home after having visited a friend I came home to a kitchen in a state I haven't seen it in ever before. But, there were chappati's, curries to go with it for me, spare-ribs and steaks (for KK and the older kids) and specially made gulash for Eiandra and Xenne. We have so much food, we don't need to cook for a few days... and it tastes so good. Well, I don't really know about the meat dishes of course. They looked very good indeed and I heard only very happy sounds while everyone was eating.

I'm especially happy that KK now knows how to make chappatti's. The potato curry that accompanied it and the spicy mint-chutney are absolutely delicious.

Yes, I'm a happy camper indeed...