A roadside stall serves the best Kyay Oh in Yangon
Kyay Oh, literally "copper pot", is the most popular noodle soup after the traditional mohinga fish noodle soup. Owing its origins to China's kway teow, or rice noodles in the Hokkien dialect, Kyah Oh has two versions: with soup and without. The latter is
Despite the popularity of noodle house chains in downtown Yangon like YKKO and Shwe Taung Tan, a small roadside noodle stall – in the city’s Chinatown on Latha Road – has been serving up great home-style Kyah Oh over the last 30 years. The sheer range of its flavours and the depth of the stall owner’s cooking prowess make this noodle shop a far cry from those big noodle houses.
The family-owned noodle stall doesn’t have a name to call its own, but it’s generally referred to as “that Latha Road Kyay Oh” among its loyal customers.
The uniqueness of this stall lies in its use of top-quality meatballs – fresh, clean and minimally fatty. They are made entirely from pork without having the flour in the mix. What’s more, the broth is clear, not oily, and a little sweet like chicken broth.
Stall owner Than Than Htike has been cooking Kyay Oh since she was 17.
"Having inherited a classic Kyah Oh recipe from my father, I was able to open my own noodle shop in front of my house. I feel happy whenever I'm cooking Kyay Oh. I'm quite interested in it. Since I have been doing this since I was young, I feel uneasy on the days the stall is closed. I want to offer a home-cooked style to all my customers so I have been cooking the same way over three decades," said Than Than Htike.
Besides the two common Kyay Oh versions, the menu includes wonton soup, clay pot rice porridge, noodle or vermicelli si chet, chicken salad and various kinds of pork salads (including kidney and brain).
The roadside stall may not look grand, but once you taste a bowl of Kyay Oh here, the chances are you’ll never want to dine at those big-name noodle houses again.
