Top Restaurants in Nyaungshwe
Top 10 restaurants in Nyaungshwe, Myanmar
Discover the best restaurant in Nyaungshwe, Myanmar including The Shan Restaurant, Inle Pancake Kingdom, Lotus Restaurant, Sin Yaw Restaurant, The French Touch, Thanakha Garden, Live Dim Sum House, Bamboo Hut, Lucky Star Restaurant, Inle Heart View Restaurant
Things to do in Nyaungshwe
1. The Shan Restaurant
Overall Ratings
4 based on 308 reviews
"The Shan Restaurant" by ViewPoint Lodge is the best local restaurant in Myanmar according to the Routard Guide and Lonely Planet Travel Guide books. At "The Shan", you can dine while enjoying an amazing view of the canal, rice paddies and the highest Mountains in the Inle region. The food and service are equal to the beautiful and exotic surroundings. "The Shan" restaurant includes a full-service bar with a wide selection of the finest wines from France, Italy and, of course, Myanmar. Yes, Myanmar!
Reviewed By eatgosee - Dubai, United Arab Emirates
This is a difficult review and I've thought about it especially because the other reviews are glowing. I struggle a little with Shan food but this restaurant is making elementary errors. Overall: the kitchen is trying to hard to please.
Let's start with the menu: it's vast. Many pages of what was later explained to us was each a tasting menu. I admire the passion to show variety (at different price points) but if you have a tasting menu then usually you're trying to (1) show off the best of the kitchen or (2) showcase a cuisine's breadth. You only need 1 tasting menu to achieve this - not 4 or 5. In here lies the problem, the kitchen needs to commit to its vision and move on (accommodating for seasonality or availability). I trust you will tell me the diner what in need to know about your skill and your story. Uncertainty continues through to the starters which were a lacklustre start. A long boat arrives with several options with what turned out to be some try hard options including a pumpkin dumpling that for some reason is stuffed with nothing discernibly positive. Its tamarind sauce comes to the rescue and punches this morsel into a pass. The stuffed chicken wing is cold (unclear if this is intentional) and flat. It takes experience, skill and confidence to debone and stuff a chicken wing. The execution rendered the exercise pointless - just cook a chicken wing another way. This is another example where the kitchen wanted to excite but fell short. A mini-stick of what I think was chicken was so tough I hesitated to chew it. Lastly, some dried fish (like anchovies) are definitely an acquired taste on a nest of something we were not clear whether we should eat - so we didn't.
At this point, the rest of the meal was looking more like a threat. But some dishes did really turn the experience around. The highlight of the meal was the green tomato salad with its fresh vibrant slightly tart rush followed by warming peanut for additional texture and earthiness. The tomatoes look blanched which was a smart touch. Amazing, all that effort for a chicken wing and some sliced tomatoes are the meal's hero. Next the butterfish in tomato sauce is a triumph. The fish is well cooked and the sauce brings depth, we left nothing of this behind. The soups are different and very good - one bean and hearty, the other a bright broth spicy and moorish. The chicken curry and the beef curry were OK but I've had stronger executions in road side cafes on this trip. The beef needed more cooking as it was a bit too tough and could be improved by slower longer cooking. The other dishes of asparagus and beans add nothing and could be omitted all together. Last place goes to the chicken in herbs wrapped in banana leaf. It's truly an achievement to cook meat in a parcel (a technique adopted to retain moisture) where the result is brick dry and crumbling.
The desserts are uninspired. Pumpkin custard is misdescribed. It's closer to a cheesecake but not worth the calories. The plate decor is from the 1970s. The desserts were made by people who don't like desserts - mind you - it could be that there is not a strong dessert culture in Shan food. I do not remember any dessert worth ordering during our entire stay in Nyuang Shwe.
We drank the late harvest Sav Blanc Myanmar wine which is OK. My impression of Myanmar wine is that it's better than you fear but not quite as good as you would hope. The rose on the menu is better however.
Overall the kitchen is trying too hard. It needs to cut the menu in half or to a third and focus on doing a few things very well - the star dishes are clouded and dulled by lesser entries.
There's a lot of local restaurants in this town at considerably cheaper prices also offering local food. If you're asking people to pay a lot more money (albeit in a vastly superior setting to a roadside cafe) then what are you offering them other than many so-so dishes on a wooden long boat?
The owners need to sit down with the chef and revisit the purpose of the restaurant in my view. If I was not staying at the hotel, I would not have gone to the restaurant. If you are not staying at the hotel, I would encourage you to investigate other options - of which there are many.
The best features: service is attentive and very pleasant. The view (particularly the river facing view) is great at night to watch a village come alive complete with a well lit bridge over the river where fishermen swim and kids play with dogs at night. Charming.
2. Inle Pancake Kingdom
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 235 reviews
Reviewed By Nunofpss - Faro, Portugal
Lovelly quiet place! Friendly staff! Wonderfull pankakes in a not busy street! Try it. All fruits are natural and tasty!
3. Lotus Restaurant
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 139 reviews
Reviewed By paulboop - Bangkok
In Myanmar every time we go to Inle we always eat at Lotus Restaurant located on Museum road ( Haw street) near the Paradise hotel. This Myanmar – French fusion restaurant offers delicious avocado salad, orange stuffed chicken (poulet à orange) , yellow squash soup, curry tofu , éscalope de porc grillé au mozzarella , eggplant coriander salad, marinated BBQ chicken , etc . etc.
4. Sin Yaw Restaurant
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 627 reviews
Reviewed By Inessa R
This review is my thank you to the staff - so welcoming and caring! They made sure I am happy with the food, brought some spray to protect from mosquitos, were fast, polite, efficient and positive. The food is good, the prices are very reasonable. Great place for dinner!
5. The French Touch
Overall Ratings
4 based on 790 reviews
Welcome to every body, our restaurant make wonderful fusion food and wonderful Pizza Noodles salads, and Deserts! our bakery will surprise you for sure! Our coffee list include Illy coffee and many more wonderful imported coffee and local! Wonderful home made Ice cream with imported Ice cream machine! Wonderful chocolate cakes! Our restaurant is wonderfully decorate with veranda and inside garden! We have Myanmar billiard and baby foot, relaxing room for people who need a rest, we have games and books to read! Internet is on of the best in Shan State and free! every night at 7:30 we show our movie, a fiction, made by our boss Yannick, it is a wonderful story about a monk (1h17mn) this movie was selected at Montreal festival! very well done and will explain you a lot about monks life! free movie! We have as well a photo exhibition by Yannick exposed in Paris! Our restaurant want you to be happy if any real problem we will give you new meal for free! The best place to go to relax
Reviewed By BadHomburgTraveller - Bad Homburg
The French Touch is a very well run restaurant with a big choice of different coffee brands which are very well prepared and nicely served. We had only a little snack but this was really good and also very decoratively arranged and served.
The chairs outside are very comfortable, the music was good and we had a very relaxing time with a cat sitting on my legs.
6. Thanakha Garden
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 566 reviews
7. Live Dim Sum House
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 648 reviews
Modern Authentic Chinese Restaurant with Variety Of Dim Sum Options and open 12pm to 9pm,close on every 10th and 20th of a month.
Reviewed By LaraMark - West Sussex
We loved this, would recommend the salt and chilly squid for starters and some of the dim sum. We also had to try the Expresso Martini’s which were on the menu and they were superb too! Highly recommend this place but they do close on 10th and 20th of each month.
8. Bamboo Hut
Overall Ratings
5 based on 362 reviews
Reviewed By mdp14 - Singapore
We loved Bamboo Hut and had a great meal there, both for vegetarians and non-vegetarians. The staff speaks good English and the prices are very reasonable.
9. Lucky Star Restaurant
Overall Ratings
5 based on 158 reviews
Reviewed By Cashorcredit - Ottawa, Canada
Based on other reviews we ordered the banana flower salad, chicken and fish in banana leaf, and the yogurt with honey for dessert. Everything was so fresh and the flavours were rich - stunning really!
Some of the best tasting food I have ever eaten, do not miss this restaurant!
Prices were very reasonable, especially for the quality, and the service was friendly. The owner/chef checked to make sure everything was good, and when we raved about the food she seemed grateful yet humble, but I see from the online reviews that she must get this type of feedback all the time...
10. Inle Heart View Restaurant
Overall Ratings
5 based on 205 reviews
Reviewed By SWNH - Meredith, New Hampshire
We are rarely disappointed eating at #1 rated Trip Advisor restaurants and we weren't this time either. We decided to take a tuk tuk from our hotel (about $10 USD r/t) and it was worth every penny. The view, even at night, was stunning, the food excellent, the portions generous and the owner and his family delightful. If you are visiting Inle Lake, then don't miss Inle Heart View.
