Lahpet Thoke - Eating BURMESE TEA LEAF Salad on the Streets of Yangon, Myanmar

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Rating: 4.0; Vote: 1

One of the most beloved dishes in Myanmar is lahpet thoke, or pickled tea leaf salad. Read my full post here: The northern part of Myanmar is an area where tea originated - so its no wonder that tea plays a major part in the social culture of the country. But most of the time when you think about tea, you think of it only as a beverage, something to drink - and throughout most of the world, this is true. But in Myanmar, one of the most famous things to eat is actually tea, known as lahpet. Laphet thoke is a very common dish throughout Myanmar, and the base and most important ingredient are pickled tea leaves. The leaves are mixed with tomatoes, and a few different other ingredients like toasted peas and nuts, and then mixed with a dressing made from peanut oil and a few seasoning light spices. The salad is extremely delicious, and the pickled tea leaves have a unique, slightly bitter, and slightly sour component to them, with a nice chewy texture. Laphet thoke makes a wonderful snack when youre drinking tea too - so drinking tea and eating tea at the same time is delicious In Yangon youll be able to find laphet thoke, and its popular to eat at small street-side stands, but that being said, not all tea stalls serve it. You have to look for a stall that has a number of plastic tubs at the front, filled with all the ingredients used to prepare the tea leaf salad. If you see the plastic tubs, youll known they served lahpet thoke. Sit down on one of the miniature Myanmar plastic stools, order it, and you can sit and sip on tea while you wait for your salad to be mixed up. When we made this video, I was in Yangon during the monsoon rainy season. It wasnt raining when we sat down to eat, while I was eating, the rain all of a sudden started pouring down, and soon we had a small river flowing right through the street food stall - so we actually had to get up and stand so we wouldnt float away Thats part of the fun and excitement of eating street food in Myanmar. Along with the tea leaf salad, lahpet thoke, we also ordered a plate of gyin thoke, pickled ginger salad - another delicious salad especially if you love ginger. Thank you very much for watching this video
Date: 2019-08-19

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Comments and reviews: 10

ntrlbrnpnoi
hey mark, so i just wanted to say that i love traveling and i've never really done too many video journals of my travels but watching yours are just refreshing. your passion for traveling and just simply eating the foods and not being too picky with the foods just definitely shows in these videos. So, on to my question, Have you ever been deterred from visiting a country due to suspected civil unrest? I mean, as far as myanmar, it's been depicted in the media that it isn't exactly extremely safe to travel there. also, have you ever had any concerns for your safety in the countries/cities/areas you've visited? I am usually one to throw caution to the wind when I travel, so I just had to ask about your point of view on these things. thanks.
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may myat
You've to be careful when you're choosing a street food stall in Myanmar. Whenever I go back to Myanmar, if I ate at a street food stall, I would get diarrhea. So I think you've to choose stalls that looks clean, hahahahhaha. You've to visit the mountain areas. It's the best. Like taungyi and so on. Please do come Singapore
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Eileen Ikeda
Hi Mark My daughter got me hooked on our videos. anyway, my husband and I are going to be in Bangkok from Dec. 6-9 and would love to be able to meet up for an awesome meal. We have an excursion on the 9th but would be available for a meet up on either the 7th or 8th. Any chance? We would love it
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evogardens
Hey Ying & Mark, Sorry, but that food didn't really appeal to me. I can't stand Ginger; when I eat it I get a soapy taste in my mouth. Go figure Still, all that for 1. 00? Can't complain about the price. Thanks for sharing it with us. Jim.
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gruber schnickel
mark--i ask again. how did you get your Myanmar visa on your US passport? please advise on how you did it. would like to know. your UTUBE vids on Myanmar is one reason why i wish to visit that country. mahalo---don
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Locut0s
I miss the monsoon rains of the tropics. There it will rain more in an hour than it will here in 2 days straight but you rarely go a day without at least some sun. Unlike here where it can be overcast for 6 months or more.
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itzShu
Oooooo you've finally got a chance to taste lapat thoat. Yummy. I usually love eating the salad with lots of white rice: ) or you can of course eat it on its own but I prefer to incorporate rice Us Asians and rice lol
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Lynda Loh
Mark wiens if I ask you this question please go to my country the country name is singapore it a green country try the food it awesome taste aand your love it if you can it ok if you can go please come please: )
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NathaPushpa de Silva
many thx Mark. from Oz. i have a question for ya. when u visit burma, was it in a rainy season? whats the brand of your shoes n was it waterproof top n bottom pls? thx
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schchen2000
Mark, the ginger is still stuffed and kept in the original solution, i. e. vinegar, a bit of sugar, salt and some other stuff. The same solution to make ginger pickled.
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