Yangon restaurateur takes on haters with great rant about class, criticism and cuisine in modern Myanmar

Public introspection must be in the air. Last month, a young journalist wrote a much-applauded response to President Thein Sein’s top economic adviser that illuminated some of the divisions within modern Myanmar. The back-and-forth went on. And on.

Now, an emotional online rant by a top Yangon restaurateur touches on class stereotyping, the cynicism dished out by his critics and the quest to make good food in his native country.

Htet Myet Oo, who was educated in the UK and opened upmarket Rangoon Tea House late last year, posted the public Facebook post on Monday. It’s not clear what prompted the outpouring but by the sound of it he’s sick of people complaining about the price of his mohingya ($5), which costs far less on the street.

UPDATE: Htet Myet Oo told Coconuts Yangon in a message: “It was not one thing but an issue that had been on my mind ever since I had moved to Yangon… There was one particular person who a few months ago had accused me of being an “Elitist” for example.”

The restaurant charges well above market average for their food, a creative take on traditional Myanmar tea shop fare. But the classics are given a slick makeover and served up in a renovated, air-conditioned colonial building.

“If I had wanted solely to make money, I’d be making pasta out of a jar, not sourcing 14 ingredients for a mohingya that after labour, utilities etc makes me no money,” writes Htet Myet Oo. “Making food laced with unsafe water, food colouring, artificial sugar, plastic and tissue is what ‘represents’ Burmese people?”

It could be that the restaurateur, whose father left Myanmar to work as a cardiologist in the UK, has taken some flack for coming back to the country as a ‘repat’.

“I’d like if everyone in Yangon was not put in a box,” he writes. “The poor local, the elite local, the NGO expat, the repat… Every term seems to carry with it these ridiculous social expectations and negative connotations… Even if you work hard, stay out of harms [sic] way, you can be ostracised based on your social background or a facebook post. What a joke. Because yes, you should be judged on whether your father was a farmer, a doctor or because I posted a photo of a restaurant you don’t like?”

Then there’s the online abuse.

“I’ve noticed an increasingly high number of individuals who take offence to everything and everybody,” he writes.” “People who sit on Facebook the entire day looking for issues they can attack.”

The comments on his own post have been supportive. Thame Deavy Thaw invokes the wisdom of pop starlet Taylor Swift, writing: “Dude, your restaurant rocks. And to quote Swift, ‘people throw rocks at things that shine.’”

As Yangon rants go, this is up there with the best. You can take a look here.

Photo: Coconuts Yangon

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