This vibrant eatery brings Burma to Hyderabad with special Thingyan food and drink

Spring calls for new beginnings, marking the new year in a host of communities across the globe. Be it the Thai Songkran festival or Ugadi closer to home, it is heartening to witness every culture’s unique practices interwoven into celebratory food, floral arrangements and merriment.

Check out this Thingyan menu in Hyderabad

This week, we got to witness one such new year celebration that gave us a glimpse into a new culture. Burma Burma has kicked off celebrations for Thingyan — the Burmese harvest festival and new year at their vibrant space.Walking in, we were greeted by warm hosts whose faces were adorned with intricate designs made with thanaka, traditional hand-ground sandalwood paste — a custom practised in Burma during Thingyan believed to have cooling properties.

Akin to Holi in India, the new year is celebrated with family and friends playfully splashing scented water on each other. More formally, the water is applied to one’s palms. Once seated, silver bowls filled with sandalwood-scented water were brought in. With betel leaves, our palms were gently washed with the water, signifying the welcome.

As the pleasant fragrance lingered, we walked around our table to find the Hawker’s noodle basket with a range of noodles, condiments, and sauces. Made with a mix of noodles, chopped onion, tomato, and lemon tossed in chilli oil, turmeric oil and other condiments, the Hawker style noodles topped with coriander, reminded us of a similar Indian counterpart — the Bhel puri with a host of tangy, fresh flavours rendered by the chopped greens and herbs.

Munching on the snack, we awaited the Thingyan tiffin meal. Soon, a multi-tiered tiffin was brought in, featuring everything from salad to dessert. We dug into the delicious Hand-tossed broad beans with a fried Tofu sandwich first, followed by the supremely flavour-rich Mock meatball curry served with Palata. The tiffin had a rice-based option as well — Jasmine rice with white pea and spicy soybean curry that spelt comfort in a bowl.

The highlight of the meal, however, was the dessert box, with an assortment of desserts, each better than the last. We started with the Sago delight — a two-layered sweet featuring a coconut custard on top, while the bottom had a sweet tapioca pudding. We bit into the translucent coconut flavoured Tropical jelly to get to the yellow part of the dessert — slices of sweet, ripe mango that bounced off the jelly and cemented the celebratory atmosphere.

In light of the recent earthquake that ravaged the country of Myanmar, the eatery has endeavoured to donate part of the sale proceeds from the promotion to the UN World Food Programme.

On till 11 May.

`1,800++ for two.

At Madhapur.