Today in Myanmar

One of our visitors to our site asked whether it is easy to find a Muslim Halal food stall or restaurant in Myanmar. Although Myanmar is not a Muslim majority country, it is a multi cultural, multi religious country. Thus it is fairly easy, especially in large cities and towns, to find a Muslim Halal restaurant or food stall that caters not only the Muslim population, but also caters for the local non-Muslim population. Actually, contrary to outsiders’ believe, Muslim food is quite popular among the local Burmese people.

Most of the shops that sell Muslim Halal food are small to medium size restaurants or food stalls. There are a few Muslim Halal restaurants that serve Chinese food, but they are not very popular, and only a few can be found even in a large city like Yangon (Rangoon). Most of the time, it is shops that serve traditional Indian and Muslim food that are popular among the local people. These small restaurants and food stalls serve traditional Indian and Muslim food such as nan, roti, prata, puri, dosai, mutton curry, potato curry, beef curry and kabab. These food are quite popular among local Muslim population as well as non Muslim Burmese. All cities and most large towns in Myanmar have Muslim food shops and restaurants.

Muslim Halal restaurants and food stalls in Myanmar usually do not put the regular Arabic Halal sign, except those few high end restaurants that serve foreign visitors. Most of the time, they just write down “786” on their sign board. This is “786“ symbol is used as a substitute for Bismillah “In the name of Allah” or “In the name of God”. This is a traditional sign used in South Asia, mainly in Pakistan, India, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

In large cities, like Yangon (Rangoon) and Mandalay, you can find Muslim Halal shops everywhere. In smaller cities and towns, it might be a little difficult to find one. However, if you could find a mosque, you will be able to find some Muslim Halal food stalls and small restaurants nearby. Just look for a mosque in any town. They are similar to the traditional Arabic style mosques everywhere in the world. Ask your taxi driver or trishaw driver to bring you to “Ba-li“.

Muslin Halal shops will usually write the letter “786″ in Myanmar numeral. It looks like this.

786 Muslim Halal food restaurant in Myanmar

We hope this information will be useful to all those Muslim visitors coming to our country.