• Burmese
Thursday, June 12, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
29 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home Lifestyle Food

Japanese Fare with Flair at Gekko in Rangoon

Kyaw Phyo Tha by Kyaw Phyo Tha
May 26, 2015
in Food
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0 0
A A
Japanese Fare with Flair at Gekko in Rangoon

Sous chef Aung Myo Oo at work in the Gekko Kitchen. (Photo: JPaing / the Irrawaddy)|Gekko in downtown Rangoon serves up fresh Japanese fare. (Photo: JPaing / the Irrawaddy)|Gekko in downtown Rangoon serves up fresh Japanese fare. (Photo: JPaing / the Irrawaddy)|Gekko in downtown Rangoon serves up fresh Japanese fare. (Photo: JPaing / the Irrawaddy)|Gekko in downtown Rangoon serves up fresh Japanese fare. (Photo: JPaing / the Irrawaddy)|Gekko in downtown Rangoon serves up fresh Japanese fare. (Photo: JPaing / the Irrawaddy)

3.9k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

RANGOON — The kitchen was bustling at this Japanese-inspired bar and restaurant in a beautifully refurbished building in downtown Rangoon. Growling stomachs streamed into to the dining area of Gekko around lunch time as Aung Myo Oo laid a few bright cherry tomatoes beside a chunk of lightly fried fish, a slightly modified version of a traditional Japanese recipe.

“This is one of our signature dishes,” said the 45-year-old sous chef, showing off a plate of Hichibachi salmon, a well-sauced pan-fried fish with a small serving of wasabi risotto prepared with rice sourced from the land of the rising sun.

Behind him, another chef fried two chunks of salmon imported from Norway, getting ready for the next order. Another manned a charcoal yakitori (a Japanese skewer grill), as helpers shuttled between the main and back kitchen. Dishes were queuing up, waiting for the final touches from Aung Myo Oo.

RelatedPosts

Renowned Myanmar language teacher John Okell is still inspiring students, five decades on.

Love of the Lingo

August 5, 2020
10.2k
--

‘Secret Garden’ in Wa Special Region Leaves Much to the Imagination

February 27, 2020
8.5k
This Week in Parliament (August 8-12)

This Week in Parliament (August 8-12)

August 13, 2016
3.8k

“Gekko is my second home. You can find me here six days a week, from 1pm to 11pm, apart from Sundays,” he said after the last customer left and his hectic hours cooled down for a while. His professional devotion seems to have paid off. The 14-month-old restaurant was recently ranked the third best of Rangoon’s 312 eateries by Trip Advisor, which granted it a certificate of excellence just last week.

“I feel really happy about it,” said the accomplished cook, who has 18 years of Japanese culinary experience in both local and international hotels. His resume includes such establishments as the Shangri-La in Dubai. He now oversees all 15 members of Gekko’s kitchen staff.

The most thrilling thing for him is the fact that, according to manager Zay Yar Aung—unlike many other new restaurants in town—Gekko is managed by Burmese. As Zay Yar Aung put it: “We are Burmese with international experience, who are now running an establishment founded by a foreigner. I told the founder, ‘Just give us the support we need, and we’ll take care of the rest.’”

With a proud smile, Aung Myo Oo added, “Now we have proven we could make it.”

A Rangoon native with a lifelong interest in cooking, Aung Myo Oo joined the kitchen crew of a Japanese-run restaurant in his mid-20s after graduating from Rangoon University as a history major.

“On my first day in the kitchen,” he recalled, “I was asked by the Japanese chef to wash the dishes.”

But his enthusiasm earned the chef’s trust, and he eventually took Aung Myo Oo under his wing, teaching him to prepare Japanese food and master basic kitchen skills that later enabled him to join international hotel chains at home and abroad. After an eight-year stint in Dubai hotel restaurants, Aung Myo Oo joined Gekko as a sous chef.

“Even though we have a Japanese-inspired menu here, we don’t just stick to the Japanese food because we have very diverse customer base, and we want to satisfy them,” he explained, showing off a menu that ranges from Japanese ramen to Korean fried chicken and fresh Vietnamese starters. With the Japanese items, he doesn’t stray too far from the original recipes, but tries to add a bit of flair to the combinations, as with the Hichibachi salmon.

“Originally, all you have to do is grill the fish and enjoy it with a few splashes of lime and sauce,” he said, “but here I add the risotto as a touch of western flavor, but with Japanese rice.”

His advice for aspiring chefs? “Learn your trade and master the basics.”

Myint Zin, one Gekko’s line cooks, said he still remembers his first day at work with Aung Myo Oo, about 14 years ago when they both worked in the kitchen at Rangoon’s Traders Hotel, now known as the Sule Shangri-La.

“He was both a chef de partie and my trainer,” Myint Zin recalled. “The first task he gave me was to clean a rice cooker. I have to admit, while he is a good-natured man, he has no tolerance for doing a job wrong.”

His brand of perfectionism and diligence is clear in every dish he makes, according to manager Zay Yar Aung, who said his star chef “has confidence in every dish he works on.”

Asked about Gekko’s recent honor from Trip Advisor, Zay Yar Aung said the team wasn’t fishing for compliments.

“We just fulfill our customers’ needs by paying attention to every detail. The rank is just the result of the work we all have done,” he said.

Your Thoughts …
Tags: A_Factiva
Kyaw Phyo Tha

Kyaw Phyo Tha

The Irrawaddy

Similar Picks:

Inspiring Women of Burma  
Burma

Inspiring Women of Burma  

by The Irrawaddy
March 18, 2016
33.5k

The contributions of some of Burma’s leading female figures are highlighted in the final part of a series that ran...

Read moreDetails
Australian-Karen Actress: ‘I Hope Karen People Will Have the Right to Self-Determination’
Asia

Australian-Karen Actress: ‘I Hope Karen People Will Have the Right to Self-Determination’

by Saw Yan Naing
January 18, 2016
13.7k

Tasneem Roc, an Australian actress who also has ethnic Karen roots, speaks with The Irrawaddy about her career and her...

Read moreDetails
Burma’s Media Landscape Through the Years
Burma

Burma’s Media Landscape Through the Years

by The Irrawaddy
May 4, 2016
13.5k

In the wake of World Press Freedom Day, celebrated on Tuesday, The Irrawaddy revisits a history of Burmese media stretching...

Read moreDetails
Burmese Director Explores Same-Sex Relationships in New Film
Burma

Burmese Director Explores Same-Sex Relationships in New Film

by Yu Mon Kyaw
January 28, 2016
8.2k

Entitled ‘Gemini,’ Nyo Min Lwin’s film about romance between two men explores ground seldom trod in Burma’s movie industry.

Read moreDetails
Lucky Numbers in the Quest for Peace
Commentary

Lucky Numbers in the Quest for Peace

by Nyein Nyein
September 10, 2015
8.7k

Burmese generals’ edicts have often been intimately tied to numerology and astrology. Is the peace process similarly tied to superstitious...

Read moreDetails
Chief Ministers of Arakan
Burma

Chief Ministers of Arakan, Karen States Resign to Join USDP

by Kyaw Phyo Tha
August 26, 2015
2k

The chief ministers of two states resign to contest Burma’s upcoming general election, set for Nov. 8, representing the ruling...

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Over Three Weeks

Over Three Weeks, Fighting ‘Almost Daily’ in Kachin State: KIA

Singapore's Foreign Maids Exploited by Agents

Singapore's Foreign Maids Exploited by Agents, Employers

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

The Hidden Fallout From China’s Cross-Border Crime Crackdown in Myanmar

The Hidden Fallout From China’s Cross-Border Crime Crackdown in Myanmar

3 days ago
1.3k
Myanmar Junta Appoints Veteran Adviser as Central Bank Director

Myanmar Junta Appoints Veteran Adviser as Central Bank Director

1 week ago
2.3k

Most Read

  • Civilians in Need as Arakan Army Advances on Kyaukphyu

    Civilians in Need as Arakan Army Advances on Kyaukphyu

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Reinforces Kyaukphyu as AA Nears China-Backed SEZ Hub

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Chameleon Crony: How Myanmar’s ‘Baby’ Tycoon Thrived Across Four Eras

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • How the Myanmar Military’s Propaganda Efforts Have Evolved Over the Decades

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Fighter Jet Shot Down in Sagaing Battle: PLA

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.