Burmese restaurant coming to Covent Garden

Dan Anton and Zaw Mahesh are bringing their Bumese restaurant brand Lahpet to Covent Garden in February, building on the popularity of their existing Shoreditch venue. 

Lahpet West End will serve regional specialities and dishes inspired by street food found in the cities of Myanmar. Lahpet, which means 'tea' in Burmese, serves cuisine heavily influenced by the nation's many ethnic groups and regions, including Kachin, Shan and Chin, all of which have their own distinctive flavours and cooking methods, but also notably accented by bordering countries such as Thailand, China and India. 

The menu has been developed by Burmese-born Mahesh, who, using a large robata grill will serve a wide range of grilled dishes, meat and vegetable skewers (Akin), plus a new selection of traditional Burmese dishes and unique takes on street food. New dishes include roasted pork belly and bamboo shoots (Wet thar myit chin), made with shallot, fermented soya bean paste, garlic and chilli; rakhine fish noodle soup (rakhine monti), a spicy and sour soup with fermented fish paste, chilli, tamarind and black pepper; and shan fish and rice (Shan htamin), a popular Shan state street food dish with jasmine rice, sea bream, potato, tomato, fried garlic and shallots, peanuts and chives.

In terms of signature dishes, the venue will serve coconut noodles with chicken (Ohn-no kauk swé), a rich coconut broth with egg noodles, shallots, spring onion, paprika oil, egg, crispy wonton and coriander; and tea leaf salad (Lahpet thohk), a national delicacy made with pickled tea 'lahpet', then combined with cabbage, tomato, dried shrimps, raw garlic, chilli and a mixture of double-fried beans and seeds. 

The venue will offer 100 covers over two floors, also housing a large heated terrace on the first floor, seating 50 guests, and a small front courtyard that seats 20. 

On the opening, the founders comment: "We're thrilled to be opening our second restaurant in the heart of the West End, it's a fantastic site with huge potential. We can't wait to get the doors open and have the opportunity to introduce more of the varied and vibrant food of Myanmar to London."

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