Road to Myanmar shares love for Southeast Asian food in Chapel Hill
Three friends who met half a world away from home in a Durham market are pouring their dreams and their passion for food into what may be only the second Burmese restaurant in North Carolina.
Road to Myanmar Asian Cuisine opened Aug. 26 at 147 E. Franklin St., just steps from UNC’s campus in Chapel Hill. It’s the perfect location, co-owner Htarsu Nyane said, because they were looking for a place with a lot of foot traffic.
Nyane, 41, and co-owners Naw Mee and Phuu Nyan arrived in the United States from Myanmar (formerly Burma) at different times and for different reasons, but they share a love of food and their native cultures.
Nyane was 22 when her father sent her from Yangon to Singapore to study tourism management during protests against Myanmar’s military regime. After her return, she ran a beauty spa for 10 years, until the volatile political situation forced her to emigrate to the United States with her children.
Nyane met Nyan and Mee through Mee’s now-closed Aung Asian Super Market in Durham. Mee, an ethnic Karen, ran a restaurant in Malaysia for 10 years before she persuaded her husband to move to the United States to give their children a better education, she said.
Nyan, 26, was a customer who left business cards on the counter for her residential real estate service. The native of Mogok, a ruby-mining hub in Myanmar’s mountains, took a risk on her dream of owning a restaurant when Mee called about finding a space.
The business came together in about three months, they said.
“We pretty much spent everything for our dream. This is her dream, my dream, and her dream,” Nyan said, blinking back tears as she noted Nyane and Mee beside her.
Food brings together people and countries
Chapel Hill and Carrboro are home to over 1,000 Karen and Burmese refugees who have resettled in the United States since 2005.
The community has built a Buddhist temple on N.C. 54 west of Carrboro, and many immigrant residents and their families grow produce, some of which is sold at local farmers markets, at the Transplanting Traditions Community Farm off Jones Ferry Road.
Burmese food developed its flavor in the melting pot of Southeast Asia, where native ingredients are influenced by spices and techniques from China, India and Thailand, among smaller neighbors.
Burmese recipes are sour, sweet, salty, savory and bitter, from noodle salads and curries to dried and fresh fish, fresh vegetables and fruits, and fermented meats and vegetables.
Ohn No Khao Swe, a curried coconut noodle soup with chicken, is probably the country’s most famous dish, Nyane said. She also recommended Kyay Oh Soup, pork served with vermicelli noodles, and Tealeaf Salad, or Lahpet Thoke.
Lahpet is normally served to guests as a snack, but has an older tradition as a peace offering between warring kings and queens.
It gives everyone the opportunity to have it their way, Nyan said, because each ingredient arrives in a separate compartment in a covered dish. Ingredients can include pickled tea leaves, roasted peanuts, garlic, tomato, cabbage, and dried shrimp.
Road to Myanmar also has a small breakfast menu, a limited option on Franklin Street but a social event in Myanmar, with people gathering at the tea house to talk and watch football, or soccer, she said. Along with Burmese tea, they serve Chinese donut sticks, samosas, and paratha flatbread with curry.
They miss those dishes from home, and they want to share them with others, so they can learn about Myanmar and its culture — not just the fighting, they said. A few customers already shared how much it means to them to also have a reminder of home, Nyan said.
“This is something that brings me joy, and I want to do the same thing for others,” she said. “Every time I go to New York and California, they have Burmese restaurants, but in North Carolina, we don’t have it yet, and we have a big population, and everyone is craving it.”
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This story was originally published September 4, 2025 at 10:10 AM.
