Thidar Kyaw

The Climb

A kitchen role can be a test of command as much as technique, and Thidar Kyaw’s work at Little Myanmar in East Village, Manhattan, New York City (from 2022) shows both. Before that, she had already taken on the same responsibility as main chef of Yun Cafe (since 2020), building a steady operating rhythm across two New York addresses. At Lotters Wirtschaft - Tausendgüldenstube, she now serves as executive chef, with a career marked by movement, continuity, and the ability to keep a cuisine legible in different settings.

Today

Kyaw is executive chef at Lotters Wirtschaft - Tausendgüldenstube in Aue-Bad Schlema, Germany, and main chef at Little Myanmar in New York, USA. The pairing gives her work a clear transatlantic shape: two posts, two markets, and the same disciplined approach to carrying a Burmese point of view into each room.

Signature

Thidar's signature dishes include lan thaye mote, mohinga, and laphet thoke. Read together, they place her squarely in Burmese cooking, where flavor is tied to memory, texture, and balance. The dishes signal a kitchen vocabulary that is specific, recognizable, and grounded in the food she has chosen to carry forward.

In Their Words “According to chef-owner Thidar Kyaw, [the Burmese pancake] is otherwise known as a gangster dosa or gangster snack because of the milieu in which it’s eaten (often for breakfast).” “Most people don’t know where my country is on the map, and they most likely have never tried authentic Burmese food either.” Taken together, the quotes show a chef who frames dishes with plainspoken context. The point is not embellishment; it is legibility. That matters when Burmese food is being introduced to diners who may not know the cuisine, the dish names, or the cultural setting behind them.

Recognition

Thidar's honors include Michelin Bib Gourmand. In trade terms, that recognition reads as confirmation of consistency: a kitchen standard maintained over time, and a distinct cooking voice made visible through steady work.