Dive into a vibrant mix of small plates bursting with flavor at this contemporary spot, where lively decor meets a full bar and attentive service.
"Lahpet have been serving up the cuisine of Myanmar in east London for a few years now, and their Bethnal Green Road spot in particular is a great place for tasty food and casual hang with friends. With salad and noodle making kits available from their online store, you can create their great food at home. They’ve also got a range of pantry items for delivery or pickup. Order here." - oliver feldman, heidi lauth beasley, jake missing, rianne shlebak
"If you ever feel like you’ve been solely existing on a beige diet, enter the lahpet thohk from Burmese restaurant Lahpet, in Shoreditch. The salad is an irresistible mix of crunchy cabbage, crispy fried beans, tangy pickled tea leaves, sweet tomato, and super savoury dried shrimp. Throw in a heavy whack of garlic and chilli, and any cobwebs will be well and truly blown away." - Heidi Lauth Beasley, Daisy Meager, Sinead Cranna, Jake Oliver
"A familiar ‘former food stall turned bricks and mortar’ story, Lahpet does decent modern Burmese food for the east London faithful. It’s mostly curries on offer here, but they differ in texture and ingredients. The lentil and mushroom one, in particular, is very tasty, and the shrimp paste dumplings to start are decent. It’s a casual restaurant for a casual hang." - Jake Oliver, Rianne Shlebak
"Mohinga was in the news for all the wrong reasons this year, mainly because someone thought they could do a chicken mohinga — an idea that makes as much sense as beef bouillabaisse or mince on toast with beans instead of mince. The real thing — a catfish broth as thick as chowder, with rice noodles, boiled egg and split pea fritters — is one of the best things on the menu at Lahpet. Chilli oil status: Fine, but please don’t call it something else and say it’s progress." - Jonathan Nunn
"Founders Dan Anton and Zaw Mahesh serve thoroughly modern takes on Burmese cuisine in their restaurant on Bethnal Green Road, with another in Covent Garden. Head chef Mahesh, born in Kalaw in Burma, and raised in nearby Mogok, will take a traditional Burmese dessert like mont lone yay paw (similar to the Malaysian onde-onde) and stuff it with balachaung to transform it into a savoury snack. It’s intelligent and thoughtful innovation which displays the same kind of ingenuity which gave the world now-classic Burmese dishes such as samosa salad of which chef and food writer Madhur Jaffrey is a fan. Classics are also well-executed at Lahpet — its mohinga, Burma’s national dish of fish broth and rice vermicelli heaped with crispy split-pea fritters, roast chilli and coriander, is a treat, as is the signature dish of lahpet thohk which turns umami-packed tea leaves into a unique textural salad. The pone yay gyi salad is another must-order, made using a home-fermented black bean paste that could be deemed Burmese miso." - MiMi Aye
