Chef/Business Owner from Burma

Myo Thway literally rolled into my neighborhood, parked his “Burmese Bites” food truck in a corner of Court Square Park and came back every weekday. College students and construction workers lined up for his $7.00 chicken curry rice box, $6.00 coconut chicken noodle soup, or one of his $6.00 popular palata dishes.

But Myo never trained as a chef. He was studying mechanical engineering in a Burmese college when he decided to try to finish here, because jobs in Burma were scarce to nonexistent. (The country has been renamed Myanmar, but Myo calls it Burma.) “All the people from Burma go to other countries to work. My sister was here going to school full time and working full-time at a dry cleaning place. By the grace of God, I got a visa in one shot. Nobody does that! My sister had to try six times!”

Myo was 23 years old when he landed at JFK and moved in with his older sister and watched TV to learn to speak English. Accepted into City College to finish his degree, he worked numerous odd jobs selling hot dogs, ice cream and other food from carts before offering Burnese dishes to local church groups. Hugely successful, he then got a truck, launched “Burmese Bites,” and The New York Times recently declared it one of the best “cheap eats” in New York City.