Suu Khin is able to put Burmese meals on the map in Houston.
Suu Khin grew up in her grandmother’s kitchen and backyard. It was her duty each morning to fetch and acquire all of the recent herbs and greens wanted for the day. When she got here again inside, she assumed the duty of washing and chopping.
“I used to be my mother and grandmother’s private meals processor,” Khin says. “I’d pound all the pieces in a mortar and pestle.”
In Burma, additionally identified formally as Myanmar, this was a social norm. On the time, Khin knew she was anticipated to develop into a superb cook dinner within the kitchen so she may serve males correctly, however that didn’t sit proper along with her. The considered cooking stuffed her with aversion fairly than affection.
That every one modified when she moved to the US for grad faculty. At 23, Khin packed up her issues and made the trek to Massachusetts. Due to the chilly climate, she was typically cooped up inside, which gave her waves of homesickness.
This led her to show to meals once more. She started to seek out consolation in her dorm’s small kitchen, whipping up easy dishes like hen in a potato curry. Slowly however absolutely, what used to really feel like a dreadful chore was a prideful, joyful alternative for Khin. Through the three years she spent in Massachusetts—two spent getting her Grasp of Enterprise Administration and one yr of labor—she started to host events, cooking for others, and sharing her tradition. It’s truly how she met her now-husband.
She determined to maneuver again dwelling to Burma to work at her dad’s regulation agency, however life had different plans for her. As an alternative of going again to her mother and father’ home, she settled in along with her grandma, who was 95 years outdated on the time. Throughout every cooking session, her grandma taught her new suggestions and methods, whereas additionally sharing tales from her childhood that correlated to the components getting used.
“She would at all times have these unbelievable compelling tales. I began seeing meals in an entire completely different, constructive mild, not simply as a plate of meals,” Khin says.
Given her grandma’s outdated age, it quickly hit Khin arduous that she wouldn’t have her beloved member of the family round perpetually, and he or she wished nothing greater than for these tales and reminiscences to dwell on. So, Khin began to place all of it in writing. In 2015, she got here up along with her Instagram deal with, Burmalicious.
“That was simply merely to protect my grandmother’s recipes, and the tales related to it,” Khin says.
After 4 years of residing along with her grandma, Khin bought married and moved again to America in 2018. She jokes that her husband did an unbelievable job at hyping up Houston as a various meals metropolis, and fortunately, he was proper. However she seen one factor was lacking: Burmese meals.
She wished to shut that hole and put Burmese meals on the map in Houston. She slowly transitioned her Burmalicious Instagram account from a preservation area to a medium the place she may promote and demystify Burmese delicacies for a Houston viewers. Through the Tremendous Bowl, for instance, Khin would publish a dish that possibly she, as a Burmese cook dinner, would carry to a watch get together.
The ohn-no khao-swè, is a hen and coconut noodle soup.
Her account drew consideration from the casting division of Grasp Chef. Khin notes that to audition for the present, there are three necessities: The person have to be 18, don’t have any skilled kitchen expertise, and be both a US resident or citizen. On the time, Khin had solely been again in America for a yr, and was nonetheless engaged on getting her inexperienced card.
Khin relayed this to the casting division, however was advised she had time to determine issues out earlier than the workforce traveled to Houston for the open casting name. Miraculously, two weeks earlier than the audition, Khin’s inexperienced card got here within the mail. The present was filmed in 2020, however due to COVID-19, it didn’t air till the summer time of 2021.
Khin made all of it the best way to the finale as a runner-up, gaining confidence in her cooking whereas making a platform for Burmese delicacies. Her Instagram’s following exploded in a single day. This proved to her that individuals have been prepared to just accept her tradition’s meals.
After the season aired, Khin went on a tour with Grasp Chef to 35 cities, the place she bought to cook dinner in entrance of a whole lot of individuals. However when she got here again to Houston in early 2022, she felt misplaced and started to undergo from imposter syndrome. With greater than 100,000 followers underneath her belt, she started to ask herself, “Do I develop into an influencer? Ought to I’m going again to culinary faculty? Or ought to I simply open a Burmese restaurant?”
Her reply got here when she judged the Gold Buckle Foodie Awards on the Houston Livestock Present and Rodeo in February 2022. She was at a desk with well-known Houston cooks like Aaron Bludorn and Evelyn Garcia. They saved addressing her as “chef” and asking her about subsequent steps, which bought her wheels turning. The sense of neighborhood and the kindness she was confirmed made her understand that she wished nothing greater than to really feel as if she earned the title of chef.
“I advised myself, neglect about being an influencer [or] a content material creator, I’m not going to be something, however simply be a chef,” she says.
So she started working. In July 2022, she hosted her first pop-up tasting menu dinner at Tenfold Espresso. It got here with a fair proportion of challenges. For starters, the espresso store has no kitchen, so cooks who host pop-ups there must construct their very own makeshift kitchen within the car parking zone.
Khin nonetheless pushed by way of and did her finest to attach with the neighborhood. Khin made it a degree to memorize each attendee’s title and provides them the total story about every dish and its connection to Burmese tradition.
The laphet, a pickled tea-leaf salad, is likely one of the classics Khin gives.
Khin slowly realized the tasting menu was limiting, as a result of there was no room to accommodate completely different dietary restrictions. So, final summer time, Khin started working on an à la carte menu. She showcases traditional Burmese meals by way of choices like laphet, a pickled tea-leaf salad; ohn-no khao-swè, a hen and coconut noodle soup; and mohinga, a lemongrass and catfish stew with noodles.
She additionally typically nods to Houston’s meals scene, incorporating different cultural influences in her dishes. Her duck puff, for instance, takes inspiration from town’s massive Vietnamese inhabitants through the use of duck liver pâté, paired with caramelized onions and mango sriracha.
Since starting the à la carte menu, Khin has held pop-ups at a number of Houston eating places and farmers markets together with City Harvest, 93′ Til, Nameless Café, and Cucharita, and has additionally collaborated with a number of native cooks.
Suu Khin has held pop-ups for Burmalicious at 93′ Til.
Khin’s arduous work to protect her tradition by way of meals is paying off: In January, she was named a 2025 James Beard Award semifinalist for Rising Chef, a class that acknowledges up-and-coming culinary professionals. How she found this can be a joke.
Khin didn’t count on to be on the semifinalist checklist. She was solely scrolling by way of it to see which associates of hers made it, so when she noticed her title, she was in shock. She went upstairs to knock on her husband’s dwelling workplace, however he was in a gathering and didn’t reply. With all of the feelings she felt, the one factor she may do was cry hysterically, which distracted her husband from his name—his first thought was, “Who died?” As soon as she relayed the James Beard information, it was all pleasure from there.
The popularity additionally piqued the curiosity of many Houstonians. Khin had a pop-up deliberate for that Friday at Cucharita, and after the semifinalist checklist got here out, she needed to utterly change her plans from feeding 60 friends to 300.
Embracing the momentum, Khin is now buying round for a brick-and-mortar. She needs a spot that may double as a fast counter-service spot for lunch and a tasting menu vacation spot for dinner. And though her grandma isn’t round to see her success in the present day, Khin is aware of she’s making her proud.
“I’m carrying on her legacy,” Khin says. “The whole lot that I create—it’s at all times a dialog with my grandmother in my head.”
