The Governor’s Residence executive chef Olivier Guilmain cooks some fresh squid.

“PEOPLE don’t come here to feel full. They come here to enjoy eating,” says Lisa Fedeli, the general manager of Yangon restaurant L’Opera, as she inspects a plate of penne aglio, olio and peperoncino. This deceptively simple dish — pasta (in this case penne although spaghetti is frequently used), garlic, olive oil and chilli – is often called the “midnight pasta”, which can be whipped up in a flash for hungry guests.

“When we have parties and people get hungry later in the night, we say let’s make some ‘midnight pasta’ — usually the aglio, olio, peperoncino. You only need to wait for the cooking of the pasta, which is eight to 10 minutes,” she says.

Ms Fedeli says the dish is a favourite among customers looking for a lighter, healthier option and she often recommends it to customers who are unsure what to order.

“If someone says to me, ‘I don’t know what to eat,’ it usually means they aren’t too hungry. This dish is perfect,” she says. “And I love it when I can guess what cust-omers want to eat,” she adds with a laugh.

“It just shows that you don’t need an elaborate sauce for the pasta to taste good. I like, personally, simple things — for me the best is spaghetti napolitana, which is a tomato and basil sauce, it’s my favourite.”

Olivier Guilmain, the executive chef at The Governor’s Residence, agrees that diners are now looking for lighter dishes.

L’Opera’s penne aglio, olio and peperoncino pasta.

In response, Mr Guilmain has developed the restaurant’s menu so he can cook a la minute — as customers order – while still offering amazing variety. From French duck confit to North African chicken tagine, Lebanese dips and Southeast Asian laksa, the menu covers most corners of the globe.

“On the menu you can find almost whatever you want,” Mr Guilmain says. “We also have the ‘create your own plate’ idea, where customers choose the meat, vegetables and sauce and how it will be cooked.”

He says the restaurant tries, where possible, to use local ingredients.
“Now we can find almost everything, all the ingredients, locally,” Mr Guilmain says. “This means everything at Governor’s Residence is very fresh. For example, I work a lot with Ngapali fish, I get them sent to the restaurant every week. Maybe 70 percent of sales here are fish or seafood and you have a huge variety — red snapper, sea bass, grouper, river prawns, tiger prawns, fresh squid — it also depends what I can find in the market.”

Mr Guilmain says using local produce creates cost benefits but customers have also commented on the enhanced flavour.

“Most of the people here, when they eat some vegetable, they say, ‘How do you do that?’”

“It’s not me,” he laughs. “I just buy them from the market!”

The Governor’s Residence — 35 Taw Win Road, Dagon township, Yangon. Tel: 229 860~63

L’Opera Italian Restaurant — 62D U Tun Nyein Road, Mayangone township, Yangon. Tel: 665 516, 660 976

Customers who buy five mugs of Tiger Beer at L’Opera will receive a free mug. The offer runs until the end of April.