Burmese restaurant in south Lansing has 'the best food in the area'

LANSING — It was a Friday afternoon, and every table at Naing Myanmar Family Restaurant was full.

Moe Israel seated customers and took orders while his wife, Mi Thanda, cooked in a newly-renovated kitchen.

The customers that afternoon were the usual mix of coworkers, families and couples. Busy lunch hours are typical, especially since Israel and Thanda reopened following a three-month "renovation vacation" earlier this year.

Their loyal customers were eager for the restaurant to reopen, Israel said.

"They missed our food."

Israel and Thanda took three months off to complete the renovations and visit family in Myanmar. It was Israel's first time back to the country in nearly 30 years. The pair reopened their restaurant — which serves Burmese, Thai and Malaysian food — in late September.

Naing Myanmar sits in a worn strip mall on Cedar Street in south Lansing. Photos of the couple with Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr., D-East Lansing, hang near the front door. A large mural of a peacock and a Spartan flag adorn the walls.

In the four years it's been open, Naing Myanmar has built an impressive and loyal fan base.

Bill Kitley has visited Naing Myanmar several times a week for nearly two years. The three months the restaurant was closed were "brutal," he said.

"[Israel and Thanda] serve the best food in the area," he said.

Kitley ate garlic chicken with his daughter and two small grandchildren on a Friday afternoon, a weekly ritual. He said they try to get there early because it's often packed.

A buzzing restaurant with a wait time is a vast change from four years ago when Naing Myanmar first opened, Israel said.

The first six months were very difficult and business was slow, he said. Israel worked part time at a factory in Mason and at a Meijer warehouse for the first year.

Thanda and Israel — both born in Burma, now known as Myanmar — met in Malaysia, and married in 2004. They came to the United States in 2010 with the help of the United Nations. The initially settled in Boston, where Israel worked at a Starbucks in Logan Airport for three years.

The city was expensive, and they decided to move to Lansing in 2013 in search of a more affordable home so Thanda could pursue her long-time dream of opening her own restaurant.

While running the business was more challenging than expected, word about the Naing Myanmar eventually started to spread, Israel said. The community has been supportive, especially in tough times.

In June 2015, the restaurant's water was turned off after their landlord got into a dispute with the Lansing Board of Water & Light. Fans of the restaurant banded together to raise $10,000, which ultimately helped fund some of the renovations.

Longtime fan Lysne Tait helped to create Facebook group called "Lansing's Eastside Loves Naing Myanmar Family Restaurant" around the time the couple started having issues with their water.

Tait said she instantly liked the food when she first visited three-and-a-half years ago. She said she's enjoyed watching the pair's two sons grow and seeing the care the family has for one another.

“I really feel like we're guests when we go," she said. "Not just customers.”

As part of the renovations, Israel and Thanda updated their menu, added new floors and upgraded the decor. The kitchen became larger and is now home to new equipment.

Israel said they'd eventually like to expand by taking down the walls between their unit and the one next door.

He calls their success a blessing from God.

"I can take care of my customer," he said. "I can take care of my kids."

And that care extends into the large community.

Naing Myanmar was one of more than a dozen restaurants that provided food for the Refugee Development Center's ThanksLANSING event earlier this month.

"He's a very generous guy," family friend Thang Mung said of Israel. "To him it's more about family."

Contact reporter Haley Hansen at (517) 267-1344 or hhansen@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @halehansen.