A must dish to try while visiting Kayin State is Talabaw soup. It can be made with some dried meat, fish or shrimp and vegetables. Firstly add meat or fish in boiling water, then add rice, bamboo shoots, and chopped vegetables when the meat or fish is soft. It looks like porridge with some vegetables and the taste is sweet and delicious. But most Kayin people like a spicy taste; So they usually eat the Talabaw soup together with extra spicy fish paste.

Talabaw soup can be found and ordered in most Kayin traditional restaurants. Some restaurants serve the soup as a side dish and some are sold as a main dish according to the ingredients. Since the recipe of the soup is not very difficult, most local people can cook it at their home.