rev:text
| - So, you've never had Burmese food before?
I hadn't, either -- until going to Little Rangoon this weekend.
According to the menu, "Burma shares borders with Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand, and so its cuisine is invariably influenced by these surrounding cultural spices, seasonings, ingredients and cooking styles."
And yet, it was completely different from anything I'd had before, too.
Little Rangoon has a lovely atmosphere. It's one of those restaurants that has nice decorations and a romantic feel to it -- like an expensive restaurant would -- but still manages to price its entrees between $8-16. This place is definitely not a hole-in-the-wall -- it's pretty, with nice art on the walls.
For starters, my husband ordered the chicken curry pastry puffs, which were really good, he said.
For entrees, I decided to try something called "samosas and Ba-Yar Gyaw Soup," which is a tasty thick yellow bean soup with cabbage, onion, potato and tamarind juice. It's presented with broken up pieces of samosa and Ba-Yar-Gyaw (dried split peas crushed and deep fried). It was $8 and it was SO AWESOME. If I could have this for lunch everyday, I would. The owner told us that particular soup is really popular among the women who come in for their lunch breaks.
My husband, meanwhile, ordered the coconut milk chicken curry, which he loved. He said it had high-quality ingredients, and the taste was more subtle than a Thai or Indian curry would be.
For dessert, I ordered Burmese semolina cake, which was nice, but heavy.
He ordered Falooda, which is this funky rose-flavored milk, icecream, tapioca, bread pudding and jello strips all mixed into a sundae dish (It's quite the acquired taste -- although I like it).
Throughout dinner, the owner was very friendly about discussing Burmese cooking, etc. The waitresses were friendly, too.
I really hope this place makes it -- it's tucked in the same complex as a Claim Jumper, Tapino and Radda wine bars and Sushi on Shea, so it has a lot of competition for diners. But in my opinion, it's the best on the block!
|