159. A Burmese Spread at Daw Yee Myanmar Café (LA-SGV: Monterey Park)

After my first experience with Burmese food at Burma Superstar in San Francisco, I have been intrigued by the food from the country now known as Myanmar.  We visited Daw Yee Myanmar Café to eat more of this unique cuisine that blends Chinese, Indian, Thai, and Lao influences into its own native fare.

A must-order dish that provides a glimpse into traditional Burmese fare is the tea leaf salad.  Diced tomatoes, roasted peanuts, fried lentils, and toasted sesame accompany shredded cabbage, whole chilies, and fermented tea leaves imported directly from the mother country.  Our Burmese server-host-instructor extraordinaire tossed the hodgepodge of ingredients table side until it created a harmonious blend of rainbow colored, texturally titillating, fragrant salad.

One of our favorites was the kima platha, a sort of grilled flatbread in finger food sized pieces folded over ground chicken seasoned with Indian masala.  It is almost like a potsticker, but a more bready, heartier, fuller version of the usual fried dumpling.  The kima platha comes with a dipping sauce, but we used it to soak up all the leftover curry goodness on our plates.

Speaking of curry, the egg curry was a highlight of the night.  Get this... the eggs are hard boiled and deep fried, then added to the mix of tomato and onion sauce.  The colorful curry covers the eggs, making them gleam in the golden pool of glory.  Cut the eggs up and let them fall into that sauce... douse the eggs with more sauce, and you've got a spoonful of bliss.  Whoever thought of this (someone Burmese I presume) was a genius.

There are many more items on the menu that are great to share as well.  We also ordered the mutton curry, which was robust in meaty flavor with a tinge of lemongrass.  The mohinga, Myanmar's national dish, should not be missed.  Rice noodles submerged what is known as a catfish chowder piques an initial interest but results in a complete addiction to the comforting noodle soup.  We are definitely returning for more.

Happy birthday, Ron.  Until next time, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

Daw Yee Myanmar Café
111 N. Rural Dr.
intersection of Garvey Ave.
Monterey Park, CA 91755
Closed Tuesdays

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F.A.T. News 9: Food Becomes Fun

Food is food is food is food.  But food becomes fun whenever a creative idea gets executed in a unique fashion.  These two articles sparked my interest, but the images in the articles are what really captured my attention.

Proud of the hint of Taiwan here:
Designs on Dining

article by Jenn Garbee, LA Times / photographs by PEDEN + MUNK

The caption of the first image from "Designs on Dining" reads, "Taiwanese fog: Golden Xuan tea, dairy orbs, crisp honey and citrus essence."  I'm not sure how the Taiwanese fog is supposed to be eaten... or whether it's supposed to be eaten at all.  Is it meant to be looked at? Or just smelled? Either way, it's really cool that the Golden Xuan tea from Taiwan's famous Alishan (or Ali Mountain) has made its way to the innovative dining experience.  The high altitude of Alishan in Nantou County of Taiwan and its high levels of moisture makes for some of the most renowned tea in the world.

This may spark a trend:

Now you can eat -- Angry Birds mooncakes

article from AFP

These Angry Birds mooncakes are pretty cool.  Someone at work who has never heard of mooncakes before went crazy over this article and asked me to bring some back to the US if I happened to drop by HK.  If Maxim's Group decided to sell these outside of Hong Kong, they would definitely make a pretty penny out of this.  I'm not too sure about the chocolate and the pomelo flavors though, but I can definitely get used to Angry Birds mooncakes in lotus flavor.

Continue the creativity, food industry! Props to Roberto Cortez and Maxim's Group for contributing to the new trends in food innovation.

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