Burmese Birthday Brunch

Today is my birthday!

I'm 33 years old today and have just realized that I've spent an entire third of my life living in Thailand. I came here when I was 22 years old, right out of college. Even though COVID really threw the years out of wack, I still can't believe I've been here this long.

On my birthday morning, my wife woke me up, ordered me a Thai tea-coffee blend, and told me to get ready because she was going to take me to a special restaurant.

I had no idea what was in store, but Pinky booked a taxi, and we were soon arriving at Inly Restaurant, a very authentic and traditional Burmese food restaurant located not too far from where we live.

Check it out on my other blog, The World of Street Food: Authentic Burmese Food in Bangkok at Inle Traditional Food & Shan Noodle (theworldofstreetfood.com)

Pinky and I traveled to Burma back in 2015. To this day we both consider it to be the most exciting adventure trip we have ever taken together.

Follow our adventures here:

Part I: Yangon and the Golden Rock

Part II: It's a Long Way to Mandalay

Part III: Cruising into Bagan

Unfortunately, things are not going well in Burma these days. There's an ongoing civil war and the US Department of State has issued a Level 4 "Do Not Travel" warning for the entire country.

I've been really feeling nostalgic for our adventure in Burma. It was such an exciting time in a very little traveled country, but it's just not safe to go back at this time.

I was really excited when we pulled up in front of Inle Restaurant (named after Burma's second-largest lake and one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country). I couldn't believe that Pinky had been able to find a Burmese restaurant in Bangkok!

We sat down at a table, and the staff promptly brought us some hot tea.

Unlike other Southeast Asian cuisines, such as Thai or Vietnamese food, Burmese food is almost unknown outside of the little-visited Southeast Asian republic. 

The Republic of the Union of Myanmar, commonly known as "Burma", sits between Thailand and India. A former British colony, the country devolved into despotism and chaos as soon as the colonial government withdrew.

There was a brief glimmer of hope when Aung San Suu Kyi, the democratically elected leader of the country, was briefly allowed to gain power (that's when I was able to visit), but a military coup took place and the new government arrested her and regained control of the country. For the past several years, the nation has been in some turmoil. There have since been genocides, bombings, and other political instability that makes it impossible to return (at least for the time being).

It is one of the world's most secretive and closed off countries and, until just a few years back, was one of two countries in the world where Coca-Cola was not available to buy (the other being North Korea).

I'd really love to go back some day...

As we sat, the servers brought us some appetizers to tide us over. First was a plate of fried dough, (called youtiao in China and patongo in Thai), known as e kya kway in Burmese. These mildly sweet bites of fried dough can be eaten on their own or can be dipped in soups and broths.

We also got a small bowl of pickled mustard green relish, which had a strong fresh and sour flavor.

Our food arrived quickly!

First up was a bowl of Shan noodles. Shan State is the largest state in Myanmar and is located in the northeast of the country. Shan noodles are a popular staple dish from this region and is eaten throughout the country.

Shan noodles, known as "sticky noodles", are made from sticky rice noodles and cooked in a thick and creamy broth flavored with fried garlic, fresh cilantro, and other aromatics.

Burmese cooking goes heavy on the garlic, which I love!

The noodles were served with slices of pork, and after eating all of the noodles and meat, I used the fried dough to soak up the rest of the rich and flavorful soup.

We also ordered the fish cakes.

Burmese fish cakes are made from golden rice cakes mixed with savory herbs and fish and topped with fish and fried garlic.

That's actually how Pinky discovered this restaurant! She was searching on a food delivery app for "cake" to surprise me in the morning for my birthday and stumbled across these fish cakes. Noticing that it was from a Burmese restaurant, she decided to take me here for an early lunch, and ordered the cake from another shop instead.

These buttery and perfectly savory fish cakes were so delicious that I wish we had ordered another portion of them!

As a side dish we ordered "Inle tempura". This dish, like the name of the restaurant itself, is named after Inle Lake, the second-largest lake in Myanmar and one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country.

Inle tempura was made up of a combination of vegetables - morning glory, potato, and more - lightly battered and deep fried until crispy. It was served with a mildly sour and spicy dipping sauce for extra flavor.

Perhaps the best-known Burmese dish outside of the country is lahpet thoke, or fermented tea salad. This is the only dish that I am aware of that uses tea leaves as an ingredient. The leaves are fermented or pickled and mixed with lots of other delicious ingredients like chili, whole peanuts, crispy garlic, toasted sesame seeds, cilantro, ginger and more.

Myanmar might be the only place in the world that actually eats tea leaves as a food ingredient rather than purely as a drink.

The incredible combination of flavors and textures creates a strongly flavored and very complex dish that is savory, slightly sour, and slightly spicy. I really love this tea salad, and if you have the opportunity to try it, I highly recommend it.

It was a really great birthday meal, and a wonderful surprise.

I am looking forward to when we can return to Myanmar to have another grand adventure!