Burmese Bites

MYANMAR 🇲🇲

Photo by Sasha Maslov for The Queens Tribune.

This article originally appeared in the 25 October 2018 edition of The Queens Tribune:

When I first met Myo Lin Thway and his now famous palata, I had to summit a steep hill in the Briarwood section of Queens just north of Hillside Avenue. This hike eventually led to a small church that held the yearly Myanmar Baptist Church Fun Fair on its grounds. Raffle tickets were sold and there may have been balloons for children, but the “fun” consisted of having a good chunk of the Burmese community in New York City gather to eat each other’s home-cooked foods. This was about 12 years ago, but at that time Thway had already been 12 years into this yearly rhythm.

Sometime in 2013, he tipped me off to the summer street fairs to which he was going to expand on weekends the next year, while still holding down his job with an Italian jeweler in Midtown during the week. These were great, but his real success and food-world stardom took off at the Queens International Night Market, where he is finishing his fourth full year. If you ever arrive at the gates before opening time, a crush of people forms in what feels like Black Friday at Walmart. But instead of seeking flat-screen TVs, everyone rushes to get to Burmese Bites because the line will snake through the entire grounds for the rest of the night.

Photo by Sasha Maslov for The Queens Tribune.

These stepping stones are all on the path to one day opening a storefront restaurant. Until then, the latest more economical step in this dream came one year ago, when Thway unveiled the lime-green Burmese Bites cart in front of the Long Island City Courthouse and across the street from the famous green Citibank tower. This neighborhood is constantly expanding upwards with offices and new residences. It seemed like a perfect spot to test a daily business, as well as an excuse to leave the jewelry industry. During the lunch rush it is no different from the market, with lines full of hungry patrons happy to wait outside for a lunch that is astronomically better than others in and around Court Square.

Photo by Sasha Maslov for The Queens Tribune.

Palata is again the star of the show, the Burmese variety of Indian paratha, a layered but unleavened bread that might be the most popular Indian-influenced dish still eaten in the country. With its roots in pre-partition times when Indians were coming to Burma in droves, it is usually served plain with some type of curry on the side, but can also be stuffed with ingredients. At Burmese Bites, both options are available. The stuffed keema palata ($6, below) is full of masala-laced chicken and ready to eat by hand, while potato and chicken curries are also available on the side for dipping the chewy yet crisp palata if that is your desire.

Thway’s history with palata goes back to the age of 13, when he went to his dad’s fish pond farm near the Irrawaddy River in the country’s Ayeyarwady Delta region. There he cooked for 20 employees and got his first lessons in what would become his claim to fame in New York City. Even before that, he always made himself available to help with his father’s snacks business.

Photo by Sasha Maslov for The Queens Tribune.

Back in Long Island City, the daily menu also includes ohno kaukswe ($6, below), a coconut-milk–based soup of thick noodles and curried chicken. Usually eaten for breakfast in Myanmar, this warming bowl is good any time of day, topped with crispy bean fritters and onions. You may have access to a condiment bar of sorts when eating back home that allows you to spoon in cilantro and chilies and squeeze in lime. For preferences of sour and spice here in Queens, just ask when placing the order.

Photo by Sasha Maslov for The Queens Tribune.

The menu always includes a monthly special as well. Recently this was Shan tofu salad ($7, below) made with the distinct yellow chickpea flour tofu originally from Shan State. The dark dressing is light to the tongue with tamarind and ginger, while the smooth tofu itself is full of turmeric and heartier than its soybean cousins. It is a must order at any Burmese festival during the year, and if you see it here please do not miss out.

Photo by Sasha Maslov for The Queens Tribune.

The new cart’s location makes it easy for much of the Burmese community to go for lunch on the 7 train from Woodside, Elmhurst and Jackson Heights, where the majority live. The savvy customers in the area who have found their way to Court Square Park have made for a fairly thriving business that now extends to dinner four days a week. Orders are now even accepted by text message, and round trips from Midtown are feasible for office workers near the 7, E and M trains.

Our original article from 2014 is available here.

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LONG ISLAND CITY Queens

Court Square Park

Map of Eat the World NYC:

Lokachantha Burmese Monastery New Years Celebration

MYANMAR 🇲🇲

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MYANMAR 🇲🇲 Dispatch from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn: We had the pleasure back in January to be guests at a small gathering of the city's Burmese community celebrating the New Year with each other's company and some freshly made mohinga. This famous morning fish noodle soup is probably the country's most recognizable dish, and can be procured on almost every street corner in early morning hours. ° Lokachantha Burmese Monastery, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. Instagram exclusive post, added to full map on website. ° (1) Mohinga, a fish noodle soup and star of the show (2) Laphet thoke, tea leaf salad (3) Prayers upstairs (4) Thick or thin noodles? (5) Pour some fish broth on me. All thanks to @jennsterleo for this generous invitation. ° ° #EattheWorldNYC #eattheworld #worldfood #worldfoods #instayum #instafood #instaeat #foodlovers #foodlover #forkyeah #nyc #nyceats #nycfood #nycdining #newforkcity #eatingnyc #eatingnewyork #brooklyn #brooklyneats #brooklynfood #prospectheights #prospectheightsbrooklyn #myanmar #myanmarcuisine #myanmarfood #burmesecuisine #burmesefood #burmese #mohinga #mohingar

A post shared by Eat the World NYC (@eattheworldnyc) on May 2, 2018 at 6:29pm PDT

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PROSPECT HEIGHTS Brooklyn

619 Bergen Street

Map of Eat the World NYC:

Kachin Traditional Food Fair

MYANMAR 🇲🇲

The northernmost state of Myanmar is Kachin State, a place that has seen perpetual conflict for most of the last 50 years. Always wishing to operate with more autonomy, the Kachin people have their own government and institutions in place where they can.

Enough of these people exist in New York City that 2017 marked the first Kachin Traditional Food Fair. The words Myanmar or Burma were absent from anything in the advertising or atmosphere, only the green and red flag with two crossed blades of the Kachin Independence Organization was visible, along with red and green balloons to continue the theme.

Thankfully, the conflict seems to have been left at home, as many ethnic-Burmese were also in attendance and sampling the rare foods that could not be found at some of the other events taking place here throughout the year.

A small sampling of goods and costume was on display and possibly for sale, but everyone seemed to be here to eat. Like most Burmese events, the listed start time was about the latest you wanted to show up, as the dining hall of the Elmhurst Baptist Church was already buzzing at this time with people filling up to go bags.

My first stop was for Myitkyina noodles ($5, above and below), named for the capital city of Kachin State. This dish shared a lot in common with many Burmese and Shan noodle salads, with overlapping ingredients and presentation, but slightly new tastes.

Warm tofu with noodle ($5, above and below) was another noodle salad new to me. The picture above gives a good look at the thin layer of warm homemade tofu that is layered on top of the rice noodles. As common throughout the country, the rest of the ingredients were put on top and a bowl of soup was offered on the side. This can either be enjoyed on its own or used with the noodles.

Chicken curry ($5, below) was one of three curries on offer, with pork and beef also available. Some views of all three are available at the bottom from a meal cooked the next day with everything bought for takeout.

Possibly the fastest selling item was the black sticky rice dessert ($4, below), which was gone by the time I tried to buy one. Luckily a generous tablemate pulled hers out for a photo op.

The Kachin steamed fish ($6, below) is popular enough that you see it in larger cities of Myanmar, and was selling fast at the food fair. These vendors sold it in spicy and non-spicy versions, and also offered a steamed vegetables ($5, below) as well, everything neatly wrapped in banana leaves for cooking.

Circling counter-clockwise around another steamed fish in the center, a meal the next day consisted of Kachin congee, fried chicken with sticky rice, and all three curries. Of note is the beautiful congee, which was full of flavor. Kachin state shares a border with China, but their take on this dish is so much more vibrant.

This event took place on the 2nd of December, 2017. Please follow the NYC Kachin Fellowship for information about future events and don't forget to show up early! Next time the vendors should be prepared for a large demand.

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ELMHURST Queens

Elmhurst Baptist Church

87-37 Whitney Avenue

[CLOSED] Rangoon Spoon

MYANMAR 🇲🇲

[UPDATE: CLOSED]

Hey look at that. The city is now awash in Burmese restaurants. And by that, I mean there are now two... both of which are not far from each other on the Bensonhurst-Gravesend border. The latest is Rangoon Spoon on 86th Street, which is technically still in a soft opening period but has been offering open hours many days the past two weeks.

In the space of what was once a couple different beauty and hair salons, a modern renovation has turned this address into a restaurant. A few pieces of art, marionettes, and some Buddhist statues make it feel a bit Burmese, but the cooking is just right and thoroughly exudes the culture.

During the soft opening, the menu is limited but still offers quite a few options. A quick glance at the full menu shows an almost overwhelming array of choices.

Like with other "tofu" dishes of Shan state origin, the fried Shan tofu ($3.99, below) is made from chickpea flour which gives it its yellow shade. Paired with a tamarind chili dipping sauce, it makes an excellent appetizer and a quick way to get your tastebuds going.

The green tea salad ($6.99, below) is the best in the city since the passing of the long gone Burmese restaurant that used to be on Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside, Queens. Known as laphet thoke, this salad is a combination of fermented green tea leaves and many textures and flavors. Rangoon Spoon makes it beautifully, with all the right proportions of ingredients.

Each morning on my two trips to Myanmar, I awoke craving a bowl of either mohinga or ohn no kauk swe, both of which are breakfast dishes available here all day long. One of the best aspects of this was that each vendor would have their own recipe and tastes between them and from city to city would be different, making the dish always fresh and never old. Another good rendition of mohinga ($6.99, below) is now available here, and New York City is all the better for it. While we might still be partial to the version at Together Myanmar Restaurant, once a spoonful of the dried red pepper flakes was added, the bowl came to life.

With no real restaurant culture for noodles in Myanmar, you will find all the dishes we sampled here on the street sold by vendors. Everything is always mixed and served to order, and most are eaten at room temperature like the nan gyi thoke ($6.49, below), made with thick rice noodles and chicken. Parsley, onion, and crispy crackers garnish and should be mixed in as desired.

As with the Shan noodle ($6.99, below), the basics and traditional flavors of Burmese cooking are all there, but the last dash of flavorful seasoning might be just off. Once the chef finds this, both dishes will be delicious.

The Shan noodles come with a pile of pickled vegetables which would also benefit from being more sour, as these usually play an important role in the dish. That being said, our next visit will order these two items for sure.

I never noticed calamansi in Myanmar, but the calamansi juice ($2.50, below) here is worth ordering as your drink. Burmese teas are also available and recommended.

We are sure to go back soon and I will tweet updates when the restaurant opens officially and keeps consistent hours. Please follow us on Twitter for information like this.

A more recent visit was rewarded with the following:

Pae paratha $3.99

Kauk swe thoke $4.99

Fish stew $9.99

Jay oh $8.99

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GRAVESEND Brooklyn

2369 86th Street

[CLOSED] Together Burmese Food

MYANMAR 🇲🇲

[UPDATE JANUARY 2020: CLOSED. Oscar is searching for a new space to relocate as business here never really flurished. Will update once something is known.]

In the span of one week, our city has been blessed with a new grocery store with products from Myanmar, and now a brand new restaurant. Near the Bay Parkway N station in Bensonhurst lives a new Burmese restaurant named Together. Chef owner Myint, known as Oscar, used to have a small stand inside of a grocery on Avenue U in Gravesend, where he made wonderful Burmese soups and curries. Thankfully he has resurfaced, hopefully for good.

There are not too many Burmese people in the neighborhood, or the city in general, so Myint has decided to put sushi on the menu as well as basic westernized Japanese to cater to the potential customers that may find his home country's food too exotic. But for those of us that love Burmese food and everything Myanmar, first impressions are very good.

On all three of my visits to the restaurant which opened Friday, I saw Burmese people that seemed to know Myint already. A smattering of locals seemed to wander in as well, mostly checking out the sushi rolls.

Don't follow their lead, follow the Burmese, and order from the first page.

Early in the morning in Myanmar, you will find steaming pots of soup ready for people going off to work. The most famous of these, mohinga ($5.99, above 2), is excellent here. The broth of mohinga is made from catfish, but the dish never seems fishy. The rice noodles instead grab their flavors from lemongrass, ginger, onions, and garlic, as well as many spices. This version has a nice kick to it, and wants a good squirt of lime. Crispy fritters and parsley adorn the top.

Also good is the ohnnotkhauswe ($5.99, below), a curried coconut milk soup with chicken and thick wheat noodles. This soup is more sweet from the coconut than spicy, its comfort level very high like Chiang Mai's khao soys or Malaysia's laksas. The restaurant is open at 9am daily, so enjoying these traditional breakfast soups is possible, but they are served all day if you come for lunch or dinner.

On one of my visits, I was given a nice side of mudfish sauce with fresh vegetables (below).

When morning turns to noon and the sun is high in Myanmar, people start eating salads of vegetables, fruits, and noodles. These dishes are served at room (or outdoor) temperatures, ingredients mixed together by vendors selling them on their front porches or roadside.

[UPDATE APRIL 2017: Chef Myint is now preparing a good, fresh version of laphet thoke ($6.99, below), the famous Burmese fermented tea leaf salad]

One of my favorites, especially in Shan State, was kha yann gyin thee thoke ($6.99, below). In this area of the country, many of the fruits and vegetables taste like magic, including the tomatoes. These magic tomatoes are the main ingredient in this salad which also includes peanuts, onions, garlic, lime juice, and fish sauce. In New York City our tomatoes are not magic, but this dish still exceeds expectations.

Similar preparation is made for the tha yet thee thoke ($6.99, below), a salad with sweet mango and crispy fried garlic. This is also served with white rice, which works well with the sweetness of the mango and peanut sauce. Recommended.

The thin baw thee thoke ($6.99, below) uses green papaya and less sweet peanut sauce. Mixing in a good portion of the dried chili flakes makes for a good flavor combination.

Off menu, the dynamic ginger salad is also not to be missed!

Added to specials as of June 2017: tohu thoke, yellow tofu salad

Added to specials as of April 2019: shrimp spicy

In addition to these, there are many "salads" made from noodles in Myanmar. Often on the street a vendor can make the dish as a salad or a soup by adding broth, but it was almost without exception that the salads were better and more flavorful. One of these is the Mandalay nan gyi thoke ($5.99, below), a dish of thick rice noodles and chicken curry.

While that was indeed delicious, even better is the si jet ($5.99, below), egg noodles with chicken and dried garlic. On all three visits, Burmese people seemed to be ordering this more than anything else.

Sitting down in formal restaurants in Myanmar is still casual, but the dining experience is quite different. An order of curry will bring many dishes to the table, the small dish of curry itself and many fresh vegetables, herbs, and other tasty things to add, making each bite a different taste. There will be small dried salty fish, a plate of rice, and a little bowl of simple chicken broth to cleanse the palate. Curries are also served at room temperature, something I constantly saw foreigners getting weird about. They also have plenty of greasiness in the bowl, which mixes perfectly with bites of rice but may not align with some tastes.

The curries at Together are also excellent. The chicken, pork belly, and beef curries are all shown below:

After a full meal, Together does not disappoint with dessert either. Try the shwe yin aye ($3.99, below), a bowl full of coconut jelly, tapioca, and sticky rice in cold coconut milk. The slices of white bread on top were discarded by our group, who found the real interest in the other bits underneath.

OK, New York City. Our man Myint is here. Go give his restaurant a call and make sure it lasts. Burmese food should really have a place here in our city, and the renditions here are worthy of a lot of praise.

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BENSONHURST Brooklyn

2325 65th Street

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