Once again, we found ourselves in DC's cute LITTLE Chinatown (Fake Chinatown, Chinablock, whatever people call it these days). JR and some friends and I went for dinner while we waited for a play to start. We chose Burma because we never really have Burmese food that often, plus, it's the only Burmese restaurant in the District!
The restaurant was not as dive-y as I thought. It was actually quite pleasant. Art that looked "Burmese" embellished the yellow walls. It was interesting to look around.
I ordered the appetizers part of our meal. We began with the Gold Fingers, which are sticks of calabash squash lightly battered and deep fried. They reminded me of Pumpkin Tempura... but unfortunately not quite as good.
Our next appetizer was the Green Tea Leaf Salad. Interesting concept but the table didn't enjoy it that much. I was wishing to get a taste of the green tea in the salad but it had a strong salty/hearty taste (MSG?) that overwhelmed the rest of the potentially tasty ingredients.
One of our friends ordered the Burmese Mango Pork. I usually love stewed pork but this was just fine. It was savory and tangy but didn't have that "thing" that makes you love stewed pork dishes. Sorry Burmese Mango Pork, I just don't think that there was a spark...
Another friend ordered the Kokang Chicken. This dish was colorful: white chicken breasts, green cilantro, red tomatoes, and yellow ginger, all soaked in brown soy/sesame sauce. The colors however didn't not reflect much of the taste and I thought that the dish was a little bit bland :(
But to end on a delicious note, we did actually have a good dish! The winner for the night was the Chicken Sauteed Kebab. JR was the one who ordered this (how does he do this all the time?! Am I not the foodie part of this blog?). Anyway, this was our favorite out of all. Well marinated chicken with sauteed veggies... what's not to love?!
Burma was a pleasant dining experience, but not so much for the food. I don't know if I'll go back but if I do, I'll definitely try out other dishes on the menu. Oh, and did I mention that they serve Singha Beer? I'll also go back for that.
