I remember reading about this place on the Gastronomer's blog (post linked at the end) and made sure to put this in our "to try" list...
The restaurant is not on the main drag, but on a small residential side street. Even better with easy parking right in front for us...
The first time we had Burmese food was here in Monterey Park at Yoma Myanmar four years ago. You can also order the salad at Burma Superstar in Oakland (although we didn't have the tea leaf salad during that visit, the Rainbow Salad was similar in terms of the variety of ingredients and textures). [Update - Here is a link on how you can recreate this salad at home from OC blogger VeggiesSave the Day]
It's a cuisine that we wanted to explore more of since there aren't any Burmese places in San Diego that I know of.
The restaurant is chic and clean with velvet pillows lining a banquette along the wall. Shelves on the opposite side hold Burmese foodstuffs for sale (dried beans, chips, and other snacks).
We got a few items to share as our savory snacks for lunch...
You can view their complete menu here.
Our meal consisted of kima platha, tea leaf salad, and samosas.
The tea leaf salad was quite pretty to look at. Each distinct ingredient was arranged "just so" with utensils ready for the inevitable "mixing". Beware of those hot peppers though.
The samosas were tasty little crisp triangles packed with curry spiced potatoes and onions and served with a spicy dipping sauce. The other appetizer, the kima platha (a fried and filled flatbread), was something we hadn't tried before. We opted to get the beef filled version.
Look at the layers of deliciousness...
and those samosas were equally as mouthwatering.
By this time, Bert had already mixed up the salad which had a bit of an assertive odor, not just from the fermented tea leaves but from what I believe was fish sauce. It was stronger that I would have liked it to be, but sometimes you have to try things out of your comfort zone, I say.
The salad had so much texture from the nuts and seeds and fried lentils. This dish is a "must try" if you're new to Burmese cuisine. Yoma's version had extra lemon juice on the side to add as a dressing. This one didn't need anything else and stood on it's own.
A close up of some of the snacks on the sale shelf...
Hmmm, no paper products in the toilet? Whaaaa?
Which reminds me of this...
(from "Beavis & Butthead")
Haha...I can't believe that cartoon is more than 20 years old!
Who else went to Daw Yee Myanmar?
The Gastronomer went here last summer and tried the lamb curry, mohinga and malasong (a dessert type of drink).
Daw Yee Myanmar Cafe
111 N. Rural Dr.
Monterey Park, CA 91755
(626) 573-8080
dawyee.com
We really enjoyed our meal here at Daw Yee Myanmar. Bert and I both enjoyed the crisp meat filled plathas. TC, ever the adventurous trooper, enjoyed everything for the most part until she mistakenly bit into one of the chopped up peppers in the tea leaf salad. I told her would get ice cream next to soothe her shot tastebuds...
3 comments:
I had seen the tea leaf salad on Gastonomer and was curious then; am more curious now. I guess I need to keep lists of where I want to try, at least while up there, instead of my random drive and stops. You had such a fun trip! Poor TC and the pepper incident.
Oh, I have never seen a Burmese restaurant before! The appetizers you got look mighty tasty.
hi cathy - Daw Yee's version was different from Yoma's, which had more lemon instead of fish sauce.
our trip was pretty fun and packed with places we tried....
re: pepper. yeah, poor kid. lunch was basically ruined for her.
mary - if you ever go to monterey park, try this place as well as Yoma Myanmar (which is the 1st Burmese place we went to). Kirk recently went to a Burmese place in Daly City (near SF) as well.
Yeah, those apps were pretty good!
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