Burmese food

Erik and I went out for dinner to a little but well-known place on College called Nan Yang. I’d been curious about it ever since freshman year, because it is the only restaurant I have ever seen that serves Burmese food. I’d always heard that it was quite good, so tonight since I finished the first draft of my thesis, we wanted to celebrate by doing something different.

Nan Yang certainly lived up to its reputation. Of course I don’t know anything about Burmese food, but what we were served was rich with complex layers of flavors, so much so, in fact, that while the general effect was not overly ‘heavy,’ I ate considerably less than I might have at a different restaurant. We started with a fish noodle soup, hot and flavorful; then Erik had an excellent seafood and vegetable curry while I had a so-so garlic noodles with curried tomatoes and spinach. My noodles were okay, but too sour for my taste.

Because I spent the evening baking a cake I wasn’t allowed to eat (for Shra’s birthday!), I had been craving dessert. Nan Yang’s desserts are not any kind of cakelike concoction, but they are interesting experiences. I had a tapioca pudding, which wasn’t like any other kind of tapioca I’ve ever had. The tapiocas I’ve had consist of little tapioca beads suspended in a normal pudding base, but this was just a sticky glob of orange tapioca beads sitting in a coconut milk sauce, with golden raisins on top. The first taste seemed strange, but after a short while I really liked my dessert. Erik’s was even more fun. I think it was called the Tropical Rose Float. It was something like a milkshake, but full of all kinds of things like ice cream, rose water, tapioca pearls, grass jelly, lichee jelly… It sounds disgusting but it was really good and super refreshing. I think it’d be excellent on a hot day. I especially liked the rose water.

The service at Nan Yang is also very nice; the staff are friendly and helpful.

Since I’m extremely sleepy right now I don’t think my description is turning out very well, but I’m definitely going to go back to Nan Yang. Next time I want to try their okra…

[This post was imported on 4/10/14 from my old blog at satsumabug.livejournal.com.]