It was quite nice to hear about Burma Place opening in San Diego. Burmese cuisine that hasn't been represented much in our fair city. So a couple of months after the shop opened, in spite of the crazy gas prices at the time, I made the 50 mile round trip and did a takeout visit.
The restaurant is located in RB, next to a place that I last visited nearly 13 years ago. And to be perfectly honest; that might have been the last time I was in this strip mall!
The woman working when I arrived is very friendly; you know the type, the one who calls you "sweetie", "honey", "dear"……. And my order was ready when I arrived.
I had ordered two salads which I immediately put in my cooler and another dish that I thought would hold up well on the drive home.
Of course I had to get the Laphet Thoke – the Tea Leaf Salad ($15.99).
I liked the fact that there was some cabbage present and since this salad really needs to be mixed well; I went and placed it in a salad bowl and proceeded to mix things.
For me; it's all about the amount of fermented tea leaves and how it's been treated. We prefer a more assertive fermented-slightly bitter-mildly astringent flavor and this was on the mild side; really coming thru more like a vinaigrette. I did appreciate the split roasted soybeans; the firm crunch is always appreciated. But overall, this was disappointing.
I also got the Rainbow Salad ($14.99), which has a boatload of ingredients and a fairly mild tamarind based dressing.
Four kinds of noodles in this, enjoyed the fried shallots and a bit of spice from the peppers. We both thought this was the better of the two salads.
For our hot item; I flashed back to the wonderful Kabocha Stew we had at Burma Cafe in Daly City and got the Pumpkin Stew Chicken ($15.99), which I thought would probably benefit from the extra time it took to get it home.
This was terrible. The chicken meat, which was breast was dry and tough. The kabocha wasn't ripe, was hard, and lacked flavor. The broth was watery and really bland.
Well, with how gas prices were at this time, and how mediocre the meal was….there was no way I'd be able to talk the Missus into either a takeout or dining in visit. Just when I was about to delete my photos Calvin wanted to get some lunch….guess where?
We decided to go at the earliest possible time and met at 11am.
The same really friendly woman was working and we were the only folks in the restaurant for a good part of our lunch. It was great to catch up on things.
Of course we started off with the Tea Leaf Salad. Our Server took almost five minutes mixing the ingredients together for us!
While still on the mild side in terms of flavor, this was much better than what I'd had as takeout. I would have preferred a bit more cabbage, but this was a definite improvement.
By far, the best dish of the day were the Garlic Noodles with Pork ($11.99).
The pork; in this case char siu was a nice match for the saltiness of the noodles. The noodles were perfectly coated with a tasty sauce. The sauce on the side was a straight-forward spicy, so just a drizzle on the noodles worked well.
We got the Spicy Shan Tofu. Shan Tofu is made with "besan", basically a Chickpea Flour. At it's best it's both light, yet creamy, and holds it's shape.
The texture of the tofu was not quite as what I'd recently had at The Dutchess, being a bit more gritty and not as pliable and tender. The sauce was tart and mildly spicy; this actually tasted better the next day, though the tofu didn't hold up well.
We also got the Kebat Lamb ($17.99).
A typical homestyle stir-fry with curry, tomato, onion, and cilantro, this was fairly mild in flavor. Calvin and I both felt it needed more "umph"; more tangy-acidity, pungency, spice, and yes, more cilantro. The lamb was rather chewy and very mild in flavor. If you'd ever want a lamb dish that didn't taste like lamb; well have at this one.
Overall, a decent meal, but not worth going out of your way for in my opinion. While I'm glad that San Diego's food horizons seem to be expanding; I'm not happy "just to have something". So, I hope things keep getting better!
Burma Place
16719 Bernardo Center Dr.
San Diego, CA 92128
Hours:
Daily 11am – 230pm, 430pm – 9pm
While this was a super easy hike for the Missus, She enjoyed the solitude. We didn't run into another hiker on the trail until we were almost on our way out. Plus, those formations were quite interesting.
This version came with a fabulous Chicken Liver Mousse. The Dutchess's "baking chops" really delivered here as well as the puri was light, yeasty, full of flavor with a nice hint of salty-sweetness.
The puff pastry was very light with a wonderful texture. The rice in the dish was tender and the complex seasoning, while again on the saltier side, did well with a touch of raita, which added a nice, refreshing component to everything. Wish there was a bit more lamb in the dish; what we tasted was wonderfully gamey.
