126 Edds Lane Sterling, VA
Phone 703.444.8510
www.tasteofburma.com
According to Wikipedia “Burma, officially the Union of Myanmar, is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia.” Burma is bordered by countries with major culinary traditions, including India, China, and Thailand. I like Thai, Chinese and Indian foods so how could I have missed Burmese food? How come the only time I hear about Burma in the media, it is about Burmese military junta and not about their beautiful culture and food? I hope to change this as I just found out about this great Burmese restaurant called “A Taste of Burma” in Sterling.
We were greeted by a very friendly owner, Jona Nila Davis. The interior of the restaurant is adorned with beautiful Burmese handmade tapestries called “Kalagas.” Jona also informed us that some of the finely carved tables and lacquer ware that are displayed are from their own family heirlooms. All of the decorations make this place a perfectly cozy Asian restaurant with family and friends. Don’t be overwhelmed with the 100 or so dishes listed in the menu. Just ask Jona for help and she would happily make suggestions.
She suggested we try couple typically Burmese appetizers from the menu, Golden Finger Tempura (By Thee Gyaw) and Fried Yellow Burmese Tofu (Tofu Gyaw). Golden Finger Tempura is crispy fried Opo squash and it is served with chili tamarind sauce. When I eat Tempura, I usually order shrimp, chicken or some sort of meat. Eating fried vegetable tempura was actually very refreshing. I also tried Fried Yellow Burmese Tofu made of chickpeas and served with chili tamarind sauce. This dish is masterfully presented with sliced yellow tofu in the shape of small match boxes. I am not a big Tofu eater, but I know that it is better for me than eating beef, mouton, etc. So now I know that I can live on it if I ever become a vegetarian.
For our main dishes, we ordered Ginger Shrimp and Chicken Curry (Kyat Thar Hin). Ginger Shrimp is a traditional stir fried dish with snow peas, shitake mushrooms, water chestnuts and shrimp in ginger sauce. It is served with white rice and the infusion of ginger into mushrooms and shrimps is invigorating and delectable. Chicken Curry is a simple dish cooked with onion curry sauce and we found it to be lifeless and bland. We don’t know if the cook held off on curry because we looked like we could not handle it, but we did not like it. In the end, we were surprised with two delightful desserts. We were served Cream of Wheat Cake (Shwji) that is mixed with coconut cream, almonds and poppy seeds. It is deliciously textured and sweet. It went great after Ginger Shrimp.The other, Burmese Farluda is a taste and sight you need to experience with rose syrup, milk, ice cream, pudding topped with shredded coconut, far luda noodle and crushed pistachios. Wow! It is rich, flavorful, surprising and wicked all at the same time. I am told that this is one of the most popular desserts in Burma. I can see why.
written by sasuy , June 23, 2009
written by AKhan , June 23, 2009
Waitstaff: The lady working at this place took her sweet time serving us. She didn't care for our concerns that our food was not good, and when asked for water it took her 30 minutes to get it for us, even though the place was completely dead. She spoke English well, but appeared to not understand us when we were talking to her.
Food Portion/Pricing: This place is WAYYY overpriced for the food they serve including the portions. We ordered a bowl of soup for two ($11) and when it arrived, the bowl was the size of a regular small soup bowl filled 1/2 way. I asked the waitress if this is the right size for a "Soup for Two" and she said it was. Needless to say, my wife and I only got a few sips each. We both ordered beef dishes, I had the Mongolian Beef ($16) and my wife had the Slow Cooked beef ($15). I was shocked to see when my plate arrived, it was served on a 5" by 5" appetizer plate!!!!!! and my wife got hers in a bowl that you can only classify as a child's cereal bowl! Again we got really upset with the portions and asked to speak to the owner.
Owner: WOW..I can't believe this guy owns the place. Instead of helping us with our complaints, he kept telling us that this was "Our Problem" . I am not sure what kind of a owner this person really is, if he does not even care what the customers think. When we told him the portion was too small, he told us to order more...WTH?? After we told him it was the food was expensive relative to the portions, he went and grabbed a Washingtonian magazine and continued to display to us that he was nominated for "Cheap Eats"...and told us that we are lucky we aren't paying $50 a person for a place like his!! He made the experience far worse than it already was...
Consumers beware..this place is TERRIBLE to say the least.
Will not be going there again, if I didn't make that clear enough
Show/hide comment form
I am sorry that you had a bad experience. I reviewed this place incognito as usual and I had great service from the 2 owners. I hope the place is not going south.