All year, my Burmese students in war torn Myanmar (as well as Burmese students in my Berkeley class) were urging me to try the Burmese food at Jasmine Market and Cafe in Los Angeles. I had even sent my Burmese students in Myanmar the menu so they could advise me on what dishes to order.
I remember being so surprised in my Burmese language class when I learned that Burmese cuisine has a drink called “falooda” — as I already knew this word from speaking Persian. So of course I had to order that to kick off our Burmese feast.
I ordered the coconut curried chicken noodles which are really out of this world — it was so good that I took home leftovers and savored it for days.
We also got a tea leaf salad (“an eclectic mix of flavors which pickled tea leaves, roasted peanuts, crunchy beans, fried garlic, sesame seeds, dried shrimp, chopped tomato and cabbage”) and pan friend noodles with a special curry sauce (billed on the menu as a dish associated with the Muslim community with ingredients that marry together flavors from Chinese cuisine and Indian cuisine).
As you can see, Abu wanted to eat it all — he was licking the air like mad, tasting all the flavors and loving the unique scents wafting through the air.
Even the drink was enticing to him! As you can see, he was cracking me UP. My Burmese students in Myanmar said they were so happy to see Abu so into their national cuisine.
I highly recommend checking out Jasmine Market and Cafe for a special culinary experience in LA — the atmosphere and dishes made us feel like we had really traveled to Myanmar (and I even got to practice speaking Burmese!).
