Rangoon

Rangoon
112 North 9th Street
Philadelphia
(Between Arch & Cherry Streets)

We continued with the "Asian tea leaf salad," which was made from real tea leaves, cabbage, tomatoes, sesame, peanuts, lime, garlic, friend onions, and fried shrimp. I thought the first few bites were good. This dish really has quite a strong flavor too. A little later, i realized that it was a bit strong for me. I can handle the lime and everything else but I think I would prefer my tea leaves to be in tea. That said, it would make a good dish for a big crowd (where everyone just takes a few bites).

One of the best dishes at Rangoon is the "thousand layer bread." This is a bit like "nan" from Indian restaurants but it is a bit oilier and stickier and gooier. It is fantastic. The texture is just right. Now, you could eat this on its own but why would you do that when there's so much that can go with it? For an appetizer, there are a few sauces that go with the bread but I ordered the chicken curry, which was a solid dish with chunks of dark meat chicken in it as well. For dessert, the bread comes with a coconut syrup which is drenched over it. Now, I think maybe some sweetened condensed milk might have worked better because the coconut syrup was a bit wet but this was still a very good dessert.

The Burmese spare ribs were also interesting. The ribs were done very well and came with a glaze of basil, coriander, garlic, and some other seasonings. The result is that eating the ribs produces a layered taste. You're hit by the heat and the salty tastes and then the sweeter part of the glaze appears just as you taste the sour too.

Desserts were a bit of challenge and my companion ended up ordered the "farluda," which is apparently rose syrup, milk, ice cream, pudding, raisins, tapioca, and assorted jellies all in one big glass. I suppose you're supposed to mix it all together like a milkshake with multiple other items thrown in but you can't really stir anything around in there without something falling out. A bit hard to eat but it was tasty. Probably good on a hot summer day (and there are a lot of those in Philadelphia). I don't think we got the raisins though.