MMR: Monsoon Restaurant

A taste of Mohinga - Myanmar's national dish!

It's time for us to continue with our food journey in Yangon, Myanmar. After having a lot of fun at the zoo and another landmark that I'm going to talk about at the end of the review, we took a cab to the downtown. Alas, the sweltering heat thwarted us from walking around, thus we arrived at Monsoon Restaurant before 12 noon.

I've got no idea why the restaurant is named after a seasonal prevailing wind here in South East Asia, but I can postulate that it may act as a symbol of serving a wide variety of South East Asian dishes from north to south, i.e. from Myanmar to Indonesia. Pika's advice: We only tried their local Burmese dishes, even though they do have an interesting variety of Lao cuisine as well. Perhaps you may want to give the latter a try!

Mohinga Ks. 2,800 (~S$3.75)

Taste: 7/10

One shouldn't leave the country without trying its national dish of rice noodle in broth made of ngapi (Burmese fermented fish paste), which is said to be the most popular breakfast dish in Myanmar. The broth was slightly pungent, but not as rich as I thought it'd be. Accompanying it were boiled egg slices, crispy fried fritters, chili flakes, coriander, lime and fish sauce.

Ginn Thoke Ks. 2,500 (~S$3.35)

Taste: 8.5/10

Instead of pickled tea leaves salad like what we had the previous night at Feel Myanmar Food, we decided to order its shredded ginger counterpart. I enjoyed the ginger strips that were sweet, as if they were candied, coupled with dried shrimps, fried garlic slices, peanuts and sesame seeds that were addictively crunchy.

Ngahin Sebyan Ks. 5,800 (~S$7.75)

Taste: 8/10

Somewhat reminiscent of an Indian dish, the butter fish curry didn't disappoint at all. Even though it wasn't as thick and rich as its Indian cousin, the gravy had a good balance of flavours, going well with steamed rice. The fish fillets were pretty fresh and moist.

Pazunsate Sebyan Ks. 6,800 (~S$9.05)

Taste: 8.5/10

In my opinion, the shrimps cooked in red curry were tastier than the butter fish curry. Even though the dish looked spicy due to its vivid colours, it was only mildly so. The gravy was fragrant with a pretty strong turmeric aroma, while the shrimps were quite springy and juicy.

Myanmar Dessert of the Day Ks. 2,200 (~S$2.95)

Taste: 8.5/10

Hmm... What came out of the kitchen were three pieces of not-so-visually-appealing lemon tarts that left us wondering if we had ordered the correct item. Well, the bill did say the dish named above, instead of others like Thai Dessert of the Day. Despite their appearance, the lemon filling was decadently rich, giving me a powerful sour outburst that made me squint my eyes, which gradually became sweet on the tongue. The pastry could be more crumbly and buttery though.

Frozen Myanmar Milk Tea Ks. 2,000 (~S$2.65)

Taste: 7/10

I know this is a bit random, but I haven't bought myself a cup of bubble milk tea for more than 5 years. As always, I can't quite describe milk tea well, but what we had the other day was really cold and adequately milky. That said, it wasn't sweet enough to be truly enjoyable.

Tropical Beach Smoothie Ks. 2,500 (~S$3.35)

Taste: 8/10

From a list of smoothie items, we picked the one featuring cantaloupe, coconut milk and honey. Those of you who like to eat honeydew sago should be able to imagine the taste; everything blended together with ice to give a velvety texture. It was an adequately sweet and cold beverage to beat the heat outside.

Melon's Rating

Taste: 8/10

Ambience: 8/10

Service: 8.5/10

Overall: 8/10

Service was amiable and pretty much efficient, but I had to wait for quite a long time to get my change at the end of the visit. Okay, let's talk about the landmark I visited after going to the zoo. It's called Karaweik Hall, a palace which construction was completed in 1974, housing a buffet restaurant now. Below is a snap of it from a distance.

Monsoon Restaurant

85-87 Theinbyu Road

Yangon

Myanmar

(Daily: 10.00am - 11.00pm)

*Prices quoted are subject to 10% service charge and 5% commercial tax.

Have a nice meal,

Cliff(y)