When it comes to Asian food, Amsterdam doesn't offer as much variety as its neighboring cities like London or Paris. For example, Korean options are very limited, and Japanese cuisine is more skewed towards ramen and sushi. For Chinese food, we are now seeing Northeastern restaurants and hot pot places starting to pop up, but there is still a lack of diversity. In terms of Southeast Asian cuisine, while Delft has some Lao and Cambodian options, Amsterdam mainly has Indian, Indonesian, and Thai restaurants, with a very limited number of Vietnamese and Malaysian establishments.
One good thing about Amsterdam is that, due to the city's exponential growth, new establishments keep opening. I sometimes google terms like "Sri Lankan Amsterdam" or "Lao Amsterdam" to see if there are any new restaurants. One day, I randomly typed "Burmese Amsterdam," and to my surprise, a Burmese restaurant had just opened its doors for the first time in Amsterdam.
I had been to Myanmar once, but it was quite some time ago, so I asked a few colleagues to join me. One of my colleagues had actually stayed in Yangon for months on assignment, so the ordering process went very smoothly thanks to her in-depth knowledge. We ordered a variety of dishes, including most of their national dishes. Upon ordering, they brought balachuang sauce, which is a signature condiment of Burmese cuisine, similar to sambal in Malay cuisine.
The dinner started with Burma's national dish, Burmese Tea Leaf Salad, or Pickled Tea Leaf Salad (Lahpet Thoke လက်ဖက်). I didn't know that the tea leaves would be pickled before ordering. The salad was a bit spicier than I expected. It was served with crispy bean fritters, tomatoes, fresh shallots, fried garlic, chili, and cabbage. The combination of shallots, garlic, and chili gave the salad an extra funky flavor, making it a great starter to wake up the appetite.
Next, our favorite dish of the day was served: A Mae A Cho Nhutt Hinn, Burmese slow-cooked beef ginger curry with turmeric-infused potato wedges. The beef was tender and full of spices. For a moment, it reminded me of the gorgeous Tuscan beef stew, peposo dell'Impruneta, but this curry had a more complex flavor due to the variety of spices used. It was originally served with jasmine rice, but I love coconut rice, so I asked if they could replace it, and they gladly changed it to coconut rice.
Another (unofficial) national dish of Burma was served: Mohinga (မုန့်ဟင်းခါး), rice vermicelli in fish broth. On their menu, they described the dish as follows:
"Moh Hin Gar (Burmese national dish – fish chowder rice noodle soup)
Aromatic freshwater fish broth brimming with lemongrass, ginger, and black pepper, served with rice vermicelli, eggs, coriander, and crispy lotus."
I knew that the dish uses catfish as the source of the broth, which is not my favorite, so I didn't eat much but just tried a bit with vermicelli and broth. The flavor of the broth was very clean and did not have the distinctive muddy taste. Overall, the taste was delicate, and my colleague also found it well-cooked and said the spices were well used to create the flavor.
We also had their chicken masala curry with the Burmese version of paratha (pa-la-ta), Kye Thar Hin with Pa-la-ta. Often romanized as Kye Thar Hin, I didn't find the curry itself as interesting as the other dishes, but the Burmese paratha's crispy flavor was very good. My colleague mentioned that in Burma, the amount of oil you see in curry dishes proves their authenticity and richness, and these dishes had an abundant amount of oil at the bottom.
The last dish was Shan Tohu (ရှမ်းတိုဟူး), the Shan Tribe's tofu dish. They usually offer two types of tofu for this, but on the day we visited, they informed us that the crispy one was unavailable. Therefore, we had to settle for the soft version instead. The tofu was colored with turmeric, giving it a light yellow hue that made it look quite pretty. The texture of the soft tofu reminded me of the texture of Sundubu from Korea. My colleague mentioned that she would have preferred the crispy one, and I agreed with her opinion as well, but still enjoyed the dish. Please find the day's dining with the video I created on YouTube. At the end of the video, it contains the full explanation of the menu from the restaurant.
Overall, dining at Yangon Delight was more than satisfactory. Despite my initial hesitation due to its recent opening and sparse online reviews, it turned out to be one of the most satisfying dining experiences. The owners had previously lived in Singapore for a long time before relocating to the Netherlands three years ago and opening this Burmese restaurant just a couple of months ago. I felt the same hospitality I had experienced in Burma, and honestly, the food surpassed what I had tasted there in terms of refined flavor and presentation. My colleague, who had stayed in Yangon, agreed as well.
Yangon Delight
Linnaeusstraat 83, 1093 EK Amsterdam, Netherlands
+31 6 39327514
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