Cafe Mingala on the UES

It was very refreshing to have a great meal after hating everything (books, food, movies, etc) for a lifetime. I ate at Cafe Mingala on the UES (2nd Ave between 72nd and 73rd). I had never eaten Burmese but was assured that it was the best that Thai and Indian food had to offer.

We started with the Peah Thee Thoke, a steamed string bean salad with peanuts, crispy onion, lemons and what they describe as "burmese spices". We added a spicy sesame and roasted hot pepper sauce on top to make a perfect crunchy, sweet, spicy and salty salad. I could have eaten this all night. The crispy onion were the best part and I wish I could eat them on everything (but alas, they make Dr. Sensitive a bit sick). These were totally new flavor combinations for me and it certainly left me wanting to try more.

Our main course weren't as excellent as the salad but still pretty darn good. We had the Ginger Phet- Htoke, a pork and seafood dumpling, with a mild ginger and basil sauce with steamed veggies. The dumplings inexplicably came with rice. I'm so used to soup dumplings that these seemed a bit dry but in reality that were pretty good dumplings with a light and bright sauce.

Finally we had the Mingala Noodles with Shan Style Red Sauce which is described as rice noodles topped with a northern burma sliced shan style chicken, with spiced tomatoes, ground peanuts, and a corriander sauce. There was an episode of Top Chef (Season 4) where someone made a peanut and tomato sauce and all of the judges freaked out because it was an unheard of combination. Well, its not and here is an example. It was in no way an offensive combination but it wasn't very flavorful.

So, if you're looking for a good exotic place for dinner on the UES I would recommend this place. If I were there on my own I would have asked the waiter to recommend a few dishes to try.

Oh, beer is your best bet as it washes down the spicy and compliments the flavors.