Lei P.
Yelp
Asian Bowl was recently taken over by a Burmese family. Under new management, the venue offers Myanmar food, sushi and standard American Chinese.
This is the only brick and mortar Burmese food place in Queens (not including the fantastic food cart in LIC).
Much of Americanized fast food sushi counters in America's supermarkets are actually run by Burmese sushi chefs so you're in safe hands to eat sushi from a Burmese joint. They likely offer sushi and Chinese because it's hard in this mom & pops small biz market to offer a cuisine that few people are familiar with.
Gluten-free folks will be in a for culinary flavor adventure. Burmese food relies on lots of pulses, especially toasted chickpea flour, sesame, and a lot of textural & flavor contrast.
I am Burmese American and this is as down home as they go. A warning to vegans and vegetarians that thokes or salads contain dried shrimp unless you tell them to leave it out. They need to put more cabbage & onion/ garlic oil in their ginger salad. Most Burmese Americans add more cabbage and tomatoes--and cut back on the raw garlic & onions in their ginger or tea leaf salad.
For beginners to Burmese or Myanmar food, try:
1. their Mohinga or catfish stew/ soup. Not only is it an iconic Myanmar dish--theirs is the best I have tasted--not fishy tasting at all.
2. Try the La Phet Thoke (tea leaf salad) and gin thoke (ginger salad) if you are gluten free or vegetarian or just have a cold, you will love this.
3. Any of their curries
4. The Oh Noh Kow Swe (coconut chicken curry noodle soup with noodles--laksa in Thai or Malay)
5. samosas
6. Nun gyi thoke (a rice udon noodle mixed with shredded chicken, a curry sauce, salad veggies, toasted chickpea flour, cilantro and a boiled egg)
7. See kyat kow swe (garlic oil flavored egg noodles with shredded chicken and green scallions)
8. Shan Kow Swe noodle thoke (Shan noodles) if you are vegan, ask for the vegan sauce. It is yellow noodles with chopped pickled Chinese mustard greens & finely chopped veggies sauce--it's super light. The closest comparison is Sichuan cold noodles without the peanut sauce.
If you are adventurous and love your Bizarre Food, try the Kyay Oh noodle soup or the dry kyay oh rice noodles (without broth)--it's essentially a Chinese hot pot soup or the Burmese version of Vietnamese pho with greens, boiled quail eggs, meat balls (usually pork or chicken) and "bizarre food bits" they add in. Chinese immigrants introduced it to the Burmese. It is a popular street food in Myanmar. You see people eating hot steaming bowls in Rangoon's Chinatown during cooler months.
Unlike my mom's version, they top their Kyay Oh with slices of pork intestine & pork liver, so be warned. If you are squeamish, remind them leave out the intestine & liver.
Burmese thokes basically turn the concept of salads upside down--they are more like Korean bibimbaps. If you are gluten-free, vegetarian or vegan, you will love thokes.
If you love starch, try the different noodle or rice thokes. A thoke is a room temperature salad, super dense, usually vegan--usually with a citrus element like tamarind sauce or lime juice, lots of toasted pulses like sesame seeds, lentils, chickpeas, toasted green Lima bean, peanuts, mung beans, etc, an oil dressing, fried onion and garlic crips, toasted chickpea flour, boiled potatoes, steamed bean sprouts, and then a mix of raw salad veggies usually thinly sliced cabbage or lettuce, crispy tofu, tomatoes, cilantro and either a protein like shrimp or another veggie like ginger, tea leaves or starch like noodles, rice or both.
This place also adds some toasted dried sweet shrimp to their thokes so if you want it without shrimp, ask them to leave it out.
