Burmese Bites

"For anyone who works (or lives) in Midtown East, Burmese Bites is the lunch option you’ve been waiting for: an answer to the prayers you whispered over sad salads under even sadder fluorescent lighting (just us?). But it’s more than just a convenient neighborhood go-to. The stellar, fish paste and pickled mustard green-fueled food from Myanmar—a cuisine that’s in New York City—makes it a worthwhile destination for anyone, even if it means transferring trains before hustling nearly all the way down to the East River.  Burmese Bites’ small, serene booth in the Mona Kitchen & Market food hall serves just four $15 dishes from 11am-3pm on weekdays. Even in this streamlined, ultra-efficient format, their flavor profiles are larger than life—with subtle, thrumming heat and surprising layers of salty, funky, and bright that hit your palate one after the other, like notifications pinging your phone nonstop when the group chat is really going off. There’s limited seating in the food hall, so consider this more of a solo venture than a group excursion, or plan on taking your order to go. And we mean no disrespect to culinary grand dame Auntie Anne, but as regular visitors to Queens Center Mall, we can vouch for the best mall food in America being at the Burmese Bites there. But with this outpost, the long-time Elmhurst favorite may have also claimed the title of best quick lunch in Midtown. And after having lunch here, you’re going to want to try the full menu at that main location in Queens. " - Molly Fitzpatrick

"Amid a Burmese restaurant boom in the city, Queens Night Market favorite Burmese Bites now has its own standalone venue located inside the Queens Center Mall food court. Owner Myo Lin Thway is cooking up chicken curry with flaky palata bread (there’s also a vegan version), shan kaukswe (rice noodles with chicken curry and pickled mustard greens), and nan gyi thoke (a rice noodle salad), as well as daily-changing specials — all available for dine-in or takeout." - Eater Staff

"I also sniffed my way by more unique offerings like Burmese Bites, C Bao "Asian buns," Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart, and a conveyor-belt sushi joint." - Jaya Saxena

"On a blustery January afternoon at Queens Center Mall in Elmhurst, as shoppers hustled through the food court past McDonald’s, Panda Express, and Sbarro, Myo Lin Thway repeatedly flung a palm-sized mound of dough against his steel prep counter. Within seconds, it spread into a sticky sheet that was as big and as round as a pizza pie. Contending with gravity, Thway turned to his stovetop and draped the nearly translucent wheel of dough on a hot slick of oil. He spooned a reddish-brown mass of seasoned, minced chicken at the center, spread it flat, and folded the dough over the filling one corner at a time, frying and wrapping each side to form a crispy, rectangular packet." - Caroline Shin

"Food vendor Burmese Bites, a mainstay at the Queens Night Market, has expanded into a permanent restaurant at the Queens Center Mall food court. Joe DiStefano of Chopsticks and Marrow stopped by to check out the new location and found a range of palata dishes, tea leaf salad, and an “utterly transporting” shan kaukswe, with rice noodles, ground chicken, and peanuts." - Erika Adams