Archive for July 2012

Sai's Tacos

By | Published Sunday, July 29, 2012

Sai's Tacos has been around for quite some time in Yangon but we have yet to try it. The Mexican restaurant is located at a quiet and prime residential district along Inya Myaing Road. We decided to try it for dinner on a lazy Sunday evening.

A narrow driveway from Inya Myaing Road leads to the restaurant, which is a fairly small single storey building. The restaurant has only a handful of tables and are decorated with Mexican-style table cloths. Locally woven rattan baskets and hats hang from the ceiling.

The restaurant serves popular Mexican fare such as burritos, tacos and quesadillas. As R is a bigger fan of Mexican food than me, I left the ordering of the dishes mostly to him. We ordered the Chili Cheese Fries (Ks 3,500), Chicken Crispy Taco (Ks 2,000 per taco) and Beef Quesadilla (Ks, 3,400). You can build your own Quesadilla with a variety of meat, beans, rice and vegetables to choose from.


First up is the Chilli Cheese Fries. Unlike most of the chilli cheese fries which we have had, the chilli for this is placed beneath the fries. I guess this is to keep the fries from becoming soft too quickly. Fries were crisp and were sprinkled with shredded parmesan cheese. The beef chili was a little too dry and could be spicier.


The Crispy Tacos had tomatoes, lettuce, shredded cheese and chicken in a crispy corn tortilla shell. The crunchiness of the taco is contrasted with the tomatoes and chicken. More sour cream would further accentuate this contrast and fuse the ingredients together.


The Beef Quesadilla was our favorite of the 3 dishes. It also came with a side serving of refreshing salsa. The  beef chilli was flavourful and went well with the nicely toasted tortilla.

All in all, Sai's Tacos is a good place to get your Mexican fix. In fact it is the only Mexican restaurant in Yangon now. R is looking forward to try the Mexican Omelettes for breakfast as the restaurant opens early on Saturdays and Sundays.

Sai's Tacos
32A Inya Myaing Road,
Yangon, Myanmar
Opens: Monday to Friday 11am - 9pm, Saturday & Sunday 8am - 9pm.

Posted in | 1 Comment

Shabu Tei - Beef and more

By | Published Monday, July 23, 2012

We start our food journey on this blog with a first visit to Shabu Tei. We have been driving past Shabu Tei almost every day and finally we decided to pay a visit to this little Japanese restaurant on University Avenue Road for dinner.


The restaurant is in standalone house with traditional Japanese décor. Entering the restaurant, we were greeted by a homely and cozy ambience. Most of the furniture are made of pine wood and it gave a sense of authenticity. With traditional Japanese music playing in the background, we were ushered to a private room that seats 4.


Shabu Tei offers a wide variety that ranges from beef based dishes such as shabu shabu, sukiyaki, BBQ to other Japanese food such as nabe, curry rice, bento sets, noodles and more.
R and I decided to order 2 appetizers, Potato salad (Ks 2500), Mini Okonomiyaki (Ks 2,000) to start and one BBQ beef set. It is no surprise that we chose the most expensive grade of beef, the Prime Wagyu beef at (Usd 89 per 200gm). The set also comes with a variety of vegetables and rice.

First up, the Okonomiyaki was served. It was topped with pickled ginger, bonito flakes and Okonomi sauce and mayonnaise. The pancaked was well layered and well balanced with the dressing. However, there was too much flour compared to the other ingredients. The Potato salad came next and we a little disappointing. The potato was still warm when it was served and the texture was dry.
Okonomiyaki
Potato Salad

The BBQ set came next and it was what we really came for. As we ordered the most premium grade of beef, our expectations were undoubtedly high. The beef was well-marbled beef was served in slices. However, there was a rind of fat on some pieces. Grilling the slices to medium-rare, I placed the first piece in my mouth. Expecting the beef to melt in my mouth, I chewed lightly. But it took more effort. After a few more slices, the tenderness of the beef did improve. We guessed that it be as a result of the raw beef warming to room temperature. The Yakiniku dipping sauce was flavorful and enhanced the grilled beef without being overwhelming.
Prime Japanese Wagyu

Given R is a big eater, he decided to order one more dish, the Cold Somen (Ks 3000). It was partly because this type of noodle is not readily found in Yangon and is a good gauge of the restaurant’s standards.
The somen was served in a bowl filled with water and ice-cubes around the noodles and a separate bowl of dipping sauce. Surprisingly, this dish came as the highlight of the night. The noodle, cooked to al-dente, was extremely bouncy and had a nice bite to it. The dipping sauce, peppered with spring onions was equally great.

Overall, although the beef BBQ was below expectations, we will definitely come back again to try their other offerings. 

 Shabu-Tei
No. 20 University Avenue, Bahan Township,
Yangon, Myanmar
Tel: (95-1) 526655

Posted in | Leave a comment

Contributors

Followers

Powered by Blogger.

Search

Swedish Greys - a WordPress theme from Nordic Themepark. Converted by LiteThemes.com.