Mandalay - Golden Myanmar Restaurant, London

Mandalay - Golden Myanmar Restaurant,
444 Edgware Road
London W2 1EG
020 7258 3696

I've often eaten Khowsuey and I've cooked it myself, but its never been an authentic Burmese version. So when I heard that there was a Burmese restaurant in London with homestyle food, I was intrigued and put it on my wishlist.

Today I was in the Edgware Road area and so I decided to try them out.

The space is tiny and seems cramped compared to the other sprawling Middle Eastern style restaurants on Edgware road, with just 28 covers in 2 rows, but trust me the food is worth it.

Now don't head here expecting very fancy cuisine, what Mandalay offers is soul food. Pure homestyle cooking. Earthy and finger licking good. Food you could expect your friends mum to cook for you.

 This was my first experience of eating authentic Burmese food and I'm completely hooked. We tried the minced chicken samosa (3.2GBP for 4 pieces) in thin filo style pastry that went well with the accompanying tamarind, chilli and soya sauces. The chicken khowsuey (8.50) was creamy with spring onions and green chillies for fresh garnishing.

We opted for a chilli chicken (7.50) which was a standard stir fry with soya sauce. The very sweet lady recommended that we pair it with lentil rice (3.20) and it was perfect. I love bamboo shoot and was curious to try out their bamboo shoot mushroom stir fry (6.10) which I absolutely loved. Even the husband who detests bamboo shoot acknowledged that this was a version that he could stomach.

The bamboo shoot and mushroom stir fry and the tapioca pudding with Agar Agar (4.50) blew my mind.

The food was very light and easily digestible, so its definitely not your usual takeaway style food.

We will definitely be back to try more of the food on offer. The lamb meatball curry, balchaung and twice cooked fish have been heavily recommended. I'd like to go with maybe 2 more friends, so we can try more of the food on offer all at the same time.

They do have a license and offer some wines, and the service is very friendly and homely.

Timings:
Monday to Friday
Lunch - 12:30 to 15:30
Dinner - 18:30 to 22:30

Saturday
Open from 12:30 to 22:30

Rating : 4.5 / 5