Mandalay

I went to this restaurant with me family after reading good reviews about it and was not disppointed. I have since returned to Mandalay twice and intend on visiting again. The staff are warm and friendly and there is a very typically Burmese atmosphere. The food is never a let down and I always look forward to my next meal at the Mandalay!
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Warren - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, January 09, 2008

After reading about this restaurant for a year, finally mustered the courage to try it (though I only live a few hundred metres away). The starters of fried bean sprouts & shrimp were nice though probably looked better than they tasted. Chicken samosas had an interesting basil taste though nothing to write home about. A chilli, papaya salad interestingly refreshing. Mains were lovely, both the spinach curry and the pickled lamb. Copious amounts of food for £26 total, I will def be returning for my next 'cheap' eat.
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Caroline
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Monday, December 17, 2007

In response to the comment above, you are an expatriate and therefore not Burmese so your opinion is not as credible as someone who is actually Burmese. I have been raised on traditional Burmese food cooked by Burmese parents. I must say Mandalay’s food is really a credit to Burma. Dishes such as Ohn-no Khauk-swe and Let Thout are as authentic as Burmese dishes can get. I don’t recall walking into an Indian restaurant and seeing such items on their menu. Other dishes which you so clearly believe are ‘’indian’’ have some similarities with Indian food, which if you had taken the time to read, you would have noticed was printed on the menu; that Burmese food is a fusion of Indian, Thai and Chinese. I have been going to the restaurant for years and have never once been disappointed with the authenticity of the food. In fact it reminds me of my mother’s traditional home cooked meals. Having spoken to the owners on numerous visits to the restaurant I am aware that the brothers are the grandsons of U Wa Gyi, the first superintendent of BG press and the nephews of Dr. Ban Han; Attorney General and Dr. Ban Maw; the first Burmese Priminister under British rule. I do not think people with such deep rooted Burmese heritage would be serving anything but authentic Burmese food just to ‘’trick’’ English people. The restaurant is a family run place which genuinely takes care into ensuring food is served to high quality and customers are left satisfied. I know I am after every meal there. There is a great variety of dishes to choose from and one cannot go wrong in picking any because I’m sure they all taste exquisite. I would 100% recommend this place to anyone looking for inexpensive but great tasting food and to ignore ignorant comments and reviews from so called ‘’experts’’ such as anon. Also for other people who have commented on staff not being Burmese. When you go into Bella Italiana for example which from the name suggests its Italian, I can guarantee you that you are not served by Italians. The waitresses and waiters at a restaurant should not be expected to be fellow countrymen. They are just doing a job and that is all. I don’t think people would complain if that Gary Rhodes served them an Indian curry. The authenticity of the food being cooked is nothing to do with the person cooking it, the style of cooking and the ingredients are what make a dish!
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MW - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Monday, October 22, 2007

I ate at the Mandalay a few nights ago, even though I would not consider myself an expert in Burmese cuisine, I found the food was to a very high standard, especially the coconut chicken noodles. The service even better and the knowledge of Burma shown by the staff wonderfully exhilarating. I must admit as I said earlier I am not an expert in Burmese cuisine however I know when I see Indian food considering there is a Indian takeaway on every street in this country, This is why I find anon's remarks completely patronising, I am tired of these so called experts, who in reality have probably spent a few months in the country they speak of , telling us the general pubic were to eat and what to eat. I honestly believe that Mandalay offers a wonderful eating experience and I encourage my fellow eaters to give it a try.
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James Black
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Sunday, October 21, 2007

Speakiing as a burmese expat, I have to agree with most of the comments made, and perhaps add a few of my own - the food is obviously cooked to a price, not to achieve any real authenticity, and is indeed mostly indian - which i can get on any street in Britain; the owners of this dingy place have obviously decided that the average English person doesn't know or understand Burmese food, so anything can be foisted off on them - shame on you, if you were really interested in serving genuine Burmese food, there are less lazy ways of providing it - Burma has a Cultural Attache in London, and there are numerous Burmese recipe sites on the internet - try one, for God's sake, and take the unappetizing mess you are calling 'Burmese' off the menu and call the rest what it really is, Indian!
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Sunday, October 14, 2007

We have been there several times and are looking to go again this weekend. We always try something different and the staff or oweners are so helpful.

We have never had a bad meal there and the price is very reasonable.

It may not be the most glamorous place to see or be seen but we love it.
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Linda Harris
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Thursday, August 16, 2007

Being the only Burmese restaurant in this country (to my knowledge), customer tend to give in to the standard of the food it serve. Authenticity is too much of a praise for it as the dishes are rather Indian to some extent. To back this up, the primary Burmese dish, curry, didn't taste Burmese in any sense. Although It does serve some other Burmese dishes like Samusa Tote and Latt Tote, I wouldn't say they are better than any one that you can get in any stalls in any town in Burma.

The ambient is just fine because I did not hold any high expectation about it. Too much marketing within the service. The owner came to talk to us, trying to introduce us to his Mandalay Inn which I don't think its appropriate at all. Along side with the marketing, he was also boasting about his middle class customers, who are Doctors and Accountants. May be I am just a bit too harsh in judging, I would rather go to a quiet place where you can enjoy your meal and talk to your accompany!
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Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Sunday, July 29, 2007

Our own road to Mandalay was far from promising: at 7pm on a Saturday evening we were sat in an empty and rather dingy restaurant overlooking a tatty section of the Edgeware Road, wondering whether we should have stayed at home with a take away.

But we were glad we stuck it out. On the evidence of what followed, Burmese cuisine might be classed as a satisfying if undistinct hybrid of Thai and Indian influences. The starters were the most memorable: a toothsome raw papaya and cumumber salad; and a shrimp and courgette fritter held together by a light and crunchy batter with a lipsmacking tamarind chutney to dip. The mains were good but not outstanding: my twice cooked fished curry consisted of fine, crunchy fillets of fish with a moreish coconut milk sauce that hit all the right sour notes; but a king prawn and lemongrass curry was a bit too oily and could have done with a more subtle and aromatic spicing.

Overall, an enjoyable meal, and the chance to sample some intriguing and unusual dishes from a largely unknown region. The number of regular punters who eventually joined us - many veterens of the Asian hippy trail, judging by the long (male) hair and sandals - suggested we weren't the only ones who thought so.
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MarkD - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Sunday, July 08, 2007

I have gone to this restaurant every once in a while for the past four years or so. I reluctantly agree with many fellow reviewers’ assertion that the quality may have decreased. This may be due to the fact the owners are now also running Mandalay Inn in Sussex Gardens and they have to divide their time.

Starters

For starters go for the assorted fritters. No competition from others.

Rice

One fault that Myanmar people that dine with me often say is the rice. It is not that it is bad rice or that is badly cooked. It is just that the rice that is served there is Indian (Basmati). In Yangon, people eat Paw san mwe. Thai jasmine rice would be more similar to the rice that people eat in Myanmar (at least the low lands). However, I think this is only a minor point.

I would say diners should go for the lentil rice rather than for coconut or pilau (you probably get them in Thai and Indian restaurants).

Curries

In terms of the curries, the view supported by other Myanmar diners is that the curries slant towards Indian (rather than being mainland Burmese). This may be due to the fact that the cook is an Indian. The best curry I would recommend is the twice cooked fish. Also worth a mention are the Lamb curries. In general I would say go for curries which has an additional ingredient such as lentil, ginger or tamarind for a better culinary experience.

Single dishes

I now turn to single dishes (they are under special noodle and rice dishes in the menu). I think mok-hin-gar(rice noodles in fish soup)is very good. Kyat-tha Ohn-no Kauk swe (chicken coconut noodles) can be considered good but could be better. I have had fellow Yangonites made unsatisfactory remarks about the coconut noodles. The complaint simply stems from this. They do not serve the noodles in a bowl and hence it tends to get dried up and ends up like an athoke ( a Burmese salad mix) in stead of being a soup dish.

The special fried noodles resemble the noodles you can have in Yangon. But special fried rice is not like what people have in Yangon. In terms of taste both falls short of the expected standard.

Hta Min Let-Thoat (Rice and Noodles under salads – a thoat) gets my recommendation as well.

Side Orders

Other side dishes that have been praised are balachaung (dried prawn garnish – under Seaford dishes) and Samusa thoat (Samosa salad under Salads)

As for desert, go for the Faluda. Again Yangonites have complained that this is not what it is but I would say it is close enough. Banana fritters are also good. I would recommended Faluda and Banana fritters above the rest.

I don't want to write this as a comparative analysis of Yangon food and what they serve in this restaurant. One may also find it ironic that it does not serve any special dishes from the actual city, Mandalay.

The food is of good value and is generally good but I would have to give it a low authenticity rating, at least through my Yangonite glasses.

PS – One has to understand the use of the terms Myanmar and Burma in order to appreciate choice of cuisines available. The term Myanmar covers other races and ethnicity present in the Union of Myanmar and hence Myanmar food is a wider term than Burmese/Burman food. Yangon and other big cities as trading cities normally have all types of Myanmar food compared to other parts or smaller cities of the Union of Myanmar. The Yangon connoisseur would have a variety of regional dishes (e.g. Rakhine Mote Di, Shan Hta-Min ) readily available to him. Tea shops in Yangon readily serve regional dishes, Chinese and Indian dishes in addition to what one could call mainstream Burmese/Burman food.

Hence most people from Yangon (or other big cities such as Mandalay) will find the menu limited in some ways. To its defence, the Mandalay restaurant called itself Burmese restaurant and hence perhaps it should not be faulted for this limitation.
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Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 7
Saturday, June 30, 2007

I am burmese and I went along with my brother with great excitment as we have been looking for a burmese restaurant for some time and we were not disappointment. The staff were friendly although it baffled me as to why they did not have a burmese waitress who understood what we ordered when we did so in burmese!!

The food was delicious and authentic, just like we used to get at home, we will be visiting again, with our parents!!
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Nat
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Thursday, June 14, 2007