2009 Fall Dining Guide

By Tom Sietsema
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009

Just like the four cooks at this Gaithersburg restaurant, half of the dishes are Chinese and half are Burmese. As appealing as the kitchen's pork-filled fried dumplings and fiery kung pao shrimp are, the ginger salad and nan gyi thoke provide even better reasons to explore the menu. The first, a brassy slaw, combines finely shredded fresh ginger, cabbage and onion, tossed with lime juice and sesame oil and showered with peanuts. The latter, an entree, finds a tangle of spaghetti-like rice noodles, shredded chicken and bean sprouts punched up with chilies. Good on its own, the noodle dish blossoms with the addition of fresh lime and chopped cilantro at the table. A lot of the Burmese dishes are not for the fainthearted. Tamarind simmered with shrimp paste, for instance, looks like orange mush and smells a little funky, but the side dish does a sweet-tart tap dance on the tongue. Tamer but also tasty: beef slivers stir-fried with sour mustard greens. Mint-green walls, tinkling music and pools of space between the tables create a backdrop that's at once soothing and stylish, worthy of date night but priced for every day.