Inle Myanmar Restaurant at the basement of Peninsula Plaza is the second foray in my Burmese food exploration in Singapore. There are about 10 Burmese food stalls and restaurants here in Singapore's "Little Myanmar".
The simply furnished, no frills restaurant looked welcoming. You can browse the menu with pictures outside on standing banners.
We were here at almost 2pm, past the lunchtime peak but the restaurant was still busy this Saturday afternoon. The lady boss who spoke a little English and Mandarin was friendly and helpful. I believe we were the only non Myanmese in the restaurant that day (to me a good sign when I am looking for authenticity).
The name Inle Myanmar is inspired by Inle Lake in Myanmar's Shan state which is famous for their iconic fishermen with one leg steering and rowing their boat while casting their basket net with the other leg. Image courtesy of Flickr.
We were unfamiliar with the dishes in the menu and the lady boss helped us through it. You can look through the menu here first before going down to Inle Myanmar.
We asked the boss to suggest a fish dish - she recommended the Spicy & Sour Sea Bass and Catfish with Chili. We opted for the catfish as I am not a fan of farmed sea bass (I assumed it is farmed sea bass 😬 ).
The fried catfish came completely smothered under a thick blanket of deep fried dried chili pepper and garlic.
There were four small deep fried catfish in the dish. The outside was crisp, slightly leathery, chewy while inside was a little dryer but still soft-tender. Taste was mainly savoury with a bit of spiciness from the fried dried chili and garlic. I ate up the whole fish including the crisp, chewy head but not the spine and attached bones.
On its own, the savoury spicy dried chili and garlic were flavourful and even went well with simple, plain boiled white rice.
The boss suggested this Pork in Black Bean Paste. Can't complain as the meat was stewed till tender and well infused with umami savoury flavours from fermented (black gram) bean paste. It was tasty but wasn't that interesting to me as it was similar to Chinese style pork stewed in bean paste and soy sauce.
(Afternote: Take the above back a bit. I took the unfinished portion to taste at home. In the calm and leisure of home, I had more time to savour the dish. The fermented black bean sauce was more robust than Chinese soy bean paste and reminded me of buah keluak.)
The boss suggested this Pickled Tea Leaves Salad which turned out to be my favourite dish of today's lunch. It's an intriguing blend of slightly tangy, sweet, bitter, umami savoury, nutty and spicy hot tastes. The textures were a mix of crunchy and chewy from the jumble of leaves, vegetables, dried shrimp, fried garlic, peanut, sesame seeds, etc. Must order.
Roselle Leaves sounded interesting. It was rehydrated dried roselle leaves stir fried with julienned bamboo shoot, spices, sauces and oil. The main flavour was the tangy savoury taste of bamboo shoot and mild spices / sauce.
I heard about another Burmese dish of stir fried roselle flowers which I am looking out for to try, next time.
Shan Rice (Htamin jin), a signature dish of the Intha people of Inle Lake. It's a large ball of boiled rice, moist and soft. It tastes sweet savoury with slight tangy, tomato, potato, fish sauce and garlic flavours. Eaten with various savoury, spicy, sweet and nutty garnishes such as raw garlic chive root, dried chili, chili sauce (flakes in oil), onion, nuts, deep fried dried tofu sticks, etc.
I asked for Mohinga, Myanmar's unofficial national dish found at street side stalls and restaurants across the country. This was my first time tasting mohinga. It is a soupy noodle dish garnished with boiled lotus root slices, fried split pea crisps, hard boiled eggs, fried garlic, coriander, etc.
The thick rice noodles (rice vermicelli) were boiled till soft and limp. They tasted slightly sweet and eaten with the mildly savoury (subtly) sweet soup made by boiling mashed fish, fish sauce, banana stem, lotus root, and slightly thickened by chickpea flour.
Myanmese Milk Tea. It was thick with sweet canned milk but the taste of tea leaves with its slight bitterness and fragrance still shone through.
Brenda's Tamarind drink. Din ask her how it tastes 😬
Inle Myanmar Restaurant is a comfortable, easily accessible place for authentic Burmese cuisine in Singapore. I will be back to try more dishes.
Where do you go for Burmese food in Singapore?
Check out my Myanmese food journey in Singapore.
Written by Tony Boey on 12 Jun 2022
Delicious post! Are the tea leaves pickled or fermented?
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