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Burma Road

617 South Frederick Avenue, Gaithersburg MD

Hours: Monday-Friday 11 am –10 pm;

Saturday 11 am-11:30 pm; Sunday 11 am-9 pm.

Tel: 301-963-1429

Burma Road restaurant owner Charles Sheh is shuttling back and forth between the kitchen and the dining area, flitting between different groups in this throng of guests, making sure everyone is entertained. Long-time friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors flow through the front doors. It is the grand opening celebration of Burma Road and people are ready to eat.

Burma Road is a crossroad that unites the palettes of traditional Burmese, Chinese, and a hint of Indian flavors. The result: an intersection of rich, spice with soy subtlety.

That’s what Sheh had in mind a few years ago when he had the idea of opening a restaurant in the Gaithersburg area. While growing up in Burma, Sheh was captivated by the stories his mother and grandmother used to recount about their flee along the famous Burma Road to escape Japanese invasion.

Sheh’s later travels between Kunming, China and Mandalay familiarized him with classic Burmese and Chinese dishes, inspiring a dream to introduce a unique culinary taste when he arrived in America. Even the décor reflects this balance: gentle sea foam green walls contrast the brightly colored, intricately designed paintings that adorn them.

“I love cooking, I love eating too, so I eat a lot,” Sheh says laughing, “I’m a people person, I love meeting people, I love my customers so every time I feed them, I feel happy.”

Happy, indeed. Food is smelled before it is seen. The warm aroma of cocoanut rice, Malaysian Chowfoon, five flavor roast beef, ginger salad and a host of other dishes wafts through the air.

And the piling begins. In a buffet line, empty plates become mountains of ivory colored rice mixed with a subtlety spiced chicken potato curry. Soft reddish-hued wide noodles are mixed with thin slices of cold cut roast beef. Golden-pillowed squares of fried Tofu Kyaw are placed on scoops of ginger salad. Crispy salted squid is placed next to shreds of lightly flavored jellyfish noodles.

The desserts experience a similar fate. Bubble-gum pink Falooda, a milky dessert with bits of tapioca and crushed ice is sipped with candied apple, soft pieces of apple wrapped in a sweet lightly crisped coating.

The best part: all the flavors blend together seamlessly, according to Burmese native Patricia Oo, a trait that she believes makes Burma Road a particular success.

“I like the flavors here because it’s not too heavy,” Oo said, “Usually Burmese food is rather heavy and over spiced, but what they have here is a very mellow taste. It’s not over spiced, it’s very good for people who do not want to eat too much spicy stuff, and are looking for a low fat alternative.”

But does the blend of flavors here at Burma Road take away from true Burmese cuisine? Not so, according to attendee Nyein Min who particularly enjoyed the taste and texture of the Malaysian noodles and cold cut beef. “It’s good, true, authentic Burmese food,” he said.

Attendees Billy Truss and Ricardo Cabrera, neither of whom had ever tried Burmese food before, shared similar praise. “Every single dish was delicious. The squid and seaweed wrapped shrimp was very good. I was fortunate that I was among the first wave to the table, so I was able to try a bit of everything,” said Cabrera.

“I liked it all, I’ve never had Burmese food and I’ve been to China more than one time but it’s always been on the eastern shore,” said Truss, “I was looking at the menu and did see some things I would like to try.”

Indeed, the food present at this opening celebration is only a fraction of what Burma Road has to offer. In order to try the best food, you have to order Burmese dishes from the menu, according to attendee Johan Koe.

“For the real Burmese food, you have to cook it individually,” Koe said, “I would recommend that customers come back to try the individually cooked food because authentic Burmese food takes time.”

Koe recommends Mohinga, a fish broth dish served over rice noodle and Kowsway, a dish of cocoanut milk mixed with chicken served over noodles.

Toward the end of the celebration, rectangular foil dishes stand largely empty save for a few stray pieces here and there. And plates, piled high with mountains of food are scraped into clear plateaus.