When 24-year-old Yun Naing, her mom Thidar Kyaw, and her father Tin Ko Naing first started mulling the opportunity of increasing their family-run eatery Yun Cafe, the place they serve Burmese dishes from a small bodega housed beneath floor in a Queens subway station, the concept felt dangerous.
As one among solely a handful of Burmese eating places in New York Metropolis, the tiny cafe affords a remarkably wide selection of salads and soups which were broadly praised, from the laphet thoke, a salad made from fermented tea leaves, shredded cabbage, tomatoes, roasted nuts, and dried shrimp; to the moninga, a fish noodle soup that includes aromatic lemongrass and crunchy chickpeas. However for Yun and her mother and father, taking their repertoire from the subterranean Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Avenue/74th Road subway station to an above-ground spot in Manhattan would imply dealing with the island’s steep rents and accelerated tempo. Nonetheless, it will additionally convey the chance to extend visibility and consciousness round Burmese delicacies, one thing Manhattan has been lacking for the reason that Higher East Aspect’s Cafe Mingala shuttered in 2016.
So when Kyaw, who’s an actual property agent, discovered a small storefront in a first-rate East Village location, the household determined to take the leap. The brand new institution, referred to as Little Myanmar, not too long ago debuted with all of Yun Cafe’s beloved Burmese dishes and an expanded choice that features masala crab curry, mala skewers, cassava desserts, and papaya milkshakes. Kyaw continues to be the principle chef and cooks many of the dishes “the best way we prepare dinner it at dwelling,” says Yun. She herself manages the enterprise, placing the economics diploma she’s now finishing at Baruch School into real-life follow.
Yun’s household opened Yun Cafe in 2020 amid the pandemic as a spot to promote espresso, sandwiches, and pastries. They didn’t assume clients can be keen on Burmese meals, however determined to supply a few dishes anyway. Clients quickly started stopping by particularly to pattern flavors emblematic of the Southeast Asian nation. However the underground area didn’t present a full kitchen, nor was there ample air flow. “We actually needed floor degree,” says Yun. Once they requested common clients—a few of whom would make the journey from Manhattan—for options about different neighborhoods to think about, many advisable the East Village.
“Folks have been very welcoming and really receptive,” says Yun of their new dwelling. “It’s one thing that individuals didn’t count on, a Burmese place. They have been pleasantly stunned.”
In contrast to the extra takeout-focused Yun Cafe, the bigger Little Myanmar affords in-restaurant eating—and a full kitchen for Yun’s mother and father to essentially escape their culinary expertise. “Now we have a combination of spicy, bitter, candy, and salty,” says Yun of Burmese meals. Within the restaurant’s mohinga, which is taken into account the nation’s nationwide dish, these eclectic and contrasting flavors are on full show: “How Thai individuals are pleased with their tom yum soup, or how Vietnamese individuals are pleased with their pho, that’s what mohinga is to us.”
Whereas close by eateries like Burmese Bites in Queens, Rangoon in Brooklyn, and Amayar Kitchen in Maywood, New Jersey, are additionally shining gentle on Burmese delicacies, Little Myanmar is carrying the group in Manhattan. “Each one among us who has a Burmese restaurant right here feels the identical method: we simply really need it to work,” says Yun, “so that it’ll open alternatives for different folks as nicely.”
“We’re simply very completely satisfied that individuals like our meals.”
