I was very excited to get a message from a friend in London who was taking her man out for his birthday dinner to Mandalay, which is a very good Burmese restaurant in London, one of the few Burmese restaurants outside of Myanmar in the world. There is also a very good one in San Francisco and a couple in New York, if anyone else knows of any others, please let me know!

Burmese food is really it’s own thing and I highly recommend trying it out if you get a chance. Kat’s message follows:

I just got back from the restaurant and the food was fantastic! I had that coconut chicken noodle soup (Kaukswe) that you recommended and it was divine! It reminded me a bit of Penang Laksa only better ‘cus they use chicken breast which I prefer! So no bones or funny offal stuff that you sometimes get in noodle dishes. I had battered veg for starters a bit like tempura and some lovely chicken samosas. For dessert I had a tapioca pudding in coconut milk (a bit like Gula Melaka) and Jake had a lovely semolina cake (pictured above).