519238 Wed May 14 18:05:56 -0700 2008 2 48 Greater Asia 0 3688067 I have a weakness for Penang fried koay teow, which is lighter (in taste, texture & even appearance) than Singapore fried koay teow, but getting good Penang fried koay teow has become an impossibility in recent years here. Last night, I found a marvellous "new" version of fried koay teow in town - and it's actually Myanmarese! Lightly fried with prawns, eggs, beansprouts, a generous dash of chilli paste & crisp mungbeans, it closely approximated Penang-style fried koay teow. Inle Myanmar restaurant is located in the basement of Peninsula Plaza, replete with Myanmarese shops & businesses of all ilk, and its clientele is 99% Burmese/Myanmarese For dinner last night, we also ordered: - Mohinga, a spicy-sourish noodle soup dish consisting of rice vermicelli, fried fish cake, boiled egg, fried mungbean fritters, sliced young banana stems. The broth was fish-flavoured, with hints of galangal, onions, ginger & ngapi (fish paste). In fact, it tasted 80% similar to the famous Penang laksa. Come to think of it, both Penang and erstwhile Burma were British colonies in the 19th/20th century & were close neighbours (separated by independent Siam). Obviously, there must be close trade, cultural, social & even culinary ties between the two places. - Bitter-gourd & tofu fritters which has a tempura-like crust which shatters at the slightest bite; - two types of curry: one chicken, the other pork. Both curries tasted quite close, so I'd recommend ordering one or the other the next time. Both exhibited Indian influences, with sweetish undertones - reminiscent of Bengali-style curries in Dhaka/Kolkata; - a strange fermented tea-leaves salad, which is very much an acquired taste. Dessert was an ultra-rich shaved ice concoction filled with multi-colored jelly cubes, beans, corn, nuts, all drenched in psychedelic syrup & coconut creme. Seems like every South-East Asian country has a version of this dessert: Malaysian/Singaporean ice-kachang, Filipino halo-halo, Indonesian es campur/es teller; Thai nam kang sai (my childhood favorite). Wed May 14 18:05:58 -0700 2008 143097 klyeoh 1 3688928 Opened for lunch? How is the atmosphere? Hole in the Wall or quite comfortable? Thu May 15 03:11:57 -0700 2008 3688067 130720 FourSeasons 2 3691944 Yes, it's opened for lunch. Started off as a hole-in-the-wall kinda place, think Komala Vilas. But it's spruced itself up a bit & doubled its size recently by expanding into the next door unit. The last time I was at Peninsula Plaza (Cathay Photo's my fave place to buy cameras/equipment), there was a Burmese wedding luncheon reception at Inle. Thu May 15 17:58:49 -0700 2008 3688928 143097 klyeoh