CLOSED - Burmese Cafe - Restaurant Review

Burmese Cafe has closed its doors.

You like big things in small packages? The tiny Burmese Cafe in Jackson Heights wows the taste buds with expertly prepared Burmese cuisine.

The flavors dash between India and Thailand, so the curries and stir-fries are familiar but still exotic and uniquely Burmese, heavy on the garlic, ginger, and fish sauce. Their two-bite samosas resolve the heavy Indian samosa into petite spring-roll wrapped triangles.

The casual, inexpensive Burmese Cafe is highly recommended for anyone wanting to sample a cuisine little known in New York City but with a robust, complex taste.

"Throwing stars of love" was my friend's exclamation over the "golden triangle" samosas ($5). They're the Burmese Cafe's solution to the dilemma of the Indian samosa -- so delicious as an appetizer yet so filling it can ruin a meal -- downsizing to a handful of fried spring-roll wrapper triangles, filled with potato and peas. The dipping sauce -- a gingery, garlicky tomato -- makes it complete. The samosas are even better as part of a crunchy, savory salad.

Another Indian-influenced appetizer, palarta ($4) is a layered, greasy flat bread served with a bean dip topped with crispy fried garlic. Scoop it up!

More unique to Burma, the green tea leaf salad ($6) is a sensation of flavors - sour with fish sauce, spicy with chili, savory with garlic -- and a heap of textures -- cabbage, pickled tea leaves, toasted peanuts, sesame seeds, tomato, and dried shrimp. The tea will get you going with its caffeine.

The restaurant's curries and "Chinese-style" stir-fries will be familiar to anyone used to Indian and Southeast Asian cooking, but different enough to warrant many satisfying yums. The bits of bone and nibbles of fat in the chicken curries ($5) may surprise someone accustomed to perfectly manicured meat.

The one misstep in three visits was the Burmese-style fried chicken. Crunchy on the outside, it was, alas, under cooked on the inside.

The Burmese Cafe staff knows their food, and can recommend dishes. While ice seems to be scarce, the service is very friendly and good.

Don't be put off by the poor side entrance to the restaurant. Though it's small, the space is homey and well-decorated with a golden Buddha, wooden puppets, and tapestries. Burmese karaoke videos play on a large TV at the back of the long, narrow space, with four-seat tables on either side of a middle aisle. The curtains help muffle the rumble of the overhead #7 subway.