LOCATIONStrathfield is 15 minutes west from the CBD.
PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIABurmese cuisine, it seems, has largely flown under the radar. However, when you consider its geographical position bordering China and Thailand, it appears possible that the famous food of its neighbours has largely overshadowed Burma’s culinary contributions. The good news is that Burma has borrowed its favourite bits from all these venerable cuisines and fashioned them into something quite unique and delicious.
Bagan has the distinction of being the only Burmese restaurant in Sydney. If Burmese food is relatively unknown to most of us, it’s a different story in Strathfield - Bagan is literally overflowing with diners, night after night. Once inside the brightly lit room, enthusiastic staff hand over enormous, illustrated menus. There’s some familiar fare here - Chinese and Indian dishes - but skip these and head straight for the stuff you won’t find anywhere else. Pennywort salad is tangy, herbaceous and robustly spiced, and the pae palarta is a crisp, delicate roti topped with dhal and fried garlic. The Burmese curries are less chilli-hot than their Thai and Indian counterparts, intensely earthy and only slightly less complex. Elsewhere there are pork balls, crisp outside and moist within, and chicken Hokkien noodles with a powerful, garlicky punch. Wash it all down with a fantastic avocado shake and then marvel at how fat your wallet remains after you have paid for the bill.
Fiona Davies