At the Golden Triangle Restaurant

I forgot to mention that yesterday was my birthday. I am finally able to legally smoke cigarettes, not that I intend to.

My family celebrated by going to the Golden Triangle Restaurant, a moderately-priced Burmese and Thai restaurant in Uptown Whittier. (I have no idea why the restaurant is named after the major opium-producing area). Even though the restaurant was established over 20 years ago, it was surprisingly empty. The Thai waitress pronounced the names of the Burmese dishes with such fluency that my parents began speaking to her in Burmese, but she did not understand. The food was average, by my tastes. Although Burmese cuisine places an emphasis on taste and not appearance, every dish that came out of the kitchen was garnished with cilantro (coriander).

The coconut rice (oun htamin), which is 35¢ more than plain rice, was not at all aromatic. It was definitely not worth the extra money.

Goat curry, garnished with carrots, cilantro and peas, tasted raw to me. I guess this is how beef tastes, but I would not know because I don’t eat beef.

Mango chicken, served with chicken, sliced mangoes in the fruit was probably the best-tasting dish. The chicken and mangoes surprisingly blended well together.

Next was the fish curry with tomatoes, but I could hardly stand the stench of the tomatoes, because I just don’t like the vegetable. The taste of the dish was not at all exciting; at best, it was bland.

And for dessert, I ordered a phaluda drink (it’s Burmese for falooda, an Indian sweet drink, with pieces of bread and ice cream). I thought the drink was dyed too red, but that’s my opinion. Personally, I like the phaluda at the Shwe Pazun bakeries in Rangoon.

And I also ordered yay-ge mont, which basically consists of dyed ice shavings mixed with a variety of condiments like peanuts, cherries, and gelatin. That dessert did not add enough condensed milk to make it more creamy.

The food was filling, but not quite satisfying. But, if anyone in the L.A. area is interested to try some Burmese food, the address of the restaurant is below:

Golden Triangle Restaurant
7011 Greenleaf Ave.
Whittier, CA 90602