Mandalay (Burmese in Bloomington, Indiana)

Mandalay (Burmese in Bloomington, Indiana)


A couple of weeks ago, I had to present a paper at a conference being hosted by Indiana University in Bloomington. The conference itself was food-related — "Food in Bloom: Cross Pollination and Cultivation of Food Systems, Cultures and Methods" — with a strong leaning toward anthropological approaches to food issues; I myself was there to speak about fish sauce from a cross-cultural perspective. Given the proximity of some fine state parks to Bloomington and Lucantonius' love of forests, we made the trip a family outing, with Amata and Lucantonius enjoying nature while I was attending the conference.

Being a university town, Bloomington has its share of good, informal eateries, including a cluster of 'exotic' places in a small stretch of 4th Street just west of campus. There one finds Indian, Thai, Turkish, Tibetan restaurants, some of which I've visited over the years, and also a Burmese place that a friend of mine had recommended to me. On this visit, perhaps since fish sauce was 'on my brain', as it were, I really wanted to go to Mandalay Restaurant and that is what we did on the Saturday night of that weekend. We had a genuinely excellent meal at a very moderate price.

Here's what we had (quoted descriptions taken directly from Mandalay's on-line menu):

A complimentary plate of chick-pea fritters with a chili sauce:


"Paratha with Yellow peas (Paratha, yellow peas, fried shallot, and spices)":


"Tea Leaf Salad (Pickled green tea leaves, cherry tomatoes, cabbage, fresh lime, fried garlic, sesames seed, and roasted nuts. *Dried Shrimp are optional*)":


Here's the garnish for the salad — raw garlic, chilis, dried shrimp:


What a great way to wake up the palate!


Though we knew we would be 'over-ordering', we decided to get three main dishes, in order that we have a chance to try more items — we also knew the left-overs would make for a good lunch (and they did). Here are the main dishes we ordered:

"Rice Noodles with Fried Garlic (choice of chicken or pork; Steamed rice noodles, garlic oil, soy sauce, and green onion)"; we got the version with the pork, which was tender and delicious, a perfect textural complement to the 'al dente' rice noodles:


"Pork Curry with Burmese Mango Pickle (Pork, dried mango pickles from imported Burma, ginger, garlic, tomato-onion base curry, and spices. Served with jasmine rice)":

An absolutely delicious curry, made special by the presence of the mango pickle.

"Nga Chout Tamin Jo (Known as Nasi goreng ikan asin in Indonesia, a dish of fried rice with special imported dried & salted fish, shrimp, green onion, bean sprout, carrot, and egg)":

Pristine shrimp, funky salted fish; complex and well-composed.

Nota bene: There are bottles of fish sauce on each table for facultative application.

To drink we had Burmese tea and I brought along a six pack of beer.

All in all, I thought this restaurant was outstanding — the service was very friendly and efficient and the food was all delicious. The three of us look forward very much to returning there soon.


Bon pro',
Antonius

Mandalay Restaurant
413 E 4th Street
Bloomington, IN 47408

Hours: Tuesday to Sunday
Lunch 11:30AM to 2:30PM
Dinner 5:00PM to 9:00PM
Closed Monday
BYOB

http://www.mymandalayrestaurant.com/
812.339.7334

Thanks for the info! Looks fantastic.
I plan to head down there very soon.
Reminds me a lot of a Cambodian place
I tried a couple weeks ago in Cleveland.

Antonius,

I checked, Chicago - Bloomington 232 miles. A bit of a distance, but you've made Mandalay quite appealing. Wish there was a Burmese restaurant in Chicago, Portuguese as well for that matter.

Enjoy,
Gary

Wow - thank you for this report. Yes, Bloomington is by no means a food desert . . . one of my favorite spots as a student many years ago was Snow Lion for wonderful Tibetan food and I was lucky enough to return about two years ago. And as I found out through this forum, there are now two Tibetan restaurants in Bloomington.

And while I like to keep informed on the restaurant scene in Bloomington, I was not aware of Mandalay. So thank you for the excellent write-up and pictures. I look forward to visiting Mandalay on my next visit to Bloomington.

Gary, don't be intimidated by the mileage. Leaving at the right hour, and with a mildly heavy foot, you're 3 hours away from some beautiful Midwestern scenery and many surprisingly great restaurants.

The very hospitable owner told us that she had been open for three years. We tried to pitch the idea of opening a Chicago branch.

Mandalay is really a fabulous little place. We are seriously thinking of going back to Bloomington just to eat there again.

HI,

If you're headed to the Quad cities, there is a modest Burmese restaurant in Moline reported by Rene G.

Little Rangoon
1401 5th Av
Moline IL
309-736-7770

Regards,

Scuba, GWiv, BR -- Many thanks for the responses...

Gary - As BR says, it's not that far and a quick ride if you avoid any traffic issues...

An added attraction, beside the handsome campus, various eateries, nearby state parks, a couple of local microbreweries, there's also an outstanding farmers market in Bloomington:
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=28875

Antonius