{"id":21321,"date":"2026-03-27T08:49:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=21321"},"modified":"2026-03-27T08:49:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:49:18","slug":"sophies-rangoon-kitchen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=21321","title":{"rendered":"Sophie\u2019s Rangoon Kitchen"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)<\/em>
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\nFor the longest while, whenever I did one of my Ethnic Eats in Elmhurst<\/a> ethnojunkets, we\u2019d pass by the vacant storefront at 81-04 Broadway and pause wistfully at the tantalizing promise of a new Burmese restaurant opening soon. And now, Sophie\u2019s Rangoon Kitchen has fulfilled that promise. Outstandingly.<\/p>\n

When I entered, all of the tables were occupied \u2013 which was just as well because I wanted to try more than one dish (Burmese cuisine is one of my all-time favorites) \u2013 so I ordered three to go:<\/p>\n

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\nLaphet Tote (you might see \u201cthoke\u201d) \u2013 Pickled Tea Leaves Salad. In Myanmar, tea is not only drunk, but also consumed as food. Laphet is the Burmese word for pickled or fermented tea leaves; tote means salad. In addition to the tea leaves, traditional additions are cabbage and tomatoes plus add-ins like tiny dried shrimp; the dressing, often garlic oil, lime juice and fish sauce; and the all-important \u201ccrunchies\u201d \u2013 expect fried garlic and fried onion, fried broad beans and toasted soybeans plus peanuts and sesame seeds \u2013 all mixed together and garnished with green bird\u2019s eye chilies and slices of fresh raw garlic. Sophie\u2019s rendition was everything I hoped it would be.<\/p>\n

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\nNann Gyii Tote \u2013 Curry Noodle Salad. Chicken curry over rice noodles (mix well) plus hard-boiled egg and fish cake, garnished with a lime wedge and cilantro; medium spice level. Simple and superb.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kyay Oh Sichat \u2013 Garlic Vermicelli Meatball. It\u2019s offered with either chicken or pork meatballs and as a soup or dry (shown here); if you choose pork (as shown), it also comes with a few slices of pork liver. Savory garlicky vermicelli with fish paste, fish ball, quail eggs and a perfectly cooked hard-boiled chicken egg, along with Chinese broccoli, it\u2019s served with bone broth and a dipping sauce that\u2019s simultaneously sweet and spicy. (The photo at the top of this post was my attempt at plating the takeout order for the sake of detail.) Do not miss this one!<\/p>\n

Every bite represented authentic Burmese home cooking at its finest. In all the years I\u2019ve been writing about ethnic food, I have visited only a handful of restaurants that I intend to keep returning to until I\u2019ve tasted everything on the menu.<\/p>\n

Sophie\u2019s Rangoon Kitchen is one of those restaurants.
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\nStay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes! \u2764
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\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the longest while, whenever I did one of my Ethnic Eats in Elmhurst ethnojunkets, we\u2019d pass by the vacant storefront at 81-04 Broadway and pause wistfully at the tantalizing promise of a new Burmese restaurant opening soon. Read on…. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3336,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-21321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-restaurants-food-courts","tag-burmese"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21321"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21350,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21321\/revisions\/21350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}