Yoma Myanmar — Restaurant in Monterey Park

2 weekend visits in a row!

Our first visit was about 40 mins prior to their close time, and there was no one in the restaurant and no one at the front desk.

We were beginning to think they were closing up shop already so we called out and a motherly woman came out to accommodate us.

She was very helpful in assisting us to choose dishes so we got:

Tea Leaf Salad -- This was an explosion of flavor and different textures. I didn't expect it to be so crunchy and there were varying notes of tanginess, sweetness, and bitterness. You really have to try it out to understand what's going on with this. xD It was refreshing though!

Mustard Greens Soup -- We originally wanted a Watercress soup but she didn't have anymore so not sure if this was a spin off or actual menu item. But it was delicious, reminiscent of the Chinese version, and a hearty portion. We sucked that bowl dry!

Yoma danpauk -- Another recommendation of hers, and this was AMAZING. We were presented with a large mound of colorful rice, and when we poked into it, we realized there was a tender and large chicken leg underneath. SO DELICIOUS. This was our favorite of the night. Rice was uber fluffy, (kind of like bismati rice) and there were raisins, cashews, and more tea leaves. Loved the mix of savory and slight sweetness notes. LOVE LOVE.

Freebie Fried Bean Appetizer -- Since it was our first time, she gave us a freebie appetizer of fried beans that look like flattened falafel things. Yummy!

Freebie Coconut Jelly Dessert -- She also gave a small plate of delicious coconut jelly :D So awesome!!

Our 2nd visit was during off hours again, at 3 PM for an uber late lunch.

We wanted to try all new things so with the aid of the owner again, we got:

Coconut Noodle Soup -- I really enjoyed the soup in this, since it was creamy, flavorful and had those important crunchies of fried onion bits and peanuts. The noodles themselves seemed placed in, so it didn't soak in the flavor. If you request this, ask them to remove the noodles.

Shan Noodle -- This was a saucy noodle dish in a bowl that needs to be well mixed to get the full flavor. It also came with a small bowl of peppery broth that was a bit too peppery for me. It's similar to the texture of Dan Dan mien if you enjoy that.

Beef Curry -- The beef chunks were super tender and the sauce was delish but kind of a small portion for the price. Maybe we got too many carbs in this visit xD We made quick work of all the meat chunks and was left with a lot of sauce that would've been sopped up with the rice if we didn't have so many noodles to finish.

She was very happy to see us again, and encouraged us to visit some more which we'll happily oblige!

My favorite is still the Yoma danpauk so far. :D Can't wait to come back and try some...

Had a great experience trying Burmese cuisine in Asia, and I kinda missed that. I was pretty excited to find Yoma Myanmar through yelp! It took us some time to figure it out what to order, some dishes are only available during the weekend, but the owner was nice, she offered other suggestions that turned out to be really good.

We opted for fried samusas, mohinga noodle soup, shan noodles, and yoma chicken rice to share. The fried samusas are similar to Indian fried samosas, but with a delicious dipping sauce. I liked the sauce, it was slightly spicy and with a good amount of acidity. The samusas had a great curry potato filling and flaky outside, probably one of the best I had. The mohinga noodle soup is a fish soup w/ noodles, it came w/ two crunchy toppings (dried fish & pickled veggies w jalapeño) which added a nice change in texture to the taste. The fish soup was dense and rich, and you can still taste some fish pieces in the soup. I honestly loved that it had several different textures in the soup, that reminded me of some dishes I had in Chiang Mai. Really good flavor. The only con would be the saltiness, it felt pretty heavy to finish the entire soup. Shan noodles is the dish that the owner recommended to us. It's relatively light, simple but surprisingly tasty! Make sure to mix the noodles w/ the sauce and toppings thoroughly before eating. So good! The Yoma chicken rice tastes similar to Indian chicken curry rice, the flavored rice was good, and the chicken was well-cooked.

Overall, 4.5 stars. Love this family-owned restaurant. Authentic Burmese cuisine in LA. Good portions, reasonable prices, and amazing flavors. We enjoyed our first experience in Yoma Myanmar, will def be...

I wanted to try some Burmese food and thankfully this place was closest. I entered early in the late afternoon and the place was delightfully empty but yet open for early dinner. This place really felt like a family-run restaurant, extremely inviting, and Mr Timt(?), the host was very kind and helpful to me as I have only had Burmese food once and it was a long time ago. I had the Shan noodles, which my host suggested I put two spoonful of soup on, and everything about this dish was perfect. The noodles I think are homemade they were perfect and chewy. The beat I chose was chicken but it was so complex I thought that you could only reach that level of complexity with pork but it was definitely chicken and all mixed together it was a brilliant dish, outrageously good. I had the chicken and potato Curry and that was excellent as well, nowhere near as complex but simple good food and I like this kind of Curry very much. My host was so friendly he gave me a sampler dish of fried tofu in the Burmese style, which has a texture of tofu I've never experienced before was almost like a banana or buttery it's hard to explain but it was very good. And then there were also very small samusas, and they were delicious too. I was pretty much full at that point but I couldn't not try these they were a gift and also extraordinarily good with this dipping sauce. I ended with Burmese tea which is a milk tea let it hit the spot. I will definitely be back because I'm already craving those Shan noodles again and wish I brought more home for takeout. Or maybe I'll try their fish soup and noodles next time. It was an excellent experience...