TL;DR: Thank your lucky stars that the next exotic venture into an exciting, new cuisine is smack-bang in the bustling hub of Stone's Corner. That, and they have arrived with full flair announcing they are right there. It is the fragrant, and aromatic scents of Burma which for the longest time were missing from Brisbane's extensive dining scene. The flavours are unlike anything else, the food is simple yet so delicious, and the menu itself is an adventure to be had. Burmese Fusion truly has something to behold.
Let's just start it off this way - several places within town can be the only, sometimes even the first ever, place to offer a certain time of food and just coast on that. It may work, or it may go belly up depending on how the cards are played. Location is what matters a lot of the time, and the new addition to the Stone's Corner area now has to set its game right and continue doing so. It had seemed to have gotten to a point that both the house mate and I had possibly tried each cuisine there was to do in Brisbane, which anything remotely out there being right in the Styx. Patience does prove itself from time to time - this is such a case. What specifically was on the tip of his tongue was attempting to find Burmese cuisine. Plenty were down south, and if it were in the Brisbane area often it was a small section on another cuisine's menu. Well, did he have a surprise in store waiting for him.... and the timing could not be any better.
WWE Network plus the next PPV equals getting onto that precious little UberEats. The majority of the time, what the choice of eats is randomly chosen. When I scrolling through the possible choices for the next event - the big favourite, none other than Money in the Bank - right there as one of the first choices was Burmese Fusion. I could not believe my eyes, and knew that the time was ripe. Par for the course, I arranged a time for it to arrive, sat back, and waited for some delicious fare to come our way. It was going to be a big one, and this was even better than I thought it was going to be. A big order often means waiting around a little longer, and if the food is good enough than the wait is worth it. Also, at least with UberEats you are able to track the order's progress on the phone.
I have had a bit of experience with Burmese cooking, knowing a Burmese lady in my childhood and also looking up some recipes to cook in the meantime. From these experiences, what I can gather is that Burmese has it own unique character in how it prepares its foods while having a definite influence from the Thai neighbours. That is definitely apparent with the menu right here. You have the curries, both the noodle and rice based dishes, stir fries, and salads that all definitely speak Thai in spirit, but the cooks also provide dishes unlike whatever else is in store. All that needs to be seen to prove this is the noodle soups, and to cement it if not convinced - the chef's specials, those are often where a restaurant is able to shine. That is the case with Burmese fusion, where the specials particularly focus on chicken and seafood options. A few sweet wrap up the menu, rounding it all of nicely.
This place has struck lucky, since most places might get a sample of one or two of their entrees. Right here, it was four. Plus, while entrees are not absolutely the key aspect to judging how well a restaurant is able to cook its fare you can be rest assured that they at least set you up for the sentiments that follow. These were the always lovely curry puffs, the unsung heroes that are coconut prawns, classical chicken satays, and reliable fish cakes. Each one was really tasty, were worth their aesthetic beauty alone.
Starting with the fish cakes, they pretty much what were expected. Don't get me wrong in any way, fish cakes are tasty on their own accord. Once you've tried a good fish cake, you really know what to expect. Nice is the right word for them. After that were the coconut prawns, and these were very different in two distinct ways. With coconut prawns, usually the actual meat is fairly small and/or flattened out somewhat. Not here, they must have fished some king prawns from the cooler to make these delectable morsels. The next aspect was the method for crumbing the prawns, actual big bits of dessicated coconut. You could see the bits jutting out within the batter. After such a while of frying, it was a melody of textures then heaps of flavour. Good old prawns are sweet suckers, and these were no exception. They were plump, and will impress anybody who likes themselves a good piece of seafood.
Chicken satays themselves work on two components: the have decent and tender chicken meat, plus a good quality peanut sauce to compliment them. They did that here, and for the satays, the meat pieces were singular big bits skewered onto the bamboo. These pieces of chicken were marinated well, and cooked to a tender degree. They must have been breast meat, since they were pretty light in texture. Coated on the satays was a delicious satay sauce, and one that did not come across as them simply melting peanut butter in the pan. This sauce had a thick, rich texture to it that was delicious in every sense of the word.
Did you realise what one is going last? Well, I don't really have that idea in mind about leaving the best for last all of the time. When the time comes for it though, it really calls for it. That was the case right here. None other than the curry puffs - the fillings being a mixture of minced chicken, potato, carrot, onion, corn, and peas which were all mixed with a curry marsala. With that list of fillings, you can bet the puffs were big. Add all that up, and the crusty shell rounded them all up. My house mate was gobsmacked with how good they were, and he would be right. This was like a small meal in itself, one that would be fantastic if it were bought from a street food stall.
Quite honestly, the meal could have easily ended there and that is not an over-statement. The food was that good thus far. However, to truly get a good taste of what they got to offer it was on to having some mains. Curries are always a beaut with the cuisines that do them, and what other way to infuse myself into Burmese than getting a sweet, sweet curry? Burmese curries have their own make-up that causes them to be their own entity entirely. Usually they are served relatively mild, though in this case the curry was requested to be quite hot. The curries are pretty smooth, don't utilise an elaborate recipe, and can be done pretty cheaply and easily. Comparisons can't be held off entirely, so here goes - Burmese have a down-home simplicity to them which entirely lacks in their Indian and Thai counterparts. In this curry, the meat was tender and light which definitely meant thigh meat was the cut of choice. I even recall there being some potato mixed in. Nevertheless, delicious curry and it certainly sets the restaurant up even more.
After that, the next choice came down to a coin flip with the winner ending up as Longsan chicken. It was because they were chef's specials, and a good reason definitely exists for that. While this was a simple enough dish - we are talking about some crispy chicken on top of a mixture of vegetables being topped off with a peanut satay sauce - it comes together just so well. Every vegetable in the dish was crunchy and bright, not merely being there to freshen out the meal. The peanut sauce was plentiful, being so thick and rich. Plus what brought this all together was the meat, the crumbed chicken. All that is needed is a good spice mixture, a decent crumb, and to cook the chicken well enough - how they did it made for some tender pieces. We have one more good addition to the roster here.
Last, and so far from least, the order was Asian garlic noodles with beef as the chosen meat. Now, this! This beauty right here, blew my mind. That is not a term that is used lightly either. I want to know how to cook it, and what they did to make it so tasty and dynamic. These were the garlic beef noodles, which were a simple mixture of vegetables with egg noodles. What made them so special was the garlic, which was enough to kill an entire hoard of vampires. You could see specks of it like frost on glass, hanging off individual strands of noodle. These noodles were tender, the beef was juicy and had a good level of flavour, plus the vegetables mixed through added a good crunch. This may not have been included in the chef's specials section, but it is at least as good as any choice from there - this gets my recommendation the most of the practically flawless selection that was delivered.
It is not often that I go and throw a sweet into the delivery box, but sometimes a force is egging me on to do it. This was a case, and the sweet of choice ended up being sticky rice with durian. That fruit that many Asians grow up with a fondness for, and people who know it as being exotic have different viewpoints about it. I happen to be in the camp that likes this fruit. Go past that infamous scent, and the flavour of it is surprisingly mild. Heck, when it is prepared as such in any of the desserts you can think of, the scent merely goes. Durian has a smooth texture that is akin to custard. This went down a treat, with the piece of durian mixed into the rice being fairly big.The rice was creamy and hot, with a subtle flavours of vanilla thrown in for good measure.
You know you have come onto something good in this instance - not the fact that each meal, and each component really, was nothing sort of fantastic, but more so that practically each one was able to do something that was unique, or did something so different to one another that you are endlessly amazed. That was the sentiment that I had (as did my house mate) about the meals at Burmese Fusion. Each dish was just as hot and fresh as the last, bringing something to the table that makes you know that they are there. This is one of those places you are glad you know is in the neighbourhood, since it can easily be fallen back on at a short notice.
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