Mandalay

Sandwiched between a kebab shop & a nail parlour, this Burmese café has probably been around longer than both put together. Great prices & something akin to ‘Indian-Chinese fusion cuisine’ have kept the Ally family’s enterprise going since 1994, & their enduringly popular package comes with tiled floors, garish wipe-clean tablecloths & a fridge-come-bar at the back. Dishes emulate different styles of Burmese cuisine – hence street-corner snacks such as beansprout or calabash fritters, simple lunches of shrimp & potato curry with rice, & a ‘national favourite’ rice & noodle salad are all here. Flavours are hard-hitting but shrewdly balanced, & you can finish with one of the intensely sweet & texturally interesting puddings – perhaps banana fritters or coconut agar jelly. Tropical juices & green tea are alternatives to the house wine.