Lahpet
58 Bethnal Green Rd
London E1 6JW
Nearest Transport: Shoreditch High Street Overground
4 Yummy stars
Price ££ Starters - £5-£8; mains - £11-£15 (at time of writing)
☏ 020 3883 5629
Lahpet Salad at Lahpet
Buzz Factor 3.9/5 stars
Food 4/5 stars
Value for money 4.2/5 stars
The Shoreditch restaurant is quite a departure from the early days of the former self of the restaurant. It shouts: “We mean business.” A fully-fledged grown up restaurant, stylishly designed with a copper-clad bar and sophisticated lighting, replicating the communal dining from its former Hackney site, with booths by the windows. The window panes are adorned with leaves, creating a distinctive light effect in the evenings.
The menu has a number of classic Burmese dishes as well as some originating from Shan, where Zaw came from.
Lahpet salad, their best-seller and a national favourite in Myanmar, had so many layers of well-balanced tastes and textures – red cabbage salad with sourness and slight bitterness from the fermented tea leaves, crunch from the fried garlic, split peas, butter beans and peanuts, tomatoes, chillis and dried shrimps. A real taste sensation – earthy and tangy. Just so moreish. Tons of fried garlic but they didn’t come over as overpowering at all.
Their Ginger salad (Gin Thohk) was pretty good too. The cabbage was doused in a dressing spiced with ginger and chilli, giving the dish just the right amount of kick. The different nuts, butter beans and lots of fried garlic provided more contrasting textures.
The array of fritters – Mandalay, sweetcorn, Bottle Gourd (a bit like marrow) and Shan Tofu (made of split peas) came with a mild tamarind sauce. The inside of each was moist and tasty but I found the rice flour coating a bit too thick and difficult to cut through. The sweetcorn fritter was my favourite – soft on the inside and slightly sweet.
The standout dish of the day for me was their Coconut noodles with chicken (Ohn-no Kauk Swé) – a bit like a Singaporean Laksa but much milder. The curry soup was stacked with so many different layers of flavours – coconut, ginger, garlic, chilli, coriander, paprika etc. Adding the fresh coriander and a squeeze of lime juice given as condiments took the dish to another level. The marinated chicken was delicious and tender and the noodles were so soft that you can easily slurp them all up. It is no surprise that this has been another of their best sellers since Day 1 at their Maltby Street market stall. The prettily cut out wonton cracker gave the cuddly and warm bowl of goodness some crunch.
I will be back to try some more!
