Restaurant Review: Mandalay

What is typical Burmese food?  Not many people know the answer to this.  Asking one friend who has been there was less than helpful.  The answer according to him was 'mainly rice'.  Not, you will agree particularly satisfying, although definite marks for getting to the point.  Still I felt some further probing was in order.  'Is that because of the difficult socio-economic circumstances,' I enquired, 'Well obviously!' he replied and that was that.  Although probably accurate this wasn't exactly what I was looking for.  To Wikipedia then, which concisely informs the interested reader that Burmese food blends Chinese, Indian, and South East Asian cooking methods, styles and ingredients.  Sounds pretty good.  But why the interest?  Well I mentioned in a previous piece that I've been eating far too much grilled meat recently and want something with some herbs and spicy sauces.   Mandalay, a Burmese restaurant on the Edgeware Road, provides both.  Thankfully on my second attempt I managed to make it in.  By the time I got there, however, I was not in the best mood to appreciate the food at London's only Burmese.  The traffic, the nearly missing the lunch service, the traffic, and the traffic all conspired against me, leaving me fairly stressed on entry.  What awaited was a very good restaurant, beloved by many, but that is by no means perfect.