Outing Three: Myanmar, or, Blood Lentils

We went to Myanmar, a Burmese restaurant in a small shopping center off Lee Highway in Falls Church. The decor was pleasant, although somewhat reminiscent of the Hunt for Red October, with blue battle lighting in use for one of the two dining rooms. We opted for a table in the room with more traditional lighting; there's only so much exotic a person can handle in one night, and without Captain Ramius it wouldn't really have mattered. We decided to eat communally and started off by splitting appetizers of samosas and lentil fritters. But, what's that, you say? Samosas at a Burmese restaurant? WTFF? Yes, "they," i.e. the internet, had told us Burmese cuisine was sort of a mix between Indian and Thai. That appears to be accurate. Anyways, the samosas were fine but the lentil fritters were awesome. If the blood and sweat of the workers is what made them so good, then call it flavor sauce and ladle up some more! Hats off to the junta!
The waiter recommended a number of options for the meal, mostly salads with a couple of fish dishes. He passed over the other entrees with no comment; I tried to extract some remarks from him and he mumbled something about the goat curry. But he focused on the salads, recommending the mango, the ginger, the watercress, the green tea leaf, and perhaps the papaya. We had the watercress and the ginger, and they were both quite good. Despite my previous enjoyment of the ginger, and it was still good, I felt that perhaps the watercress had a slight edge. It was kinda spicy and, frankly, I don't think I was the only one at the table who cried, though whether they were tears of joy or the squeezings of fiery Myanmarese watercress coursing through my tear ducts, I couldn't say. If U Thant were still alive, I could say, "U go, U Thant!" But alas, the ephemeral joys of life do not linger for anyone. The meat dishes were good as well, but it was the salads that, to me, stood out as something different and distinct from either Indian or Thai cuisine.