Burmese cuisine shines at revamped Woodbine Food Hall – Gastronomic Salt Lake City

I’m embarrassed to say it’s taken me as long as it has to visit Shwe Letyar Sushi; the restaurant debuted inside the Woodbine Food Hall back in February. It was only this week that I finally stopped by, under the auspices of checking out a significantly revamped culinary lineup at Woodbine.

The business is the work of chef and owner Jadim Lahpa, who initially got her start through the Spice Kitchen Incubator program three years ago. The move to Woodbine earlier in the year saw her transition from one of Spice Kitchen’s shared kitchen facilities. To the best of my knowledge, the restaurant is utterly unique in the state; Boise, ID, and Aurora, CO are the next closest stops for the faintest hint of Burmese flavor.

The menu at Shwe Letyar Sushi is an interesting mix. Burmese staples alongside a lineup of simple maki rolls and nigiri. A fermented tea salad (Laphet Thoke) was the only dish I sampled on this inaugural visit, but I was stunned by what I’ve apparently been missing out on. Mea culpa.

The dish is quite unlike anything I’ve tasted before. I had to go digging around (here and here) to understand how the complex flavor mix is achieved. It’s an elaborate maelstrom that was best described by a dining companion as “more funky than blue cheese”.

That umami funk comes from the process described in the links above, a fermentation of tea leaves, presumably for quite some time. From there, the dish branches out in all directions. There’s an olive-like brininess that’s quickly supplanted by sharp heat from Thai chiles. A forceful saltiness and plenty of mellow garlic make a side plate of rice a must to soften the intensity of each bite.

The whole tumble comprises fried soy bean, peanuts, green tomato, bird’s eye chiles, dried shrimp, cabbage, sesame seeds – and likely more than I am missing – each adding layers of complexity and texture.

Two other dishes that caught my eye for a return visit include glutinous rice pyramids (sweetened with sesame paste and steamed in banana leaves) and Mohinga (a fish-based broth flavored with lemongrass, turmeric, and fish sauce). The menu also includes rice bowls, and specials appear to pop up from time to time, too. The additional range of maki and nigiri comes by way of Lahpa’s love for sushi.

With other recent additions at Woodbine, the overall lineup is very strong right now. Chef Kyle Williams’ Marcato Kitchen (check out this story on his stromboli from last year) is one of the newest names on the roster, alongside Caracas Dogs and Dom’s Burgers (pictured below is an excellent double smashburger on an English muffin, which I devoured in seconds). Other names you’ll find on the roster include Deadpan Sandwich (more on them here, hint: excellent), Mozz Pizza, Tosh’s Express (ramen), Salt City BBQ, and Chunky Cookies.

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Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you!  I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC.  I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have written in myopic detail about the Salt Lake City  dining scene for the better part of seventeen years.

I’ve worked extensively with multiple local publications from Visit Salt Lake to Salt Lake Magazine, not least helped to consult on national TV.   Pause those credits, yep, that’s me! I’m also a former restaurant critic of more than five years, working for the Salt Lake Tribune.    I’m largely fueled by a critical obsession with rice, alliteration and the use of big words I don’t understand.   What they’re saying about me: “Not inaccurate”, “I thought he was older”, “I don’t share his feelings”.

Want to know more? This is why I am the way I am.