NYCReview
photo credit: David A. Lee
Yun Cafe & Asian Market
Included In
You could conceivably pass Yun Cafe on the lower level of the Jackson Heights Roosevelt Avenue subway station and assume it’s just somewhere to grab a ginger ale and an egg and cheese on your way to work. While it is a place for quick NYC bodega delights, this all-day deli also serves incredible Burmese cold salads, noodle dishes, and soups worth a detour in your typical subway commute.
Yun Cafe represents one of only two self-identified Burmese restaurants in New York City (the other being Rangoon in Crown Heights). Much of the halal-friendly menu includes elements like fermented tea leaves, shredded papaya, green chiles, and crispy fried beans with sourness, bitterness, umami funk, and sweetness seamlessly balanced in every bite. You’ll notice this harmony especially in dishes like the laphet thoke, a cold salad with fermented tea leaves mixed together in a citrusy fish sauce with thin strands of cabbage and refreshing hunks of red and green tomatoes. The laphet thoke is then topped with a blanket of puffed soy nuts, crunchy peanuts, and sesame seeds. For about $10, you’ll get an invitation to witness every texture coexist in this singular tea leaf salad, like it’s some kind of reunion concert for vegetal goods.
photo credit: Hannah Albertine
The takeout dishes become even more impressive when you consider the small, subterranean prep area they’re produced in. One person whizzes around behind the counter, heating up soup in the microwave, grabbing fresh vegetables out of a glass refrigerator case, and topping each dish with dried shrimp, lime juice, crunchy soy nuts, peanuts, and sesame seeds. Just a single door and a few shelves with assorted fried beans, fish paste, and pineapple jam biscuits separate this space from headphoned-subway riders. Even still, Yun Cafe somehow feels like it exists in its own universe, far away from MTA conductors reminding you to stand clear of the closing doors, please.
photo credit: David A. Lee
While there are a couple of folding chairs inside Yun Cafe’s stall (and in the subway station hallway), we’d recommend ordering your food to go and heading upstairs to the pedestrian plaza on 74th Street where you’ll find some bright blue seats and tables out in the open.
After you eat the crispy chicken curry noodle or funky fermented tea leaf salad, you’ll probably find yourself hoping that every subway had a connected space as wonderful as Yun Cafe. When the disappointment becomes too much to bear, you know where to go.
A Note About Spice Levels
You can choose your spice level for each dish, and we’d encourage you to try at least medium. Along with umami and sourness, spice is another essential flavor in Yun Cafe’s food. Even with the heat from added green chiles, the dishes feel light, citric-leaning, and refreshing.
Food Rundown
photo credit: David A. Lee
Kaut Swe Thoke
photo credit: David A. Lee
Laphet Thoke
photo credit: David A. Lee