The headlines out of Burma are a horrifying sort: a country at war with itself, its military government burying dissidents and turning children over to prostitution. As the country rumbles through all this turmoil, Burma (officially the Union of Myanmar) seems lost even among its neighbors—and, surrounded by India, Thailand and China, that’s not much of a surprise. Yet the country’s place in that geographical shadow has produced a people and a cuisine that’s telling of Burma’s multicultural influences. Whittier’s Golden Triangle has been serving Burmese food for over a decade, and even now it remains intriguing.

The restaurant is easy to spot, lodged in the stretch of Greenleaf Avenue that cuts through uptown Whittier, a quiet spread of historic homes and shops that recalls the beginnings of the formerly quaint Quaker outpost. After dark the area lights up with help from the beautiful Whittier Village Cinema, the entire street colored by the Art Deco theater’s jittery neon marquee. Golden Triangle is only a few steps away from the theater but feels entirely different. Inside, the place looks like a hollowed-out Mexican restaurant, with smooth white arches pointing towards an abandoned Mission style. But take a seat and eye the specials and you’ll forget all of that.

Burma is the largest country in Southeast Asia, and Golden Triangle’s menu reflects that: a sprawling, multi-paged document offering well over 80 options. There are a number of familiar Thai dishes to grab your gaze, but that’s not why you come to Golden Triangle—stick with the Burmese options, most of which still share a continuity with Thai and Indian cuisines, borrowing spices and flavors for its own unique blend.

Discount the drinks at first (pick up a sweet ginger tea in a bit) and dig through the first half of the menu to find the starters. Here, the dishes are familiar and often fried: Burmese takes on satays, samosas and other cultural imports. These appetizers don’t stand much apart from their Thai and Indian forebears, though, so try the ginger salad instead. Resembling a slaw, the salad features shredded ginger mixed with bits of coconut, tomato, garlic, yellow peas, ground peanuts and sesame seeds all held together with a subtle lemon sauce. The dish brings out the heat in all the right places and balances textures and flavors to a delicious degree. Many of the restaurant’s soups do the same: the daikon vegetable soup and mo hin nga, a catfish chowder over rice noodles, are equally great.

Entrees are big enough to split—order a couple to test. Most of Golden Triangle’s staples rely on curry, some recalling the creamy heat familiar in Thai offerings, others sticking to the bold burns of the Indian varieties. (The restaurant’s coconut rice strikes a sweet balance to the heat and is a smart pairing for those who need a quick cool down.) There are traditional curries (chicken, lamb) that are shipped out in porcelain tureens, but also a number of excellent noodle dishes. The best, perhaps, is ohn nooh kauekswe, a pile of Chinese-style egg noodles tossed with chicken curry in a soupy coconut milk sauce.

When you’re finished, order that sweet ginger tea to wipe clean your palate, then pick through the desserts. There are plenty of great choices, but try the shwe gi mok if it’s available. The dessert is a soft, cake-like thing similar to a bread pudding, flavored with coconut and raisins. Or you can order some of the restaurant’s handmade ice creams. The tropical flavors (mango, coconut and the like) are all excellent. But, really, you’ve come this far, so muster up the courage and try the durian ice cream. Durian is a spiny freak fruit so foul-smelling that it’s banned on most public transportation in Southeast Asia. Its taste hits tropical first, almost like a stale guava, then fades away to a light tang somewhere between onion and vomit. But it’s not bad. In fact, the more you eat, the better it becomes.

Tags: burmese, durian, freak fruit, golden triangle, Whittier