Eating Burmese in Bay View

Ni Burmese. Photo taken Nov. 20, 2025 by Cari Taylor-Carlson.

I dove into a lunch special on my first visit to Ni Burmese, an exciting new restaurant on South Kinnickinnic Avenue. You can order a special Tuesday-Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and if you want to enjoy the special at home, it is also available for takeout.

There are choices. For an appetizer you can choose a samosa as I did, or three pieces of house-made, fried-chickpea tofu. The samosa, filled with potato and seasoned with masala, had a crust that tasted like puff pastry. We learned from our server that the chef used a spring roll wrapper to give it the flaky crust that made the samosa exceptionally delicious.

Following the samosa, our server brought a small bowl of nini soup, chicken broth that had the deep complex flavor that comes from putting the whole bird, including the feet, in the pot. For the rest of my lunch special, I chose Kat Kyi Kaik, and ginger salad. I added pork to the Kat Kyi Kaik, small sliced pieces of meat that were tender and added protein to this mainly vegetarian dish. Fat noodles, mung bean sprouts, and yellow peas were mixed with a mild sauce that reminded me of Thai pad see ew. When you order, you can specify mild to extra hot. I chose mild and added heat from a small pot of chili oil that our server brought to the table.

In addition to the Kat Kyi Kaik lunch special, there are two more choices, rice and bean vermicelli and the one my companion ordered, fried egg noodles. This was two lightly scrambled eggs served over a stir fry composed of thin spaghetti-like noodles, cabbage, and carrots. This was a special so it also included nini soup, a samosa, and a salad.

My companion and I both chose the ginger salad, an extraordinary mix of finely sliced cabbage, chopped tomato, and crunchy beans, tossed in a sweet and sour lime-ginger dressing. Because it was a special, it was a small portion, but enough to whet my taste for a large bowl on a future visit.

Chicken curry, two legs served in a bowl over noodles, was topped with a mild curry sauce that included chopped tomatoes, peppers, and crisp onions. My companion said the meat literally fell off the bone when she took her first bite.

The sweet-and-sour pork balls were unique. They had a tofu-like texture because the pork was first cooked and then formed into small balls and steamed. They were served in a sweet-and-sour sauce along with carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, and onion.

Another companion ordered the coconut chicken noodle soup, a bowl filled with creamy coconut broth, chunks of chicken, and topped with a hard-boiled egg and a pile of crispy onions.

Because the single samosa was memorable on my first visit, when I returned, my companions and I ordered samosas, fried pork rolls, and aloo cutlets. There were three of each with different but similar fillings, mainly potato. The pork roll was deep-fried like an egg roll while the aloo cutlets, filled with chicken and potato, also deep-fried, had a softer crust and a different shape.

There is a lot more on the lengthy menu at Ni Burmese and I anticipate many more meals in this charming new restaurant. There are 16 stir-fry options, 10 varieties of curry, four rice dishes, and 13 different salads. With most of the entrees you have a choice of chicken or pork but as we noticed, many of the dishes featured the veggies. Everything was tasty and offered delicious new flavor combinations to my companions and me.

The restaurant is immaculate with blond wooden tables and chairs and wall décor that speaks to the cultural history of Burma/ Myanmar. The vibe is contemporary; the cuisine traditional; the service excellent; and the unusual and unique flavors delightful.

On the Menu

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• Location: 2140 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.
• Phone: 414-374-1546
• Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tue-Thu, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Fri-Sat, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sun
• Neighborhood: Bay View
• Website: https://niburmesemke.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569476420603

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