‘Warm hug for your stomach’: This eatery takes three days to make its tofu noodles

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We all know the antioxidant benefits of drinking tea, but eating tea leaves? They’re a cornerstone of Burmese cuisine, historically used as a peace offering between warring kingdoms. The leaves are steamed and then fermented to remove their bitterness. Today, they’re a symbol of hospitality, served at weddings, social gatherings and religious ceremonies.

At Blue Heaven in Hurstville, owner and head chef Tommy Young sources their lahpet fermented tea leaves directly from Myanmar. “The leaves are steamed and fermented in underground pits for months,” he says. “When they reach us, we dress them with oil, lime, garlic and a little chilli.”

Opened in May 2025, this bright and cheerful eatery started with desserts including Korean bingsu shaved ice, Japanese shokupan toast with caramel butter and Thai khanom buang crisp crepes before introducing Burmese dishes a month later.

“Burmese food culture is very fluid,” says Young. “We share borders and flavours with our neighbours, sandwiched between giants such as India, China and Thailand. It’s often described as a ‘hidden gem’ but it deserves the spotlight.”

You could easily get lost in the barrage of dish options but Young’s wife, Andie Nokhong, walks us through the entire menu with cheerful patience and enthusiasm. Warm tofu noodles are a must. Unlike supermarket tofu made from soybeans, the Shan people of Burma will more often use chickpeas or yellow split peas.

The yellow split peas here are soaked overnight, ground and strained, then whisked overheat until thickened. The three-day process results in sauce with custard-like consistency for its huddle of noodles, amped up with chicken, coriander and soy. “Warm tofu, or tofu nway, is a staple of the Shan people,” says Young. “It’s the ultimate comfort food – like a warm hug for your stomach.”

The tofu also stars in a salad with cabbage and garlic oil, served as thick slices with chilli oil, and double-fried into triangles of golden tofu. The restaurant goes through 10 kilos of yellow split peas a week to keep up with demand.

Mohinga is another Burmese classic that involves detailed preparation. Freshwater fish is gently poached with ginger and turmeric before it’s carefully filleted and returned to the pot with spices. Traditionally eaten for breakfast, you’ll find fish cake, crunchy fritters, lotus root and boiled egg bobbing above thin rice noodles when it arrives at your table. This all-in-one-dish – humming with lemongrass, ginger and garlic – will heal all your ills but eat it quickly before the noodles soak up too much soup.

Tea-leaf salad, or lahpet thoke, is “Burma on a plate” according to Young, a surprisingly refreshing tumble of fermented tea leaves, crisp cabbage, fried beans, toasted peanuts, fried garlic and dried shrimp. The tea leaves add a gentle earthy bitterness, offset by pops of sweetcorn and juicy tomato, with accents of green chilli and lime.

Meanwhile, the lahpet htamin tea-leaf rice hits with savoury umami notes. We add grilled duck to ours – impressively tender and succulent – but Young says it’s just as great with a simple fried egg. Both dishes are popular, with up to 120 portions served each week.

Boer goat curry is unbelievably good. Its complex layering of spices includes cumin, coriander, bay leaf and cinnamon as well as what Young describes as “the Burmese holy trinity” of onions, ginger and garlic. Hunks of goat on the bone are slow-cooked for four to five hours until the collagen breaks down to a melt-in-the-mouth stickiness, and the slow-rendered galangal base creates a rich gravy.

The range of desserts almost outweighs the savouries. Caramel toasts crowned with everything from bananas to pandan custard to Thai tea ice-cream are crowd favourites, but on a hot day, it’s hard to go past the bingsu. Fresh fruit cups tumbled with chilli powder are also available, a nod to Young’s memories of childhood.

Shwe yin aye is one of the few Burmese desserts on the menu, a goliath-sized glass mug of fresh coconut milk teeming with sago pearls, cendol pandan noodles, jelly and coconut flesh. It’s as colourful as it is refreshing, with a new surprise in every spoonful.

Blue Heaven is one of the few places serving the traditional cuisine of Myanmar in Sydney, joined by Queen Cafe in Lakemba and Mum’s Home in Blacktown (which opened in December at the site where Sun’s Burmese Kitchen looked after loyal regulars for 14 years). “We cook exactly the way we would for our own family,” says Young. “This is the food of my childhood – funky, fermented, salty and unapologetically bold.”

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