Burmese Fun Fair

Once a year, tents line this Briarwood church backyard, and members of the Myanmar Baptist congregation dole out home cooking. Show up early with an empty stomach, stake out a spot at the shaded communal tables with four or five friends, and you just might be able to taste your way through the entire lineup while chilling to live, folksy tunes in English and Burmese.

In addition to a zippy fish noodle soup, my favorite was an item loosely translated as "near the river" rice noodles (top photo; $4) by the church pastor, who made this booth his first stop. Key ingredients are cilantro; an orange-brown (tuna)fish-based sauce; chopped, bright yellow pickled bamboo; and red pepper. Paired with a refreshing, clear fish-and-shrimp broth.

Other savories on offer include vegetable tempura; fried dough with bean paste and onion slivers; papaya salad; chicken curry with noodles; beef curry; and a plate of snipped and sliced pork liver, intestines, and ears (middle photo; $5), with cucumbers and hot sauce, that I found I had largely to myself.

The one iced dessert had a goofy flavor, and some of the sticky-rice treats prepared with coconut and palm sugar (bottom photo) were almost too sweet (though in this case, tablemates reappeared to help clean the plates). My favorite, however, was a less-photogenic quartet of moist, dark brown banana cakes.

Burmese Fun Fair
143-55 84th Dr., Briarwood, Queens