[dropcap size=big]I[/dropcap]nside a stucco strip mall on La Brea Avenue in Inglewood, survivors of an ongoing ethnic-cleansing campaign half a world away eat at a nondescript restaurant named Mutiara: “Authentic Asian Halal Food.”
Steaming chicken curry, coconut noodle soup, and bowls of communal rice bring the group together. All are members of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority ethnic group in the Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar. The men have settled in West L.A. after fleeing persecution in their mostly-Buddhist home country.
The Rohingya gather at Mutiara, a place not even explicitly identified as Burmese, because they know it will serve up something few other places can — authentic halal Burmese food, like something straight out of a sidewalk tea shop in downtown Yangon.
Ko Ko Naing, a founding member of the Los Angeles Rohingya Society who became a U.S. citizen in 2010, goes at least twice a month, even if the restaurant is a bit out of his way. “Best spot to relax,” Ko Ko Naing says.