Ruby is a friendly place that attracts a lively crowd of drinkers and eaters. It's in a long and narrow basement space, clean and brightly lit, with video monitors for karaoke at each end. (The shop card boasts they have karaoke in Burmese, Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean!)

They have a complete Japanese-language menu, listing some Malaysian-style dishes like satay in addition to a full range of Burmese food. Highly recommended is the Tofu-joh (Y550), a Burmese style tofu made from yellow lentils and spice, and deep fried in small squares. Served with a thick, sweet-hot-savory dipping sauce, it has a crunchy exterior and an interior texture like the corn masa in a Mexican tamale, but with a flavor closer to Indian papad.

The A-Soh-Na-Hin (Y780) consists of long-simmered chunks of stringy beef in a richly flavored sauce similar to a Northern Indian curry, garnished with a large sprig of spearmint leaves. Both rice and paratha (a thin bread) are also on the menu. Ruby can get very crowded on weekends, so call in advance.