Simone Jacobson, one of the co-owners of Thamee, a new Burmese restaurant on the H Street corridor, just had to have the kitchen at the popular Sally’s Middle Name restaurant. Two years ago, Thamee’s three owners—Jacobson, her mother Jocelyn Law-Yone and business partner Eric Wang—hosted a supper club at the H Street corridor’s white-tiled venue.

“When we came here for our pop-up, I was like, ‘I want this kitchen,’” Jacobson says. “And then, here we are.”

Before Sally’s closed earlier this year, the restaurant’s owners reached out to Jacobson and her partners, allowing the trio to inherit a fully operational restaurant. The 40-seat Thamee opened May 15 with some new décor additions: The team added colorful accents and family photographs, a fishing net-inspired sculpture on the ceiling, and new table designs by local artist Jamilla Okubo, inspired by Burmese textiles.

“Textiles are both made and worn by women, and so we wanted to have an ode to all the unsung thamee,” Jacobson says. “Thamee means daughter in Burmese, and so this is our love letter to all the women around the world.”

D.C. diners have especially embraced Southeast Asian food in recent years. For example, Tom Cunanan, chef of the District’s wildly popular Filipino restaurant Bad Saint, scored a coveted James Beard Award for best Mid-Atlantic chef earlier this month after being named a finalist the third consecutive year. The owners of Thip Khao restaurant in Columbia Heights recently opened a Laotian bar/eatery in Shaw called Hanumanh, and Laos in Town, a Thai-meets-Laotian restaurant, welcomed diners in NoMa just this month.

The trio have enjoyed their own success with their Toli Moli Burmese bodega in Union Market, specializing in faloodas, a layered ice cream and jelly dessert. Jacobson is American and her mother, born in Burma’s former capital city of Rangoon (now Yangon), spent part of her teenage years in Thailand and has lived in the United States for several decades.

“Toli Moli means ‘a little of this and a little of that,’ and so with my mom and Eric—he’s Taiwanese-Japanese—all three of us bring this sort of toli moli approach to everything that we do,” Jacobson says.

They call their cuisine “Anglo-Burmese” to help guests understand the strong British influence on Burmese food and culture. The British ruled Burma as a province of India from 1886 until Burma secured its independence in 1948.

“We have an approach that incorporates all of the influences around Burma, China, Thailand, India, whether it’s spices or adding milk to your tea—that’s a very Anglo influence,” Jacobson says. “So yeah, the food is very much Burmese, but it’s Anglo Burmese, it’s Indo Burmese, it’s Sino Burmese.”

Their Dan Bauk chicken wings, for example, are made with biryani, a popular Indian spice. On the traditional side, there’s lahpet thoke, a crunchy pickled tea leaf salad with seasonal vegetables.

Other standout dishes include the turmeric and citrus whole steamed fish and a prawn & tomato curry dish made with traditional Burmese “pazun hin” with stewed tomatoes and served with jasmine or golden rice. Most of the dishes aren’t spicy, but the food can be made spicy at people’s request.

“We want to be that bridge to connect people to Burmese food,” Jacobson says. “It’s not as foreign or alien as they might think. We have noodles, we have rice, we have onion, garlic, ginger, these are ingredients that they recognize, they’re just prepared maybe slightly differently.”

Among the desserts is a dish called palata & scoops, which is Burmese hundred-layer flatbread served with Ruby Scoops’ tamarind-saffron ice cream and fresh fruit. Rabia Kamara, owner of Ruby Scoops, works as a sous chef at Thamee and operates her company out of the restaurant. Toli Moli’s faloodas are also on the menu.

Jocelyn Law-Yone mostly pulls the recipes from her childhood in Rangoon. Law-Yone’s mother managed the six-children household, while her father served as founder and editor of The Nation, Burma’s leading English-language newspaper at the time.

The family fled Burma and lived in exile in Thailand after her father was briefly imprisoned for opposing the military junta following a 1962 coup d’état.

The restaurant’s The Edward cocktail pays homage to the newspaperman. He savored bold flavors, so the drink is made with rye, colatura di alici (anchovy extract), caramel, and orange bitters. The Parts Unknown cocktail, meanwhile, is named after the show the late food journalist Anthony Bourdain helmed, where he featured Burma on the first episode. The drink is made with Amaretto, Jamaican Navy-strength rum, lime, jaggery (a type of cane sugar), and egg white.

Twice a month on Tuesdays when Thamee’s closed, the team turns their kitchen over emerging chefs and food makers with roots from what Jacobson calls the “Spice Diaspora”—Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. June’s supper clubs highlight Hawaiian cuisine from Rooted and Bloomed, and Japanese food from Otabe.

Jacobson says this is the restaurant’s way of “giving forward,” and encouraging intercultural and intergenerational exchanges while offering “members of the spice diaspora” a place to experiment and meet new customers.

“When we first started, so many people helped us and they offered their kitchen to us for free, they offered consulting and mentorship and guidance,” Jacobson says. “What people of color really need is time and space and that’s the hardest resources for us to get.”

There are other additions planned throughout the summer. Brunch is set to begin June 8, featuring a $35 bottomless option. And the restaurant will collaborate with the black-owned, D.C.-based Sankofa Beer Company, which produces craft beer inspired by the co-founders’ childhoods in West Africa. Together, they’ll produce a limited-edition beer incorporating West African and Burmese ingredients and flavors.

Jacobson says what she and her team are doing is bigger than food.

“Now more than ever, with how divided American society is now, to have a place where you can go and be welcomed and enjoy these foods from all over the world, you know, Burmese food is very special, but so are these guest chefs.”

Thamee is located at 1320 H St. NE. Hours are Monday and Wednesday-Friday 5:30 p.m.-10 p.m., and Saturday-Sunday 5:30 p.m.-10 p.m. Brunch starts June 8, hours are Saturday-Sunday 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

This post has been updated with the correct spelling for Thamee’s dessert palata and scooops.