For a real Party-In-Your-Mouth, go to Burma Superstar!

Have you guys ever heard of Burma Superstar?

Because lemme tell yah, Burma is going down as one of my FAVs in San Francisco.

Why?? Obvious reasons.

#1: It’s affordable

#2: Its delicious

#3: It hits the spot

PS: If you haven’t heard the name, they’re all over the news: Food Network, SF Gate, Zagat, Eater. And they have over + 5, 000 reviews and a 4.5 star rating on Yelp.

Burma, known today as Myanmar, shares borders between Thailand, India and China, drawing influences and spices from all three countries.

They serve a large authentic Burmese menu with several dishes featured on the Food Network.

Side: Before I dive into the dishes that we ordered… I need to tell you guys about my cousins BF who isn’t exactly the “food adventurous type.”

Hmm, let’s just say this guy LOVES his panda express and orange chicken.

That’s as close to “Asian food” he gets. So anyways, pho kinda freaks him out, and he’s never tried dim-sum or Thai food.

Yah, I know. I’m just as shocked as you guys are. (Sorry for calling you out, Marlon!).

Point of my story is, everything at Burma Superstar is so bomb that you really can’t go wrong with anything on the menu… even if it isn’t so “adventurous.”

So if you have friends like Marlon, they’ll also love it here too.

Now let’s get onto to the good stuff:

The rainbow salad (featured on Food Network) is a serious party.in.your.mouth. It’s made with 22 different ingredients, including four types of noodles, green papaya, tofu, onions, dried shrimp, (or vegetarian) and a tamarind dressing.

I die over this salad. This was one of my favorite dishes of the night, especially since I’m a HUGE fan of crunchy textures. Overall, it’s very light, refreshing and a good option to share at the table to begin your meal.

Next, is the famous tea-leaf salad (also featured on Food Network).

They go all the way to Burma just to get the tea leaves for this salad (that’s one long business trip!)

The tea leaf salad arrives beautifully presented with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, fried garlic, peanuts, sunflower seeds, yellow peas, sesame seeds and dried shrimp. After the waiter explains all the unique qualities of the salad, he then mixes everything together.

The tea leaves adds a very unique earthy flavor and is unlike anything I’ve ever had in a salad.

(Side: If I HAD to choose between the two, it would be the rainbow salad)

(Obviously, Marlon chose this dish.)

The sesame beef was an absolute delight and honestly, one of my FAV dishes here. You get strips of lightly battered beef with a sweet and tangy sauce, topped with sesame seeds.

Next, we had the walnut shrimp. The shrimp is lightly fried, then tossed with a sweet sauce and topped with roasted walnuts and sesame seeds.

Here’s Marlon’s interpretation of biting into the shrimp “it was like finishing a whole juicy burger when I bit into the shrimp.”

Not sure what that means, but yeah… what he said.

Next, we had the Nan Gyi Dok, Burmese rice noodles with a mild chicken coconut curry sauce, egg, split yellow peas, fried wonton chips, and fried onion. The noodles were thick and chewy, and soaked up all the delicious creamy sauce. I liked that the coconut flavor was noticeable but wasn’t overpowering.

Next, we had the Burmese Style Curry (beef  or lamb). The meat is braised until tender with potatoes, then topped off with cilantro.

The lamb itself was super tender and pulled apart easily with a fork. While lamb isn’t necessarily my favorite thing in the world, the sauce was quite good and has a very subtle curry taste (not like Indian or Thai).

Honestly, I wish I tried the beef curry instead. (It’s the ONLY thing here I wasn’t a big fan of).

Clearly after this monstrous feast there was no way we could end the meal without dessert.

So for dessert, we had a pear sorbet with fresh strawberries and mint leaves.  Needless to say, this was the perfect ending to our meal.

To sum it all up, Burma Superstar is where you need to go when you want something affordable AND something that really hits the spot. I simply can’t wait to come back and try other menu options. (Any recommendations??)

PS: They have three locations (SF, Oakland, Alameda).  The one in SF usually has a long line, so I’d either go early (right when they open) or super late.

Tip: Curbside takeout is convenient if you want to skip the line and take your food home.

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