Burma Superstar - Review

Intro
Burma Superstar - Recommended
309 Clement St, San Francisco 94118
Btwn 4th & 5th Ave
Phone: 415-387-2147

The only thing I knew about Burma was when J Peterman from Seinfeld had a nervous breakdown and secluded himself over there. J. Peterman - "You most likely know it as Myanmar, but it will always be Burma to me." I had no clue what Burmese food would taste like, but the Burma Superstar crew said we had to visit this restaurant - thanks Christine and Steph! Good food + good company = good times (that must be an equation in some textbook). Burma borders India, Thailand, Laos, and China and the food definitely draws upon these cuisines. Overall, I give the restaurant an 78/100.

My Menu
1) Vegetarian Samusa Soup - Recommended
2) Tea Leaf Salad - Highly Recommended (must have)
3) Rainbow Salad - Average
4) Chicken Dahl - Recommended
5) Ginger Beer - Recommended

Dish Comments
1) Very rich and earthy almost like a Malaysian curry, but it's awoken with a nice citrus kick kinda like good Thai food. Samusa is a tad crunchy which adds a nice contrast to the dish. Also, some sweet lentils adds a nice change of flavor and texture to the soup. Pretty good soup.
2) Wow. What a great combination of textures and flavors (even more so than the soup). Crunchy lettuce; earthy flavors from the tea leaves, sesame seeds, and peanuts; surprisingly subtle fried garlic; and good brightness/acidity from the tomato and some type of citrus. Wonderful and really surprising dish.
3) Noodles, tofu, dried shrimp, and some other ingredients make up this salad. It was ok, but not really worth recommending.
4) A very tender chicken curry, again almost like a Malaysian curry. The star here however is the sweet tender yellow lentils. Combining the two makes for a very good flavor combination. Adding the coconut rice and you have happy days. If the chicken was more flavorful on it's own, I would have highly recommended this.
5) Not the same as the amazing Caribbean ginger beer. This one is basically a beer, infused with some ginger, and brightened up (as with most of the dishes) with some type of acidity - probably lime or kaffir lime leaf. Good stuff.

Overall Restaurant Experience (78/100)

• Food 7.8/10 - Burmese food is a wonderful combination of textures and flavors - love the acidity.
  
• Service 8.0/10 - Friendly waitstaff. They did not need to do much describing, since Christine and Steph ordered our meal sans menu - intense.
  
• Atmosphere 7.5/10 - Decent casual Asian decor. Crowd again is a mix of Asians, non-Asians, younger and older groups. Watch out though, the lines at this place are very, very long. We got there at 11:45, so we were lucky and seated right away.
  
• Price N/A - Christine took care of the bill, but it looks this place is reasonably priced.
  

Closing Comments
Burmese food does not taste like Chinese food. The problem with a lot of Asian food served in America (e.g. Thai Curries, Japanese teriyaki), they all taste like Chinese food when they definitely should not. It seems to be a reoccurring theme, but San Francisco again treats Asian food properly. A caveat though - if you're staying in downtown San Francisco with no car, I would say it may not be worth traveling out to Richmond to come to Burma Superstar especially if there's a long wait. Food is enjoyable, but may not be worth a trip out there unless you're curious about Burmese food or you plan to visit the area - the new Chinatown is out there.