August 19, 2009 - Burma Superstar

Burma Superstar in Inner Richmond in San Francisco, CA
http://www.burmasuperstar.com/

So we came here at around 6:00 on a Thursday. The wait was about half an hour, which now that I think about it is still pretty crazy for an early Thursday dinner, but much better than the other time we’d walked by. By now we were pretty psyched up because everybody had been talking about this place. I don’t usually talk about drinks, but I ordered their Good Earth drink: soju (rice wine), rice milk, and cinnamon. It kind of seems similar to that Mexican drink horchata (although I don’t remember the last time I had that). Anyway, it was incredible. I feel like rice wine and rice milk make so much sense together. I want to try horchata now (spiced rice milk and rum).

Uh, food. Right.

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So we started with the Rainbow Salad, solely based on its "featured on the Food Network" status. Isn't it funny how marketing works? Its claim to fame is containing 22 ingredients all gathered straight from Burma. They brought the ingredients out separately in like 9 little piles, and our waitress explained it to us and then mixed it for us. It was ... good, but not dissimilar to the $4 salad we got from the Vietnamese sandwich place. I mean, they were definitely the same idea, and Burma's was definitely better (I'm comparing restaurants, not countries, by the way). And I liked the presentation. But it was still just a bunch of raw cold food mixed together. I guess it's famous because it's raw cold food from Burma (the country this time).

Next we got the Vegetarian Samusa Soup (that's apparently how they spell samosa in Burma), also based on its "featured on the Food Network" status. We don't normally order vegetarian food, but as it says in the menu, this is a favorite even for their meat-eating patrons. And it was a favorite for this meat-eating patron as well. It was so filling, with these awesome crispy pieces of fried samosa pastry, and then a huge random chunk of samosa every now and then ... We actually have a tiny bit in the fridge. I should eat it, even though it's two weeks old now.

For entrees, we got the SuperStar Shrimp (a chili/garlic sauce) and the Burmese Lamb Curry. Both of these were really good, but kind of typical fare. As I will comment in another post in the near future, I'm not sure what would make lamb curry stand out. It was good, tender, flavorful -- everything you ask for in a curry, nothing more, nothing less. The shrimp was really good, but again, it was a chili and garlic sauce. I've had it before and this tasted ... like that.


So overall I do agree with Kuau and I liked B Star better, but we appear to be in the minority here. B Star was much more unique and fusion-y, and while I'm a fan of traditional food done right (which Burma Superstar definitely falls into), I like the novel and creative stuff more.

What Burma Superstar does have going for it is that it's authentic and cheap, but even though they make you write your name on a board and wait for 2 hours at a time, they still provide great service, at the same level as any "fancy" restaurant. The waitresses don't rush you out at all and they take the time to explain dishes to you. So while I'm much more likely to try and slip in at B Star, I guess I understand a little bit of why people crowd Burma Superstar like it's the latest Britney Spears concert.