Burma Love - San Francisco, CA

San Francisco has a big scene for Burmese food, they tailored Burmese food towards Americans and and made it really hip. One of those popular names is Burma Superstar. However, their line was also very famously known for being super long, reading some reviews I decided to try their sister restaurant, Burma Love. People said the line is not as long and the taste is just as great.

We arrive at around 6:30 and still waited around 30-40 minutes for a table, but it was long weekend, so I guess that make sense. Even when we left, there was still a line, so don't think that coming later will be better, because it's not. They actually have a system where they text you when your table is almost ready, so you don't have to stand next to the door. Although I don't think there was much to see around the neighborhood from a tourist point of view.

The Tea Leaf Salad seems legendary and everyone highly recommends this dish. I had my first Tea Leaf Salad in Los Angeles just around 2 weeks before coming here, just so I can compare. When the waiter brought our tea leaf salad he explained the tea leaf is grounded and directly shipped from Burma. Actually the tea leaf in the salad I had 2 weeks ago was not grounded and was a whole piece of leaf. I think grounding the tea leaf makes the flavor less strong, which isn't good because the whole point of eating the tea leaf salad is so I can taste the tea. There were also lettuce in the salad which was not included in the one I ate in LA. My friend who's Burmese said that they are definitely not authentic, nevertheless he says it tasted not bad.

We had the Mohinga, a Catfish chowder noodle soup, which is another traditional Burmese dish. It doesn't have that fishy taste like the soup I tried last time, I quite enjoyed this dish. All except the rice crackers were horrible! They were not crispy nor crunchy, and super hard even if I soaked it into the dish. Another dish we ordered was the Lamb Burmese Style Curry, this was not bad as well. The lamb taste was not strong and it's even good for people who does not enjoy that distinct lamb taste.

Finally we had the Nan Pia Dok, coconut chicken flat rice noodles. I think this dish is one of my favorite! The flat rice noodle was a bit soft and breaks kind of easily but the coconut sauce was bomb. If only the noodles were awesome, then this would be the perfect dish. On a side note, I really liked their coconut rice, I think it was one of the best pairing!

Overall, with the hype built before going to the restaurant, I have to say I am a bit disappointed. But if I overlooked the hypeness, the food here is great. The servers are nice and the atmosphere is chill, although it can be a bit loud for you to have a conversation with the person across from you. To be honest, I would not wait another 40 minutes again for Burma Love. If anything, I will try Burma Superstar and see if it's really worth it.

Address:

211 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94103