Burma Superstar

Burma Superstar is a Burmese restaurant on Clement Street in the Inner Richmond, and the Clement Street dining room is the original branch of what has become a small local group. It has been awarded Best Burmese restaurant in the Bay Area, and the menu and hours on its website apply to this original Clement Street restaurant.

The restaurant's current owners, Joyce Lee and Desmond Tan, took it over from a Burmese-Chinese couple when their favourite Burmese restaurant was about to close. They learned the cooking from the previous owners and from staff, many of them Burmese and Chinese, trimmed a long menu, and added dishes that grew out of staff family meals. Burma Superstar has appeared in the MICHELIN Guide San Francisco since its first edition in 2007.

Start with the tea leaf salad, made with tea leaves and a mix of fried yellow beans, sesame seeds, dried shrimp and jalapeños. The rainbow salad, with 22 ingredients including four kinds of noodle, is another signature, and the restaurant calls itself the home of the original Samusa Soup. Oh Noh Kauswer, a coconut chicken noodle soup, is a comforting choice on a cool evening, and the Burma Cooler is a refreshing house drink. Moh hinga, a fragrant catfish chowder with lemon and coriander, is another traditional choice. Dishes are made for sharing, so order a few salads, a soup and a curry for the table, with coconut rice on the side.

The restaurant suits groups and families, since sharing several dishes is the best way to eat here, and it is a good introduction for anyone new to Burmese food: ask staff to explain anything unfamiliar on the menu.

Lunch is served from 11.30am to 3pm Monday to Thursday and until 3.30pm from Friday to Sunday. Dinner runs from 5pm to 9.30pm Sunday to Thursday and until 10pm on Friday and Saturday. Reservations and the waitlist are both handled through SevenRooms, so join the list online before you arrive to keep any wait at the door short. Takeaway and catering are available.

Takeaway hours differ slightly from dine-in hours, so check the website if you are collecting food. The group also runs B Star, a sister restaurant, if you want to try another of its menus.