Eat Around the World - Burma

Over a year ago, Jason and I headed out to Alameda for an evening out. Neither one of us had really been to Alameda, and we had heard that it was a cute little town. Someone had recommended an Italian restaurant to eat at, but we wanted to walk the town before dinner. As we were walking around, we stumbled across Burma Superstar! (Yelp Review here) and saw a big crowd hanging around outside the restaurant. We took mental note of the restaurant, so when we came back a few months later, we were all excited to try Burmese food. However, the wait was super long...and we were hungry, so we settled for a restaurant serving New Zealand cuisine.

We were determined to make it back to Alameda though so we could eat at Burmese Superstar. Well, it took us a year to get back there, but in May of 2011, we had our first taste of Burmese food, and it did not disappoint! On our first visit, we ordered their signature salad: the tea leaf salad filled with "urmese tea leaves, tomatoes, lettuce, dried shrimp (or vegetarian), fried garlic, sesame seeds, peanuts, and split yellow peas.” They bring out the salad with all the ingredients separated and then mix it together at your table. Delicious!

For our entrees we ordered garlic noodles, pork curry with potatoes, and the fiery beef. The fiery beef (pictured below) was by far the best entree we ordered. Don't let the tofu freak you out (or order it without), but I don't even remember the tofu.

After our first week of being back at school, Jason and I wanted to treat ourselves to a meal out. We talked about going somewhere, and in my head I was thinking Burma Superstar...and then Jason suggested it. I love it when that happens...we are finding stuff like this happening more and more often. The two really do become one upon being wed!

So last Friday we headed back out to Alameda for take two of Burmese food. We made sure that we didn't get any repeat items from our first go. Instead of the tea leaf salad we got the rainbow salad: 22 ingredients, including four kinds of noodles, crispy fried garlic, diced potatoes, tofu, dried shrimp, fried onions, green papaya, roasted chilies, crushed yellow beans, cilantro, won ton chips, cabbage and a tamarind dressing.

As our server said, every bite tastes a little different, and she sure was right! Our entrees were sesame beef (strips of beef lightly fried with a sweet and tangy sauce. Topped with sesame seeds) and spicy & crispy chicken (deep fried chicken breast in a sweet, tangy, and spicy sauce with chili and garlic...and they don't go easy on the garlic!).

Sesame Beef (Above)
Spicy & Crispy Chicken (Below)

Winner of the night was the sesame beef. Delicious! We can't wait to go back (we were already talking about what our visit #3 picks will be). We give Burma Superstar a 10 out of 10!