It's prettier as plated but tastier when tossed.
Famous enough for its own tabletop show, Burma Superstar's tea leaf salad (above and immediately below; $9) arrives unmixed, allowing your waiter to point out the precisely meted-out portions of fermented tea leaves (the dark green mass in the center), tomatoes, lettuce, dried shrimp, fried garlic, sesame seeds, peanuts, pine nuts, and more, very possibly, that I missed. Once tossed by the waiter, the salad has a lettuce-heavy, ho-hum appearance; it's easier to taste those tea leaves, I'm sure, if you get a good look at them first. Also shown: samusas (three for about $5) filled with curry, spices, potatoes, and chicken, and nan gyi dok ($9.75), rice noodles in a mild chicken curry sauce, heavy on the coconut.
Burma Superstar
309 Clement St. (4th-5th Sts.), San Francisco
(one of two locations)
415-387-2147
www.BurmaSuperstar.com
