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Believe it or not, the San Francisco Bay area has a thriving Burmese restaurant scene. It’s actually surprising that I haven’t eaten more of it in all my years here! Because it was such a new cuisine to me, I decided to choose Burmese for the letter “B” in my A to Z World Cuisines Challenge.
This post outlines all the Burmese dishes that we’ve tried for the letter “B” of the challenge and what we thought of each.
What is the A to Z Challenge?
But first, a refresher on what the A to Z Challenge is. The short story is that I’m choosing one cuisine from each letter of the alphabet from a country, state, province, city, or region in order to try new dishes or completely new cuisines (and support local businesses)!
To read more about my “why,” check out my very first post in this series for the letter “A”: Trying Argentine Food in the Bay Area.
“B” is for Burmese Cuisine
Burma, now known as Myanmar, unfortunately has a history riddled with unrest under military rule. Because of the long-standing conflict within the country, many Burmese have fled over the years and are now scattered across the globe. In the United States alone, there is estimated to be over 300,000 Burmese-Americans!
Travel to Myanmar can be difficult and is generally not advised. For now, we can at least be thankful for Burmese restauranteurs who keep their culture alive by sharing their food.
About Burmese Cuisine
Geographically, Myanmar/Burma borders the countries of Thailand, Laos, China, India and Bangladesh and the influence of these countries can be found in many Burmese dishes. I would have been very surprised not to like Burmese food considering some of my all-time favorite cuisines include Thai, Laotian and Indian (spoiler – I really like Burmese food!).
Traditional Burmese dishes to be on the lookout for include:
- Mohinga (rice noodle soup and the national dish of Myanmar)
- Tea Leaf Salad
- Burmese Curry (similar to Indian curries but not quite as thick and with a different flavor profile)
- Shan Noodles
- Burmese Biriyani (similar to what you might find in Indian cuisine)
It’s also worth noting that many Burmese dishes can be made vegetarian or vegan!
Shwe Myanmar
1106 E Stanley Blvd, Livermore, CA 94550
https://shwemyanmarcuisine.com/
There are many places to get Burmese food in the Bay Area, so finding a spot close to where you live should be an easy task. For my first taste of Burmese food, I chose a highly-rated Burmese restaurant conveniently located next to Trader Joe’s in Livermore so that I could get my grocery shopping done too. Efficiency at its finest!
Here’s everything we ate at Shwe Myanmar:
Tea Leaf Salad
Tea Leaf salad is a must when trying Burmese cuisine and probably a dish you will find on every single menu in a Burmese restaurant!
Our salad included a mixture of lettuce, fermented tea leaves, fried garlic, beans, peas, peanuts, sesame seeds, tomatoes, cabbage, lemon juice, and shrimp powder. All of these ingredients packed a punch, both texturally and in taste! If you’re looking for a dish that is refreshing and full of flavor, this salad is for you.
Beef & Potato Curry
Burmese curries can often draw from Indian influence and this beef and potato curry that we ordered definitely reminded me of Indian curries we’ve had (just with a slightly different flavor profile). To go along with our curry, we ordered a side of steamed rice because rice is life.
While I thought the dish was tasty, I felt the beef could have been a little more tender. But overall, I was pleased with this one.
Chicken Curry Chow Mein
As lovers of noodles, we of course had to try one of their many noodle dishes! We settled on the Chicken Curry Chow Mein, described as stir-fried chicken & flour noodles w/ house spicy curry sauce. The “chow mein” noodles at Shwe had more of a flat shape like linguine, rather than typical Chinese chow mein noodles. I actually prefer this style of noodle!
In terms of flavor profile, there was a distinct curry flavor which reminded me of the Thai dish Khao Soi (which is a coconut curry soup with noodles). The chicken was very tender and flavorful and the portion was super generous! We had plenty of leftovers to take home.
Imperial Sesame Pork
Last but not least was the Imperial Sesame Pork, which was our favorite dish from our visit to Shwe Myanmar. It had great savory flavors and the pork was fried in a perfectly airy and crispy batter. I’m not sure how distinctly Burmese this dish is, but if drawing from neighboring influences, this one reminded me of breaded Chinese-style dishes I’ve had in the past. Whatever its origins, this is a dish worth coming back to Shwe Myanmar for!
For it being our first time having Burmese food, I’d say it was a successful visit. There were honestly way too many dishes to choose from and I can’t wait to try more spots around the Bay Area. One thing is for sure, we’ll be getting the tea leaf salad at every place we go!
Have you ever had Burmese food and/or do you have a good spot we should try in the Bay Area?
Burmese Restaurant Wish List
Here’s a list of other Burmese restaurants in the Bay Area that we’d love to try:
- Aung Burma in Concord
- Aung MayLika in Concord
- Burma 2 in Walnut Creek
- Burma Superstar (in Alameda and Oakland)
- Experience Burma in Pleasanton
Also Read
Be sure to check out my other A to Z posts for each letter of the challenge.
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