Tea Leaf Salad | Mandalay Restaurant | San Francisco, California
And then we have Mandalay Restaurant, apparently the first Burmese restaurant in the Bay Area. They also have a Tea Leaf Salad, which is prepared with imported Burmese tea leaves, grounded shrimps, fried garlic, sesame seeds, peanuts and dressing. However, their version differs from Burma Superstar’s with tossed Lentil seeds and green pepper. Though I have much love for Burma Superstar’s version, I like Mandalay’s version better for a few reasons: 1) It can be ordered as a side small salad, perfect for a party of two, 2) I like the fermented tea leave taste and thus prefer that there isn’t much lettuce in Mandalay’s version, and 3) I take to the added Lentil seed flavoring. Unlike Burma Superstar, Mandalay Restaurant definitely isn’t as consistent in flavors — Burma Superstar’s menu as a whole is superior hand down. But I think that’s because Mandalay Restaurant’s menu is both Burmese and Mandarin influenced, and unfortunately most of the Mandarin influenced dishes simply sound great on the menu but taste underwhelming. That doesn’t mean though that there aren’t some shining stars on Mandalay Restaurant’s menu, and the Tea Leaf Salad is definitely one of them.
-Noreylee
