A tea leaf from the Shan State mountains. A line out the door on Clement Street. Three decades of cooks, regulars, late nights, and a table that kept getting bigger.
Burma Superstar opened in San Francisco's Inner Richmond in 1992, at a time when most diners in America had never encountered Burmese food before.
Tea leaf salad. Samusa soup. Platha hot off the griddle.
The menu introduced many people to flavors they hadn't tasted before, while giving Burmese families a place that felt familiar.
What started as a neighborhood restaurant slowly became something larger.
Tea leaf salad has been part of Burmese tables for generations, and part of Burma Superstar since the beginning. Over time, it became one of the restaurant's most recognized dishes.
For years, fermented tea leaves could not be properly imported into the United States. Then in 2009, reports surfaced about unsafe production methods tied to tea leaf production in Burma.
Our team returned to the tea-growing regions of eastern Myanmar — Shan State — looking for a better path forward. There, they met small tea farmers whose families had worked the mountains for generations, often without stable pricing or direct access to buyers.
The work changed from there. Burma Food Group began building direct relationships with farmers, introducing updated food safety standards and more stable pricing practices. Those efforts eventually led to the first legal import of fermented Burmese tea leaves into the United States in 2014.
The relationship with those farms continues today.
What started on Clement Street grew slowly across the Bay. New rooms. New neighborhoods. Same kitchen at the center of it all.
A small dining room in San Francisco's Inner Richmond. Tea leaf salad on the menu from day one.
Burma Superstar opens in Alameda, bringing the restaurant beyond San Francisco for the first time.
A second East Bay dining room opens on Telegraph Avenue, expanding the restaurant's presence across the Bay.
A different kind of room. More space to linger, a larger bar, and later nights — while keeping the tea leaf salad, samusa soup, and platha at the center of the table.
Burma Love Foods launches, bringing tea leaves, chili crisp, noodles, and other products from the restaurants into home kitchens, grocery shelves, and food service.
Burma Love opens downtown, continuing the expansion of the restaurants into new neighborhoods across San Francisco.
A smaller-format restaurant opens in Oakland, built around quick meals, takeaway, and everyday staples from the kitchen.
Teakwood opens in Hayes Valley, shaped by the cuisines of Burma and Northern Thailand. That same year, Burma Love opens in Menlo Park.
Burma Love opens at Thrive City, bringing the restaurant into one of the Bay Area's busiest gathering places.
Burma Food Group now includes restaurants, bars, catering, and products across the Bay Area — all still connected by the same kitchen, recipes, and approach to hospitality.
Tea leaf salad begins long before it reaches the table. The work moves slowly — through farms, fermentation rooms, kitchens, and many hands along the way.
The restaurants may look different from one another, but the approach stays consistent — in the kitchen, in the dining room, and behind the scenes.
Build places where people feel supported, challenged, and able to grow.
Cook with care. Source thoughtfully. Stay connected to the traditions behind the food.
Create spaces that bring people together — around the table and beyond.
Restaurants, bars, and products across the Bay Area — all connected by the same kitchen and approach to hospitality.
