A texturally exciting dining experience

By: PATRICIA UNTERMAN
Special to The Examiner
September 11, 2009

Feast for the senses: Burmese Kitchen’s crispy fried pea salad features crunchy split peas and minced chicken in a flavorful melange of raw and deep-fried tidbits. (Bret Putnam/Special to The Examiner)
SAN FRANCISCO — For three years, Dennis Lin, the Chinese-Burmese owner of Larkin Express, ran this Civic Center lunch spot as a sandwich shop. He became famous for his daily roasted turkey sandwich ($4.95), served warm on whole wheat toast piled with hand carved meat, lettuce, pickles, onions and tomato — so thick and juicy, it satisfies like a hamburger. He still serves it.

However, Lin’s real passion is food from central Burma, near Rangoon. About a year ago, he transformed Larkin Express into the Burmese Kitchen, where Burmese home-style dishes now emanate from an open kitchen under a thatched roof. Rumbles from the ethnic food underground became so insistent that I made a visit, and then another and another. This little place is a find.

San Franciscans know from eating at Pagan and Burma Superstar that Burmese cooking can be texturally exciting, aromatic and moderately hot — a natural fusion of cuisines from neighboring India, southeast Asia and China. What they haven’t tasted is the luscious and labor-intensive versions of many of these dishes at the Burmese Kitchen.

Addictive, bite-size yellow tiles of fried tofu ($4.95), for example, are miracles of crunchiness and tenderness. To create a batter that fries up so magically, tofu and yellow split peas are stirred together for 45 minutes in one direction.

Crispy fried pea salad ($5.95) — my favorite dish on the menu — also explores texture, this time with crunchy yellow split peas and minced chicken in a tart, chile inflected, savory melange of raw and deep fried tidbits. Ginger salad ($5.95) intricately weaves together toasted peanuts, yellow split peas, cabbage, young ginger, fresh soybeans, fried coconut and fried shallot, so that each bite intrigues.

The Burmese cook with fresh, young, green tea leaves — Lin brings them back from Burma in suitcases. You can see the whole leaves in the tea leaf salad ($5.95), mixed with cabbage, tomato, sesame seeds and other fried bits.

In Burmese-style chicken biriyani ($7.95), each separate, yellow grain becomes a vehicle for the fragrance of sweet spices. Moist chicken thigh and leg, marinated for extra flavor, nestle into the rice. Each bite is exciting and multifaceted, a home-cooked triumph.

Curries and stews evoke southeast Asia. In eggs with tamarind sauce ($5.50), hard-boiled eggs take on a creamy texture from long cooking in a mild, tart sauce with caramel undertones.

Quiet-flavored pumpkin stew ($4.50) comes alive with a spoonful of balachaun ($5.50) or “dried shrimp paste,” as it is called on the menu. This pile of dried red chilies, dried shrimp, deep-fried shallots and garlic mixed together would make an old shoe taste great. (It’s always included on lunch combo plates.) An order of coconut rice ($2), flecked with grated young coconut makes all dishes eaten with it special.

Try these for dessert ($1.50): warm tapioca pudding made with coconut milk and a dash of salt; bouncy young coconut gelatin, clear as an ice cube, topped with shaved young coconut; buttery, crumbly, warm semolina cake. All are fun.

As for the ambiance, an artist friend summed up the problem: fluorescent lighting and a drab, monochromatic shade of brown on every surface. I go in the afternoon when natural light comes in from the front windows, though I’d eat on the sidewalk, if I had to. This lush, attentive, personal cooking is a gift.

Patricia Unterman is author of the second edition of the “San Francisco Food Lovers’ Pocket Guide.” Contact her at pattiu@concentric.net.

Burmese Kitchen
Location: 452 Larkin St. (between Golden Gate and Turk streets), San Francisco
Contact: (415) 474-5569
Hours: Monday, 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; closed Sundays
Price range: $4.95 to $7.95
Recommended dishes: Fried pea salad, ginger salad, fried tofu, chicken biriyani, eggs with tamarind sauce, roast turkey sandwich, young coconut gelatin
Credit cards: MasterCard, Visa
Reservations: Accepted

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