Fermented green tea leaves mixed with crunchy fried split peas, peanuts, garlic, sesame seeds, dried shrimp, lime, sliced tomato and shredded cabbage. Burma Superstar's defining San Francisco dish.
Where to eat it: 4 restaurants across 1 city.
Lephet thoke arrived in San Francisco with the Burmese community that settled in the Bay Area through the 1990s and 2000s. Burma Superstar opened on Clement Street in the Richmond District in 1992; current owner Desmond Tan acquired the restaurant in 2000 and built it into the Bay Area Burmese reference, making tea-leaf salad a cult dish. The Burmese fermented tea (lephet) is mixed at the table from a divided plate. Today Burma Love, Burma Bites and Mandalay continue the San Francisco Burmese tradition; the salad remains the city's most distinctive imported dish.
Common allergens: Crustaceans (dried shrimp), Sesame, Peanut, Soy
Tip from the editors. Real fermented tea leaves (lephet) are the dish. Find Lucky brand lephet at any Burmese grocer or order online from Burma Superstar.
Burma Superstar in San Francisco is the Clement Street Burmese room that taught the city to eat lahpet thoke; the tea leaf salad is the order.
Signature: Tea leaf salad, Rainbow salad, Samusa soup
Order: The tea leaf salad, tossed table-side with crunchy lentils and fried garlic.
Tip: No reservations; put your name in then walk down Clement to B Star for tea while you wait.
Mister Jiu's in San Francisco is Brandon Jew's one-Michelin-star Cal-Chinese flagship in Chinatown, with whole-duck dinners and an upstairs cocktail room.
Tip: Book the whole roast duck 48 hours ahead by phone; it does not appear on the website ordering form.
The Ferry Building Marketplace in San Francisco runs daily inside the 1898 Ferry Building, with Hog Island Oyster Co., Cowgirl Creamery, Acme Bread.
Tip: Hog Island's bar opens at 11:00; arrive then for oysters before the lunch line stacks up.
House of Nanking in San Francisco is the Kearny Street Sichuan-Cantonese hybrid since 1988, with a sesame chicken set by an opinionated counter.
Try: Sesame chicken
Order: Whatever the owner brings; tell him you trust the kitchen and let him pick three plates.
Tip: Skip the menu; ask the owner to feed you. Cash and card; the wait is shorter for lone diners at the counter.
More cities are in research. Want lephet thoke (burmese tea leaf salad) covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.