72 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM Now, it’s a significant requirement.” Visitors are already clocking the differences between each restaurant’s Menlo Park vs. San Francisco locations. Take Burma Love, whose SF sister restaurants are Burma Superstar (the first one opened way back in 1992) and Burma Love. “Our other locations have more traditional Burmese staples, like tea leaf salad, that the community has grown to love,” says Bryanna Yip, director of brand for the Burma Love Food Group. “But Menlo Park also has inspired regional specialties like pork belly hung lay with tamarind sauce, heirloom tomatoes and pickled garlic.” She adds that a “very large emphasis” on the bar program means cocktails with “more adventurous, curious flavor profiles,” using ingredients like tea syrups, Thai basil, makrut lime leaves and smoked strawberries. Such flavors pair well with the bold, sour, spicy and salty flavors of Burmese food, which reflects influences from nearby India, China, Thailand and Laos. The décor is trendier and more glamorous, featuring murals of Burma’s golden stupas and pincushion-like lighting fixtures. At Robin, chef/owner Adam Tortosa’s omakase sushi restaurant where there’s no menu, but a parade of 11 to 18 chef’s choice dishes, features a full bar with Japanese whiskies—unlike his Hayes Valley location—and the menu is “about 20% different,” including sashimi with charred pineapple and kabosu, a Japanese citrus that tastes of lemon, lime and yuzu combined. The dark, dramatic décor features black volcanic-like walls with smashed copper leaf, and dining tables finished in shou sugi ban, a Japanese burned-wood technique. Distinctive hand-crafted serveware is adorned with crushed shells and rocks. Popular Andytown has five lo- {food coloring} cations in San Francisco, all near Ocean Beach, except for one in a downtown high-rise. But, “We embraced a lot more color in this location and have some design features inspired by Spanishstyle architecture in Menlo Park, like our wooden ceiling beams and arched niches where we sell coffee beans and coffeemakers,” says Lauren Crabbe, who owns Andytown with her Irish-born husband, Michael McCrory. The cafe pays homage to the Belfast neighborhood where Michael grew up: Andersontown, nicknamed Andytown. “The Snowy Plover,” Andytown’s most famous drink, is an espresso cream soda concocted with brown sugar syrup, soda water and house-made whipped cream. Also on the menu: baked Irish soda bread, scones and sausage rolls. In Italian slang, Che Fico means, “That’s so cool.” (Literally, “What a fig.”) That sums up chef/ ABOVE: Robin serves up a personalized omakase with an emphasis on sushi in a dramatic, elevated space. PHOTOGRAPHY: COURTESY OF ROBIN
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