Rangoon Ruby, Belmont

When I saw Rangoon Ruby had opened a location in the culinary black hole of Downtown Belmont, I had high hopes for a decent restaurant just a few minutes from my house. I’m a huge fan of Southeast Asian food and recalled nice things being said about the other Ruby Rangoon locations.

After waiting several days to avoid any opening week glitches I had a solo lunch of Ohnoh Kawt Swe (Coconut Noodle Soup) and Burmese Ice Tea.

I’m a fool for coconut curries and found the soup mildly pleasing at first, but by the end of the bowl I was disappointed. Given that RR is a white table cloth place the $13 cost of the Ohnoh Kawt Swe was reasonable, but it was dumbed-down and uninspiring.

I can best describe the sauce as “gloppy”. The flavor was pretty bland and individual flavors did not stand out.

My opinion may have been biased by a very decent Khao Poon (the kind with coconut milk) I had at Cafe Vientian in Oakland just a few days before. Admittedly it’s not the same dish, but CV’s Khao Poon was head and shoulders above RR’s only coconut curry soup offering. The Khao Poon had a thinner broth, a much more complex and interesting flavor, and individual flavors stood out more.

Since RR is so close to me I may return to try something else but I don’t expect much from this place.

Longer discussion on HO : Rangoon Ruby, Belmont - SF Bay Area, NorCal, Tahoe - Hungry Onion

I found the Rangoon Ruby in Palo Alto mediocre. The worst Burmese food I’ve eaten.

That’s not surprising - Rangoon Ruby is mediocre (as also described in the HO discussion). Not sure why you picked that place for Burmese food

Palo Alto’s demographics encourage mediocre food. If you must eat on University Avenue, Oren’s and Yayoi are good bets.

Way better food than Oren’s and Yayoi on/adjacent to University Ave.

Bird Dog, Ethel’s Fancy, Pizza Delfina and a Pho Hanoi is coming soon.

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Would also add Naschmarkt and Zareen’s

tbh we get Zareen’s catered a lot at work and it’s a SOLID meh. Everything is way too soupy and they skimp on the proteins. We’ve started to get Back-a-yard more often and it’s been a huge upgrade.

Not quite University Avenue, but just on the other side of Stanford there’s Flea Street.

since this has diverged into palo alto eats,
the char kway teow at killiney kopitiam is pretty outstanding, i would venture better than anything else on or next to university (and the bak kuh teh is surprisingly good value, although the rest of their menu is more meh).
chef zhao’s has to be a top-5 restaurant in palo alto

Why does it say Belmont? OP seemed to be taking about PA.

Surprised about soupy and lack of proteins at Zareen’s - we just had take out from them tonight
(Redwood City location) and they tend to add a lot of protein (sometimes I wish for less of it and more vegetables) - I wonder if they try to save money with less protein for their catering work
What’s good at back-a-yard ?

yeah, or maybe the PA location just sucks. The Jerk goat/chicken and the oxtails are what you wanna get at Back-A-Yard. Also the Jamaican Festivals (fried bread)! The collards aren’t bad, but the mac and cheese is just meh.

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the curry goat is also pretty solid, as is the beef patty (but must be eaten scalding hot, and will definitely burn the roof of your mouth)

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