Wanna-E

Ate after the bridge to bridge run at the marina. Really excited to see a Burmese food truck!
Tea leaf salad had way more salad than accustomed to for this Burmese delicacy. Made it way too watery.
The not so stinky garlic noodles were really disappointing. Flavor was lackluster which I think they tried to mask with a ton of red pepper.
Not worth the money or the wild wait.
Strong pass.

My intro to burmese food and boy was it tasty. Tried the not so stinky garlic noodle, golden curry cononut rice, tea leaf salad, pinto fritters, golden tofu fries, fried pork wonton, and corn fritters
Everything was prepared well and the garlic noodle is one of my favorites with just the right amount of spice. The coconut rice is delicious with the spicy curry (beware if you can’t handle spice)
The tea leaf salad is flavorsome and the peanuts are a nice crunchy touch.
Lastly the golden tofu fries are scrumptious with a lovely crunchy texture on the outside and a soft melt interior.
Must try if you find yourself in sf!

Wanna-​E never disappoints, if there are 6 other trucks but I see Wanna-​E I will choose Wanna-​e more often than not. Everything tastes fresh and is well prepared. The pork with fried rice is great and the deep fried pintos are very nice. The garlic noodles are also a nice choice. I look forward to trying the other dishes I haven’t tried yet. Also I like that they donate to the flood victims.

The place I’m working for got their catered lunch today and it’s delicious! Although, some things are pretty spicy. I piled mine up in a bowl so I’m not sure what exactly is spicy. The vermicelli noodles with veggies are good, ginger salad and tea leaf salad are both amazingly delicious, coconut rice is always a hit with me. Would love to try the food truck by itself sometime.

I had the garlic noodle. Good food good service good portion. Wish to see more selection of food.
Also good to see the health rating score 100 posted on the truck. Cause there were someone sneezing inside the truck without their mouth covered… just a bit worry

Not so strinky garlic noodles deserves a ¹⁰⁄₁₀. Perfect amount of spice and flavor. I will come again just for this dish.
Mandalay-​style Burmese food, huh? Tasty!

2.5 STARS
Asian Fusion Confusion?
I first heard this phrase from Chef Ching-​He Huang on her show: Restaurant Redemption. Think Restaurant: Impossible (Robert Irvine) but hosted by a bluntly sassy, self-​taught Chinese chef with a hot British accent. Love her. Or, maybe it’s her accent. I don’t know about you but those European accents are instant panty droppers.
We go to SoMa StrEat Food Park almost every week for their dog-​friendly outdoor patio. Tired of the same ‘ol rotation, I spotted Wanna-E’s truck with the cutest elephant logo and with the words «Authentic Mandalay Food».
On the menu: Ginger Salad ($ 6), Fried Wontons ($ 5), Pinto Fritters ($ 4), Corn Fritters ($ 5), Tofu Fries ($ 5), Tea Leaf Salad ($ 10), Not So Stinky Garlic Noodles ($ 10), Shiitake Noodle Soup ($ 10), Curry Coconut Rice ($ 10), Fried Rice w/​braised pork ($ 10), Snow Drink ($ 6), and Fruit Salad ($ 8). CC’s accepted.
I’m no Burmese food expert but I’ve never seen fried wontons, pinto bean fritters, and tofu fries (not «fries» but fried sliced tofu squares) in any «authentic» Burmese restaurant. IMO, I think Asian Fusion (with a bit of confusion on my end) is more appropriate to describe Wanna-E’s menu offerings.
Perhaps we ordered wrong but I felt the items we did order could easily be made at home with store bought items.
We shared the Fried Pork Wontons ($ 5) which were underwhelming:
. No different than taking some store bought wontons and throwing them in the fryer. If you want solid dumplings from a truck, Tonli Dumpling Truck make some surprisingly awesome ones that squirt because they’re so damn juicy.
We also shared the «Not So Stinky Garlic Noodles» ($ 10):
. Now, if you think you’ll be getting Crustacean, Thanh Long, or PPQ Dungeness Crab style garlic noodles, you’ll be severely disappointed. This was the blandest, most ungarlicky garlic noodles I’ve ever had. It tasted like boiled wonton mein (thin egg noodles) topped with TJ’s pulled pork (also very bland) and fried garlic. I know that they’re not going for the usual stanky breath garlic noodles but I want to be able to taste more garlic then just the garnish of fried garlic on top. Additionally, good noodles should have a toothsome chew. These were overcooked, soggy, and had zero bite to them.
I know I can be harsh at times but when a food truck is charging restaurant prices, I’m going to have that expectation that they’re serving something I can’t easily make at home. Like many, I’m my own toughest critic but I can make much better garlic noodles at home.
But what do I know? The only person that praises my cooking is the fire alarm.

I stopped by Wanna-​E when they were over at SoMa Streat Food Park for a light pre-​dinner meal since I was having dinner later that night. I was actually craving noodles at that time so Wanna-​E had a couple options to satisfy that craving with their «Not-​So-​Stinky» Garlic Noodle and their Shiitake Noodle Soup. Being that it was a cold early evening at the park, I went with the noodle soup along with their Fried Pork Wontons to start.
Fried Pork Wontons —
Deep fried with ground pork, Chinese chives, and cabbage, with house special ginger sauce
These were good and went well with the noodle soup. I don’t think I’d order this by itself though since they were a little dry even with the sauce it came with.
Shiitake Noodle Soup —
Vegetarian Yunnan style rice noodle tossed fresh with Wanna-​E sauce in bean soup
This was good! Definitely hit the spot even for a veggie noodle dish. The bean soup was pretty thick which I liked because it was easy to pick up with the noodles. And it had really good flavor. I would surely order this again.
I’m willing to go back to Wanna-​E again if I was ever craving some noodles and they were nearby my area. I hope to try their fried rice and their garlic noodles next time.

got a light appetizer
look, like, Michael Jackson
got a dark appetizer
look, like, Michael Jackson
said I had some mandalay
Tofu & Wontons
a Ginger Saleeda
deffy set this brunchy off riiight
Wanna-​E, Wanna-​E, Wanna-​E, Wanna-​E
Wanna-​EEEEEEEEEEEEE
full full fuuuuull full!
I said I was all hangry for the truck
some new brunchition
so many napkins
defly set this brunzzy off riiight
Wanna-​E, Wanna-​E, Wanna-​E, Wanna-​E
Wanna-​EEEEEEEEEEEEE
full full ffuuuulll full!

San Francisco definitely has more Burmese food than most U.S. cities, but that’s still not enough! I’m so glad this truck exists to dish out unique flavor combinations not found in the typical assortment of Asian cuisines around the Bay Area. I absolutely love the fringe benefit of all the fried garlic you care for offered as a condiment next to the chopsticks and napkins.
Not So Stinky Garlic Noodles: I personally don’t think garlic noodles are that stinky to begin with, so the name is a bit confusing. However, the amazing taste of the noodles make up for that! Very thin crinkly noodles with lots of fried garlic, fried noodle and slow cooked pork on top. I definitely think the fried garlic gives a much tangier taste than the traditionally stir fried garlic. Because the noodles weren’t that thick, I was prone to shoveling a bunch in my mouth at once. So good!
Tea Leaf Salad: Had to get this since it tends to be a Burmese staple. As always, my favorite part are the fried beans/​lentils and shrimp powder; this dish didn’t disappoint. The veggies, however, felt a bit too soggy. When I’ve had this dish elsewhere, the dressing/​vinegar seemed to be used more sparingly. Also, despite it being tomato season, the slices of tomato felt as heirloom/​ripe as you might get at Subway.

Tea Leaf salad was good but not as good as the ones you get in restaurants such as Burma Superstar. The spice was good but I felt like it was a little soggy since the large tomatoes soaked everything.
The portions are pretty big though so you get bang for your buck! I will be back to try some of the noodle dishes!

This place has piqued my curiosity on the way from the office to WF, so I gave in and decided to give them a try. There were a lot of choices on the menu, but ultimately I asked the guy taking the orders what was most popular, and he pointed me towards the Not So Stinky Garlic Noodles. Order took about 5 minutes, though I went a little early so I was the only person there.
Got back to the office and was pleased to open my box. Tiny noodles (think angel hair), with shredded pork, garlic chips, chilli paste, and some other nom-​y goodness (see picture). It was a huge portion, but without knowing, I scarfed it down quicker than I intended. It was delicious, flavorful, and I’m bringing the office group next time so I can try the tea leaf salad and tofu fries :)

Those who know me, know that I usually don’t really care for Burmese food. At times I feel like it’s a confused cross between Thai and Chinese cuisine. Anyways, I’ve been seeing Wanna-​E pop up on Unilocal,and given that the truck is close enough to my office, I looked at their site to see if there’d be anything interesting. Not so stinky garlic noodles caught my eye. I LOVE my noodles, and garlic makes everything better!
So, I made the two long SOMA block trek to the truck on a cold day. I placed my order for the garlic noodles and was greeted by a friendly lady working the register. My noodles was $ 10, which is pricey for a truck, but I thought to myself, well, I just have to accept SOMA prices. I saw that they had a little jar of fried garlic and chili sauce that you can top on your dish, but they didn’t have any of those little conidment containers out, and I didn’t want to bug them. I decided to refrain from putting it on my noodles.
I opened my take out box and saw the massive portion in front of me. $ 10, but at least they give you a lot. They had some pickeled spicy veggies in a a container. The noodles were thin egg noodles and topped with tender shredded pork, chili sauce, soy, garlic oil and scallions. Like the name says, it wasn’t overly garlicky but you got the flavor. So yes you can go ahead and make out with someone after! It was balanced with the spicy and salty from the garlic. The pork was pleasing as well.
I think the noodles were good and of good quality but still a little pricey. Also their menu items don’t have that many options with meat: 1 chicken curry option, and other 2 come with pork. Tea leaf salad for $ 10 with no meat is kind of up there too. Food was good, and is a nice alternative to what the area serves up. Therefore I’d have to say it warrants a 3.5 but rounding up to a 4.

Wanna-​E has pricey eats. mains are $ 10, salads $ 6 plus tax. purveys mandalay food.
eats: «not so stinky garlic noodle» (10)
–nice schredded pork over thin chow mein noodles
–sharp garlic paste unevenly distributed in noodles
–pickles to spice up dish
–not garlic noodle as i know it, maybe mandalay style, it is.
3.5 stars.
*pricey for chow mein.
take outs:
–everything fresh, 4 star quality
3ish stars for pricey food truck, pricing= sit down pricing.

What a nice surprise to have this new food truck in the neighborhood! For people who are vegetarian and nuts about spicy food, shiitake noodle soup is a MUST TRY! Very flavorful and special. So far I’ve tried tealeaf salad, chicken curry coconut rice, garlic noodle. They’re all delicious and plentiful. Definitely the best place to get your lunch!

I wanted to love this new food truck, especially since it’s right by my office, but I would have to say it’s not somewhere I would go every day. With that said, there were pluses and minuses to the food. The garlic and pork noodles were not bad: pork was plentiful and flavorful but the noodles were a little too soft for me and the dish itself was a little cold. They had a combo fries deal until ³⁄₁₃ so I got a combo of corn fritters, pinto fritters, and tofu fries. I thought the best was the pinto fritter, but the other two were slightly too oily and somewhat overdone. With that said, the people working there were super nice and the need to microwave their noodles before eating was fine with me!

Time: 2:07pm/61°F partly cloudy
Purpose: The FTA aka (Food Truck Association) notify me about Wanna-​E being out there this week. My reply was that I’ll swing by when ever I can. Going up 3^rd street traffic was light at the time thinking why not…
Set-​up: Burmese food truck, sidewalk advertising board, located on corner of 3^rd/​Harrison st. They are also going to be in the Soma Streat Food Park. As of now plans on hold. Will update when it happens.
Staff: Two girls and one guy mid 20s with genuine smile. Two girls in back did all prep and cooking duties. I just dealt with the guy through window. He was upbeat energetic about having or working for a food truck. Told me what’s the best seller and ingredients made with. Handed me samples to try out as I didn’t even ask.
Cleanliness: Grade A, very clean from customers side of view. Cold fridge running efficiently all hot/​cold food kept in their propestive storage units. Utensils/​condiments placed in organizers with napkin dispenser in use. Even business cards had their own section. When you see things like that the rest is pretty straight forward cut and dry.
Eats/​Drinks: Garlic noodle $ 10, ginger salad $ 6, complimentary sampler all appetizers. Apps were delicious and free like a teaser for what they have going. Fried wonton didn’t care much as I had them so many times but, it was good here as well. Golden curry fries was good, I enjoy dipping it in home dipping sauce. To me its like one of those tofu made for stuffing. Now the pinto bean taste light and delicate. Smashed up beans mixed with embedded corn kernels then fried. Its a must have app if you decide on one appetizers. Ginger salad had me sweating bullets. Its so fresh ginger are like sliced minced to order. Fried beans, shrimp powder, chile, tomatoes, garlic, cabbage were very tasty highly recommend this salad. Be warn some may not take the excruciating spiciness of ginger. Garlic noodles was the all star for industry standards for noodles. These were like the same type of noodles found wonton noodle soup. Yellowish skinny not broken apart but, still in strands. This dish I can taste every listed ingredient and some. What I like about it? Well the house pork, garlic oil and scallions were the most favorite. Noodles were not drenched with garlic oil just enough to shine them up and have taste. Pork seasoned just right not tough or uncooked, a little pulled like. The box was heavy must have contain at least 1.5−2lbs worth. I ate every strand of noodle cleaned the inside till I can see myself on the film gloss of box. Now if you need to make one exception ho with the garlic noodles, I sh*t you not…
Main Features: Garlic noodle, golden curry coconut rice, tea leaf salad, and snow drink.
Products/​Services: Apps-​fried pork wonton, ginger salad, corn/​pinto fritters, golden tofu fries. Entrees-​tea leaf salad, not so stinky garlic noodle, shiitake noodle soup, golden curry coconut rice, golden fried rice w/​pork sung add $ 1 for egg. Desserts-​spiced fruit salad, snow drink, coconut aloe jelly. Assorted drinks-​water, aloe vera, green tea, juice. Catering available. Follow on FB, Twitter, Instagram, Unilocal.
Punch Lines: Friendly, zippy service, engaging, short line, pleasing flavors, happening, samples, free fries (grand opening/​limited time, drool worthy, well prepared, light bites, can’t go wrong, casual and delicious, satisfactory, worth the wait, street parking. Nearby moscone, yerba buena, minutes on/​off freeway, at&t park, soma, south park, embarcadero water front.
Tradeoffs: One of several anticipated food truck coming 2015. Instead of traveling across town for Burmese. You can have it locally, as close as restaurant quality but, w/​o the tables and chairs yet still be fulfill.
Final Thoughts: Back then I use to chase down food trucks with my Integra GS-​R then that one day came. I realize what a fool I was. Wasting time and effort doing it. That was then now, I let it come to me saving all the precious time. I don’t have all that time and luxury of chasing it down. However, if I see this particular truck I will downshift and punch the pedal. Wanna-​E literally leaves you wanting more especially the garlic noodles. I go crazy for garlic noodles and they don’t disappoint. Try for yourself and you’ll see what I mean.

We went to the food truck/​spicy food event on Saturday located at Justin Herman plaza.
Lots of choices but we always love Burmese food.
This truck? Not so much. The tea leaf salad was watery and not very flavorful.
The garlic noodles are good, if you like a lot of shredded pork.