San Francisco a foodie weekend

Taking our first flight in over a year felt amazing. Pre-covid we loved to travel. It wasn’t uncommon to find a good deal even a week out, adjust our schedules and go. That’s how we ended up in San Francisco, our last trip before lockdown. Angie had some work and at the last minute I decided to go. Why not? It’s San Fran.

San Francisco is a true “around the world food adventure” all in one city. Only having 2 nights, we trusted our long time local friend Leigh and squeezed in a couple of favorites from previous visits.

Leigh came across the Golden Gate Bridge from Marin to meet us at one of her favs: Wildseed. Being a vegetarian restaurant, our foodie adventure had begun. Leigh is a cocktail girl, so we each selected an interesting cocktail from the menu, and chose a Mezze plater – always a good indication of the chef’s skills and take on cooking. ‘Cooking is one of the ultimate expressions of creativity’ (thanks Andrew Zimmern a great quote). After one bite of the crisp warm falafel, we knew it was going to be a good meal! The hummus, baba ganoush, marinated cucumber , feta and tabouli took us back to the Middle East with amazing exotic flavors automatically making us talk about our individual adventures in and around that part of the world: Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Turkey…. Exactly what food should do: inspire conversation and relive past memories.

It also made us decide to keep going with small shared plates so we could experience more of the chef’s selections. Mexican corn cakes came next, light and fluffy with that creamy corn flavor, and discovering we had all been to the Tequila Trail. Enjoying the big tasting pours and learning about the different varieties of tequila. Curried cauliflower followed with pea tendrils was our version of a salad, as an order of belga fries (Belga being “Belgian style”) was coming and really who has had curried ketchup before? It looked just like ketchup but had this nice underlying curry flavor that just elevated the crispy fry and gave it a unique taste. Amazing.

Gotta say by now we were all full, but had to have an Anejo tequila as our night cap after all that tequila talk. A great night: amazing food, lively conversation and an ideal way to start our foodie weekend. Saying goodbye to Leigh, we decided to stroll back to the hotel and burn off just a little of what we had eaten.

Leigh also recommended our next spot: August 1 five for Saturday morning brunch. Not being a big breakfast person, I’d rather jump straight into interesting food than fill up on eggs. August 1 five located on Van Ness Ave was a contemporary Californian / Indian restaurant that if you are into different types of brunch would have a must every San Fran trip, if it, sadly, hadn’t had to close. We hope it will reopen or the chef will start a new restaurant by our next visit.

We started with a cocktail each – who doesn’t want to try a tulsi boba?? With tequila, elderflower, grapefruit, april bloomed tulsi seeds, this combination led to a very smooth, too easy drinking cocktail. Angie has been to India on a work trip and I haven’t yet so we were willing to trust our waitress and see what she recommended.

Palak chaat was her first “you’ve gotta try this.” Its sort of like a warm salad with fried spinach (cold) chickpeas (warm) tamarind and yoghurt sauce. A mouth watering start to our Indian foodie adventure that made us talk about whether we could squeeze in a trip that year just to eat more of this amazing food. Back then (February 2020) our calendars were getting close to full. How that changed come March 2020…Next came Uttapam, a pancake made from rice and lentil flour came out with a mind blowing coconut chutney. Gulf shrimp (prawn) and appam was the last thing we could fit in. A fermented rice sort of crisp crepe with shrimp in a mustard seed, curry leaf coconut curry. It was a mix of “ohh yeah that’s got some curry” heat, but not too much to overpower the shrimp and the appam you could break apart and dip in to cool it slightly. After thanking our waitress for an amazing introductory journey into India, It was time to check our some San Fran culture by wandering the streets and of cause doing some people watching. San Fran will not let you down.

It’s fun when you’re just being a tourist and follow the crowds or go up an interesting looking street. We saw some cool street art near the city capital and then we wandered our way to Chinatown. We’d considered it, because it was Chinese New Year, but had no real hard and fast plan. So to arrive at the entry gate was a nice pleasant surprise. Fireworks were going off, street stalls had been set up and everyone was having a great happy time. You could feel the excitement growing as the parade attendees started to arrive and get into costume for the biggest parade outside of China. (Well, the biggest Chinese New Year parade anywhere in 2020). 

Now committed to watching the parade but wanting a snack, we decided to shoot down to the ferry terminal to The Slanted Door, a favorite. What better snack than Vietnamese spring rolls with shrimp (prawns) and pork with mint to give it some Vietnamese zinging. Also hiramasa (raw fish) with crispy shallots for crunch, lime and thai basil to round out a flavor packed fresh fish bite. The perfect wine pairing was champagne, of course, with a view of the Bay Bridge.  

The parade was huge, dragons galore, drummers setting a beat, kids dressed up doing cultural dances and multiple gold rats as it was the year of the rat. Parades have such a high level of happy energy, which is always contagious.

We had decided to go to Hakkasan for dinner and had already booked a reservation. We’d been to their Shanghai restaurant (see fried rice blog)  and decided it was a must to celebrate the new year. Leaving the parade a little early to race back and change, we made it to Hakkasan just in time to watch the final and longest dragon bob and weave by. Like its Shanghai location Hakkasan has a modern Chinese food with a dark, alluring, almost sexy vibe and ambiance.

Starting with the dim sum basket really immerses you in the cuisine and like the mezze plater, gives you a chance to try a taste of everything from Scallop Sun Ma, to Chinese Chives to Chicken am pan Choi. All different styles of dumplings made with different ingredients and techniques and all with their own unique texture and taste. To follow was a roasted black cod cooked to perfection, falling apart with just a fork in a champagne and honey sauce. A small plate of roasted duck (which really isn’t a small plate) presented beautifully cooked duck breast, moist on the inside, medium rare of course, with the crispiest of skin: TO DIE FOR. We swap plates back and forth all the time. It was the perfect amount of food, and even better with a light pinot as not to overpower the cod or be not enough for the duck. While Hakkasan San Francisco’s location has closed as well, you can visit locations in other cities (London, Vegas…)

The day you fly out is always kinda tricky. You’ve got to manage check out, timing to airport etc. 

We chose to have a relaxing stroll down to the Bay and enjoy a gorgeous seafood platter at Waterbar. We had a mimosa and a crazy bloody mary which qualified it as brunch and seafood platter with a view of the Bay to relax and talk our way though all the amazing food enjoyed. The journeys behind the food, flavors and our travel memories attached to it all. We sat there so long, the waitress brought us a desert to share with the comment “you looked like you were both having so much fun I didn’t want you to stop”.

Finally it was time to head back, grab our bags and jump in an Uber to the airport. Full of food and fond memories and wondering when we would come back to find some new favorite foodie places. Little did we know we wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while, but we did manage to travel in our minds making food from our travels around the world pairing with different wines, mimosas or margaritas. Sharing memories as we ate at our kitchen island and savoring the flavors. Dreaming of where we would go again when we could…