After a fun few days in Napa, we wanted to make the most of our time on the West Coast so we opted to stay an extra night in San Francisco. After dropping Darlene off at the airport (which was thrilling since we were stuck in traffic and she came really close to missing her flight) we checked into our humble hotel in Chinatown and grabbed a bite to eat at Ramen Underground.
We started off with the rice balls which were huge! They look like mini-mountains!
Both N. and I got the tonkatsu ramen. I am by no means a ramen connoisseur, but I love all noodle soups in any which way or form (i.e.: pho, udon, ramen, etc.).
After our filling meal we decided to walk around the "varied" shops in Chinatown. I say varied jokingly because they were more or less the same store, selling the same things.
Us goofing around in Chinatown. LOL.
After we strolled through Chinatown, we headed to the top of Nob Hill (we literally had to climb some steep a$$ hills to get to this place!) to check out the famous Tonga Room at the Fairmont Hotel. Having drank wine for the past few days you could say I was wine'd out. I was excited to drink something different so I was happy to bring on the hard liquor, LOL. We started off with their signature mai tais. They were good, fruity and strong!
The band was pretty good! The fun thing to note is that every time the band went for break the barge the band was on would move back "in-land" and it would start to storm on the water--complete with rain and thunder sounds.
Selfies!
Cheers!
The next beverage we tried was the Smuggler's Golden Punchbowl for two. We saw that the bartender added bitters to the drink which made the cocktail a little too salty after a while.
We asked him if he could add something to it to make it less salty/more sweet. He then added some guava juice which made it a little better! ;)
Yum! Definitely more palatable!
After a couple of cocktails it was off to bed because we had a long day planned for tomorrow. We had booked this Hayes Valley walking tour so we were really looking forward to that. I had never heard of the Hayes Valley neighborhood or done a walking tour so I was excited to do something super "touristy" in the city!
I started off my morning the next day with the breakfast of champions, bahn mi! On our way to Hayes Valley I looked up a well-reviewed little food/coffee shop on Yelp called Fresh Brew Coffee and their bahn mi sandwich did not disappoint!
Derby Street! Too bad I didn't find a Louie Street!
Walking to across town we also ran into a farmer's market! We got to sample some fresh fruit and cheeses! So delicious! We also stopped by the famous Blue Bottle Coffee where I tried their New Orleans iced coffee. It had the perfect amount of milk with a hint of sweetness. Yum!
Now the tour! Luckily we didn't eat to much that morning because this foodie walking tour through Gourmet Walks required a lot of eating of which we were happy to oblige!
The flavor we sampled was the cinnamon shortbread which was delicious! Smitten makes their ice cream differently in that they use CO2 to make their ice cream in small batches. It was pretty neat to watch them make it.
Our next stop was the Fatted Calf for some tasty charcuterie! Here's a picture of one of the employees telling us about the shop. At every stop an employee came out and told us about the restaurant/shop we were in and what they were serving.
For some reason this was my favorite place on the tour. I think it's because I'm a sucker for gourmet/artisanal meats!
This is Katie who was our Gourmet Walks tour guide, she was great!
After that, we visited DragonEats for some (more) bahn mi. Honestly, I could never tire of bahn mi so I was fine with eating it twice in one day.
Here is a shot of the chicken bahn mi we sampled. Compared to the one I had in the morning, I like the one at the coffee shop better. Honestly, this one had a bit too much mayonnaise and it wasn't served with the usual bahn mi baguette, regardless I'm sure it is still a nice addition to the neighborhood.
Next, we went to Hayes and Kebab for some assorted Mediterranean mezze. Below is a shot of the store sign and a sampling of the pita, babaghanoush, hummus, and falafel.
By this stop I was starting to get really full. The next stop, Nosa Ria, offered a light sample of their Spanish olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Too bad there was no vehicle to sample them with (i.e.: bread, cracker). N. and I were secretly hoping for a sample of Iberico ham, but alas, there was none. wah wah.
After, the oil and vinegar sampling I was really excited for our next stop, Miette, for some macarons! If you don't know, I am a macaron fiend! And these ones were organic and tasty! In the picture below, the pistachio macaron is the left and the raspberry macaron is on the right, but I'm sure you couldn't tell since they don't use any artificial colors or preservatives. Their subtle tones definitely weren't what I was used to but they were yummy nonetheless!
A shot of the beautiful interior of the store.
Jars full of macarons!
After satisfying my sweet tooth, we went to Arlequin Cafe for some tasty nibbles of bread and cheeses. They had a lovely back patio which looked like it would be nice for chatting with friends in the beautiful weather. Here is a shot of the spread. They also served us a sample of Chardonnay, but as I already mentioned I was wine'd out so I barely took a sip. LOL.
I obviously didn't like the hoppy pale ale, but I did like the chocolatey stout!
After our tour we did some retail therapy at San Francisco's own Marine Layer (they're products are so soft and cozy!) and Uniqlo!
Our time in San Francisco was coming to an end so we had to head back to Chinatown to grab our rental car and things and head to the airport. But before we headed out, we stopped at Bite to grab a bite for the plane ride home! Pun intended...har har har. ;P Their artisanal sandwiches were huge and smelly (in a good way!) so we probably got the stink eye while we noshed on the onion-y goodness on the plane.
Whew! That is a lot of stuff! Although we only had a day and a half, we filled our short time in San Francisco with lots of good times and good eats!
No comments:
Post a Comment