From December 29th, 2023 to January 1st, 2024, I took a solo trip to San Francisco and the Bay Area. My main purpose for this trip was to visit friends and experience the city of San Francisco. Since when the friends I made at USC are either working in SF or on their way to SF, I feel lost sometimes. So I was wondering what SF is like and what charisma it has to attract most of my friends to move there.

So, I had the idea of this solo trip and talked to my friend Kayla to see if I could live in her place when she was visiting family in China. I also told several friends that I gonna visit them, and on the date of 12.29, I started my trip.

San Francisco is a city that captivates with its unique blend of natural beauty, cultural diversity, and progressive spirit. Spending my most of time in LA, I felt refreshed when I was breathing the moist, misty air after a rain in SF. There is a Chinese poem “空山新雨后，天气晚来秋“, which means “After the rain freshens the empty hills, the autumnal dusk deepens the chills”. San Francisco gave me the exact same feeling as this poem. Bathed in such cloudy weather, my thoughts went far deeper than what I had in LA, I was calmer, slower, more like a viewer and a thinker. Good sunshine in LA makes me wanna go out every day, but the gloomy weather in SF calmed me down. LA is more lively while SF is more organized, I guess.

I will split my trip journeys into 2 parts, one is for what I ate, and one is for what I saw. This blog, as you can see from the title, is about what I ate on SF New Year’s trip. What I wrote here are all the memorable ones: a fancy bakery, interesting Chinese fusion eateries, a colonial cocktail lounge, and a Venezuelan comfort food place!

12/29/23

Bakery: Crafts Man & Wolves
Drink: Marianne's

Crafts Man & Wolves

The first day was kinda solo, I arrived at Kayla’s place around 10 am. After a short settlement, I walked to the famous Valencia St nearby. It’s a cool place with some great eateries, vintage shops, and cafes. I was attracted by the lineup outside of Crafts Man & Wolves. It’s a bakery and dessert shop with elaborate cakes, croissants, Danish, etc. It also serves brunch, drinks, and light breakfast there.

Rose Garden Stone 4.5/5

I was so captivated by the beauty of the desserts on display that I stood there staring at the window for 5 minutes before finally joining the line. I ended up ordering a dessert called 'Rose Garden Stone', which is a cobblestone-shaped cake with a crust at the bottom. It's made of rose petal mousse, with a lychee center, sake pound cake, and an almond dentelle nest.

It was absolutely delicious, you wouldn’t be able to imagine the softness of the cake behind the stone-look appearance, and the real rose petal added a vital finishing touch to this art piece. It was not alike the single silky smoothness of a pure mousse cake or the frosted texture of a regular cake, but a diverse and wonderful flavor mix, how creative! I gave it a rate of 4.5/5, and the only 0.5 deductions came from the bottom crust. I usually hold the opinion that the crust shouldn’t be very sweet when the cake is already sweet, so I feel that decreasing the sweetness of the crust can be an improvement for this dessert.

toast 4/5

Japanese milk bread is always something I’m craving, and what’s special in Craftsman & Wolves is that they offer you two dipping sauces, one flavored butter, and one seasonal jam. You can tell the toast was yeasted well and got a nice milky scent. If you’re a Japanese milk bread fan, I would suggest you have a try, if not, then definitely save that chance for other bakery, desserts, or brunch!

Drink: Marianne's

As a food blogger, I must admit that my weaknesses are American burgers, Ethiopian cuisine, and drinks. Growing up in an east asian country, we don’t have a big tradition of drinking alcohol, so I still haven’t been able to build up my drinking tolerance. But I will try to describe a recommended drink place from vibe, design, and flavor.

Marianne’s is a recommendation from a friend, it’s a lounge belonging to the Cavalier, a modern British brasserie in SF. On its website, it wrote:

Marianne’s manifests edgy throwback glamour inspired by the one and only Marianne Faithfull. The intimate space offers vintage rock & roll vibes complete with low lighting, royal purple walls, and posh leather and zebra banquettes. Coupled with a sexy cocktail and spirits selection, curated wine list, and great music, Marianne’s is the perfect recipe for an unforgettable night out.

That’s probably the most accurate description, I could sense the colonial vibe with vintage chandeliers, lamps, and rogue leather couches. Customers are playing the “colonists” in this land, and the servers are the “indigenous people” here offering their welcomeness and specialties.

Put aside these colonial elements, the cocktails here were extraordinary. If I were just with myself, I definitely wouldn’t say so, but my friend was born into a family with a tradition of drinking, he knew what was good and bad better than me. My lime Margarita was a safe choice while his vodka cocktail (totally forgot the name, my bad) was strong and pure. We got the drinks we wanted just by describing with the bartender, and he was professional enough to not let us down.

12/30/2023

Coffee: Lady Falcon at Alamo Square
Lunch: Papa’s Kitchen
Dinner: Andina

On my second day in San Francisco, the weather was mostly sunny, so I spent the whole day exploring the city. I spent most of my time with my friend Subham, and Marcus joined us around sunset. We walked more than 10 miles that day, exploring various neighborhoods including Mission District, Alamo Square, Panhandle, and Hayes Valley. Our journey eventually led us to the iconic Golden Gate Park. Marcus brought the car to us, so we made it to the Land Ends Trail and Twin Peak for sunset and city view. As for food, I tried an interesting coffee food truck, an authentic Chinese eatery, and one Venezuelan comfort food place.

Lady Falcon at Alamo Square

Lady Falcon is an adorable coffee truck located in Alamo Square, where you can spot the famous seven-painted women. Unlike the fancy local coffee shops, here, coffee is simply a warm beverage to enjoy while relaxing in Alamo Square. I wouldn't say the coffee is amazing, but it's good enough to start your day after a jog or walk with your dog.

I ordered Petit Latte, and it did turn out to be petite. Subham loves jogging, he said his favorite moment every day is waking up at 6:30, jogging from Hayes to Aloma Square, and drinking a cup of coffee there while watching all the cute dogs. “You can see so many cute dogs here, that’s why I like here so much.” Being a dog lover myself, I totally understand why Subham likes this park a lot. For me, the perfect nature adventure always involves a cup of coffee. Drinking coffee in a pleasant environment is a refreshing way to clear the mind. We need experiences in boutique coffee shops, but it's also nice to have memories like Lady Falcon in Alamo Square. What could be better than combining coffee with friends in a natural setting filled with cute animal friends?

Papa’s Kitchen

I didn’t expect I could come across such an authentic Chinese food place in a non-Chinese neighborhood in San Francisco.

Haight Street is well-known for its thrift shops, and it connects Alamo Square to Golden Gate Park. Subham and I were looking for a quick lunch before heading to the park, so we decided to try a Chinese restaurant we stumbled upon - Papa's Kitchen. It's a family-run Asian eatery, but I refer to it as a Chinese food place because the owners are Chinese and their Chinese food is incredibly delicious. The atmosphere inside the restaurant was cozy and welcoming, making me feel right at home.

We ordered Egg Flower Soup, I was surprised to see they made it better than some of the restaurants in China! It’s a simple dish but hard to make perfectly, Papa’s Kitchen did a great job at making the shape of egg flower as well as just the right amount of seasoning. I felt soothed by the fresh, light soup. With only two ingredients - tomato and egg, it won’t cause any burden to your stomach.

The Mapo Tofu we ordered was very classical and good, and so was the egg roll. It's common for Mapo Tofu to be overly seasoned, but that wasn't the case at Papa's Kitchen. The dish highlighted the natural flavor of the tofu, while still incorporating the necessary Chinese red peppers for a hint of spice. It wasn't too hot, but just enough to capture the essence of the dish. We only spent around $20 per person, and left with full stomachs and happy moods.

Andina

Located in the famous Hayes Valley, Andina is a Venezuelan comfort food place. After dropping Subham home, me and Marcus were looking for some quick food before heading to Twin Peak for the city night view. The Hayes Valley area is full of delicious dining places with cute vibes, but we wanted to try something different. We found Andina on Google Maps, and we were intrigued by its exotic cuisine immediately and decided to give it a try.

As a Chinese, I have always felt that Central American cuisine is the most similar to Chinese cuisine. Whether it's the Pupusa of El Salvador or the Arepa of Venezuela, I can always find something reminiscent of Chinese food. Andina is famous for their delicious Arepas, we ordered Arepa Chicharron and maybe Arepitas de Cochino (I couldn’t find the same one from the menu pictures, so I am not sure lol), and they both turned out to be pretty good.

12/31/2023

Dinner: Mission Chinese Food

Mission Chinese Food

Mission Chinese Food is located at Mission St, and was recommended by my friend Kayla. On the last night of 2023, also the night when Kayla landed in SF from Shanghai, we both decided to do something special to celebrate and welcome the new 2024. And food is part of the plan.

My idea was to have hotpot before the Mission Chinese Food proposal, but we didn't have a car at that time and the hotpot places were all quite far away. So, Kayla suggested Mission Chinese Food, saying that she liked it, and I always trust her taste. Therefore, around 8:30 pm, we started walking and it took us about 20-30 minutes to get there. On our way, we saw some Latina girls heading to bars for a New Year’s Eve party, and two Latinos singing songs while making eye contact with us. It was such a fun experience seeing people celebrate New Year's Eve in their own way.

My picks:

Tiger Salad 5/5
Salt cod fried rice 4.5/5
Westlake lamb dumplings. 5/5

You can tell how much I love this place from the ratings I gave. Mission Chinese Food did an excellent job at innovation. They put a Chinese dragon decoration on top of our heads with golden wallpaper and lights, creating a so-called Chinese vibe for the eaters. The Chinese name of this place is 龙山小馆, meaning dragon mountain bistro, so the dragon is definitely an important element of this place. Although it may sound cliche, we actually like the dragon idea, you know most of the Chinese food places will only put tables and seats, nothing else!

As for food, they were all surprisingly great! Tiger Salad is something I didn’t even eat in China, at first, we thought it was some kind of fusion, western salad with Sichuan sauce and Chinese rice dough, but it changed when my Fujian coworker told me she made Tiger Salad a lot at home whenever she felt like eating vegetables. So I started to realize Tiger Salad is native to China, especially in the Fujian Province. But Kayla and I are from Shanghai and Jiangsu Province, no doubt we didn’t hear from that!

Westlake lamb dumplings were very cute and came with a small portion. We were instantly impressed when we took the first bite, “how can it be sooo juicy and tasty”! All I knew was they definitely grilled the lamb, so it tasted like BBQ-style lamb with a cumin flavor. But the dough outside added a special flavor, making it crunchy, chewy, and memorable. “I hate it only has five dumplings,” Kayla said, and I totally agreed.

Salt cod fried rice was a basic dish in our minds until it arrived at our table. However, it exceeded our expectations and we found ourselves devouring it without pause, like we were under a spell. As a fried rice dish, it did everything it could to impress us, the only 0.5 deductions came from a not-that-fancy layout. Perhaps, I was overly picky in not wanting to give Mission Chinese Food a perfect score of three 5/5 ratings.

“So much delicious food in SF. Among them, Chinese food impressed me most because it showed how creative or authentic a family-style eatery can be. Because of limited time, I haven’t had a chance to eat Burmese food in SF, it will be one of my destinations on my next SF trip.”

What I Ate in SF: Best Bakery, Chinese Fusion, and Venezuelan Comfort Food