Restaurants

Pho Clement 2 in San Francisco

Every neighborhood in San Francisco has great local cafes and restaurants for quick meals.  Truly, living in San Francisco means you can eat as much cheap and “fast food” as you like, only it doesn’t have to be McDonalds.  With a huge Asian population, a great fast food is a hot bowl of pho noodles, however this time we not only tried a dry noodle salad instead of our standard bowl of rice noodles – but we also forgot to tell the server and got a big dose of MSG. Read More »

Pho Garden - Great Outer Richmond Spot

I love noodles and last month I wrote about a favorite pho noodle house. Yesterday we discovered a new place for lunch and delicious savory noodles and cold beer.  Pho Garden is a very clean and fresh looking place, and its look matched the freshness of the wonderful bowl of seafood pho that we both had.  Lots of fresh and clean tasting fish in abundance. Yum!

Our stomachs were very happy because the freshness of the fish is sometimes questionable at other local spots we walked into before. We were not disappointed this time but pleasantly surprised. The noodles had a very tasty broth served piping hot. 

My husband was in the mood for a beer, and the waiter came over and mentioned that he was “out of 33 beer”.  “It was caught up in customs!”  My husband chose a Stella.  Not your typical Asian beer, but crisp and clean, to go with his seafood noodles.  He asked the waiter to make sure that his beer was ice cold.  Our waiter brought out a very frosty bottle and a frozen mug.  ”You can’t get it any colder than this!” he proclaimed.  ”I’m a beer drinker too, so I know how it’s best,” he added. My husband was a very happy man.

Coldest Beer and Hottest Noodles

The pho and consistency of the noodles was very good, and since we both ordered the same dish, I will be going back again to give you an update on other dishes off of their menu.  The location is way out there, but they try very hard.  And actually, in this part of the Outer Richmond neighborhood they are close to the local 4 Star Theater, an independent movie theater that shows a lot of cool alternative movies with many from Hong Kong.

If you live in the area or plan to see a movie in the neighborhood, Pho Garden is definitely worth a stop. We’re certainly going to try them again.

2109 Clement St
San Francisco, CA 94121
(415) 379-8677
www.phogardensf.com

Open Everyday 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. Except Wednesdays.

Gung Hay Fat Choy! This is “Happy New Year” in Cantonese, the dialect spoken by most Chinese people. In San Francisco, California you will find the oldest Chinatown in North America and the largest Chinese community outside of Asia. With this in mind, the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco on February 7th is a wonderful reason to come to the city and experience authentic Chinese culture.

A great way to experience a culture is through food. With Chinese New Year being celebrated, a great way to experience the spirit of this event is by watching the parade and by eating dim sum. Ton Kiang Restaurant is a great spot to try dim sum if you are visiting in the city.

This restaurant gets mixed reviews from locals partly because its style is influenced by its Hakka origins, but I love it. It is located away from downtown and closer to the Outer Richmond neighborhood, where it often is cold and foggy – which is perfect for hot tea and dim sum. It is a popular spot for parties and celebrations, you often see large groups on the weekends.

Roast Duck

The dishes are mostly carried on trays between the tables. They have a few booths on the main floor with another series of tables upstairs. On Sundays they are very busy and expect a long line since they do not accept reservations.

I love meeting friends here because the food never disappoints us and the restaurant is located not too far away from the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, in Lincoln Park. One of my favorite museums in town.

Steamed dumplings

Some of my favorite dishes are the roasted duck and all of their steamed dumplings. My husband loves to get the foil chicken and crab claws.

During the parade my favorite part is watching the Chinese Lion dance make its way through the city streets – a great way to endure a long parade route is to have a full stomach, something you will get at Ton Kiang. Gung Hay Fat Choy!

5821 Geary Blvd
(between 22nd Ave & 23rd Ave)
San Francisco, CA 94121
(415) 752-4440
www.tonkiang.net

Mon-Thu. 10:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Fri. 10:00 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Sat. 9:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Sun. 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.