Golden ate
Savour San Francisco’s alluring foodie haunts – with its unique skyline and famous hippy chic
Standing out from the crowd comes naturally to a city like San Francisco. From the Gold Rush of the 1800s to the epicentre of hippy counter culture, a beacon for gay rights and more recently the focal point of the Silicon Valley hi-tech boom, its drive to set the agenda has put it on the map.
Fabulous and forward-thinking, it’s a wealthy city and a magnet for top chefs who have flocked to the famous peninsula to set up a host of fine-dining restaurants and foodie experiences.
Keen to get a true taste of San Fran, we began our food journey at Michelinstarred Commonwealth restaurant on Mission Street. Opting for the sevencourse tasting menu, carefully crafted dishes began to arrive each looking like an original piece of art.
Beef tartare, blood orange, wild greens, crispy wild rice and beet chips paired with Karl Haidle Lemberger wine, is just one example of the attention to detail given to every bite and sip here.
The Lord Stanley restaurant on Polk Street was another wonderful feast for the senses.
Seared scallop with sunflower seeds, English peas and curry broth paired with a Marnes Blanches chardonnay was the stand-out course.
But food here isn’t all about beautifully presented gourmet meals.
The city is full of delicious dishes passed down through the generations in the many diverse neighbourhoods.
The Mission was once an affordable district where Latino immigrants settled. These days it is full of trendy bars, restaurants and shops. We met Shannon Romano to take her Mission District Food Tour.
After a cocktail-mixing masterclass at Holy Mountain bar, their fried chicken and blistered green beans worked their magic to soak up the booze.
Next stop was Tacolicious for beerbattered
cod tacos and margaritas, then on to Gracias Madre for vegan Mexican. Final stop was West of Pecos for churros with chilli chocolate and caramel dipping sauce. Later, we tried Noosh on Fillmore Street, where people cheerfully queue round the block for colourful Eastern Mediterranean-inspired feasts, freshly baked flatbreads and chubby pita sarnies. A couple of miles to the South West, we joined a walking tour through Haightashbury, the centre of the 1967 Summer
Of Love where the hippy counter-culture movement was born. It still trades on its groovy past with plenty of funky shops where you can treat yourself to a pair of loon pants or a silver tank top, man.
You can also see houses where stars of the era Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Graham Nash and The Grateful Dead lived.
The tour began at Black Sands Brewery, stopping in the middle at the Magnolia Pub and Brewery and ending at the Barrel Head Brewhouse, sampling a wide variety of brews at each establishment.
Everywhere we found pioneering and proud San Fran welcomes anyone sharing its passion for food... and craft beer.
Arrive hungry.