My Tenderloin SF food guide.
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My Tenderloin SF food guide.
Don’t come if you’re an anti-homeless weirdo. This is for good people.
1. Estrellita Snacks
My favorite Salvadoran-Oaxacan restaurant. They have BIRRIA PUPUSA. Their pupusas are all great. I like them more than the well known ones in the Mission. I also like their birria more than anything else in the Mission. Their mole is also better than anything in the Mission (ties with Cocina Mama Cholita, which is my fave otherwise).
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2. Hai Ky Mi Gia
They have the best Vietnamese - Teochew noodles, almost 90% the same as Singapore style ‘meepok’ breakfast noodles.
I get house special no 7, with flat egg noodles, soup on the side (dry version), with a side of braised duck, and homemade soy milk.
Homemade soy milk tastes nothing like the yucky western grocery store boxed soy milk
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3. Mong Thu
My favorite all around Vietnamese restaurant. I like their banh mi more than Saigon sandwich and I like their soup noodles more than Pho2000.
Their bun mam and bun rieu are very very good and the item no 1 (banh uot cha lua) is great too. They also have a non-tofu vegan banh mi (sells out v early) with vegan aioli etc. excellent Vietnamese coffee. cash only
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@skinnylatte sounds so good!
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4. Sai Jai Thai
My favorite all around Thai restaurant in the city. Food is properly spicy, unlike the more famous Thai place that people like around the corner.
Their yum pla dook is excellent. Their best dish is the kor moo yang: Isaan style bbq pork. I never want to share it with anyone, so we get one per person. Which is excessive, but it’s really good.
They also have ‘fried chicken bones’ which SE Asians enjoy. Little morsels of nuggets, bones on.
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5. A world of bánh mì
People love saigon sandwich. But it’s not my thing. It is too large and full of stuff and I don’t like the bread.
Instead, I go to Hello Sandwich, Tu Kim, Mong Thu or Bo&Beurre or L&G. All within a few blocks.
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6. The Tenderloin has a thriving Yemeni community. Almost all the groceries are run by someone in the community. Increasingly, more restaurants too.
Yemeni Kitchen and Yemeni Kabab are two Yemeni places I would go to for food. Often I just cook this food too but they do good food. I love heavily seasoned rice dishes so mandi and kabsa are what I order. Saltah is also great
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@skinnylatte do you have a favorite for cold cuts? I love the one with little bits of gelatin and cartilage and it's definitely way better at some places.
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7. There’s a circle of halal goodness in the TL. Kinara Fusion Kitchen is where people go on dates / family meals for Pakistani food that is a touch fancier.
They have golgappa (pani puri) shots and desi pizza.
The traditional foods are v good too. For those, there’s also Shalimar and Chutney and Pakwan the corner. I like diff things from each restaurant so I tend to buy one thing from each place and put it together.
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Dr. Robin Farrell :rick: :donor:replied to Adrianna Tan last edited by
@skinnylatte Maybe go to Saigon and get a real one. Stop living in a bubble. #fax
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8. Baked goods
Not only is the Arsicault in Civic Center much nicer and bigger than the one in the Richmond, they also have Parisian sandwiches. I love the jambon beurre sandwich. And the bacon scone. Their croissants are also the best and my French-raised wife says we can’t ever move beyond a 10 min walk from an Arsicault.
The French Spot has good salmon danish and Paris bakery has N African French baked goods.
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@LeafyEricScott mong thu
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@skinnylatte thanks! I'll put it on my map for next time I visit!
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@kzeta lmk if you ever wanna go. It’s my local
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@LeafyEricScott lmk if you want company!
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9. Not strictly TL, but there’s a Central Asian restaurant called Sofiya along Sutter (border of TL & Nob Hill)? I always loved that place back when it was Halal Dastarkhan. It looks like a greatly expanded menu with more service now. Phenomenal kebabs and plov. And honey cake
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Adrianna Tanreplied to Adrianna Tan last edited by [email protected]
10. My favorite all time SF restaurant is in the TL. It’s a little family run Cantonese-Venezuelan spot called Cantoo The Chinese menu is, to me better than Chinatown by a factor of 2, and the Venezuelan stuff is fun fusion too. Empanada. Black beans. The family was born in Venezuela and ran Chinese restaurants there. They speak English, Cantonese, Mandarin and Spanish.
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11. My favorite all around non-sushi Japanese spot in the city is also in the area. Taniku is a small izakaya style place with a few starters, bowls, skewers and ramen. Their ramen isn’t as fancy as Mensho down the road but frankly I prefer their flavors and style of food.
They have a scallops and straciatella starter, hojicha panna cotta. I love those. Their skewers are the best without going to Rintaro. I love seafood ramen, esp their scallop miso ramen.
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@skinnylatte This isn’t TL but on the topic of baked goods, have you tried the ikea bakery? IMO it is weirdly quite good
