San Ho Wan
My 50th write up! And what better way to celebrate than to talk about a spot I visited while out in the US for work.
My friend Lilian was kind enough to show me around San Francisco when I was visiting, she’s just as passionate about food as I am. I feel very lucky she took it upon herself to book this very popular casual charcoal Korean BBQ spot in the Mission District.
San Ho Wan is not like the Korean spots I have local in London. This is still very much a casual experience, but more refined and as you can expect in the US, very generous with portions. They only offer a tasting menu in the evening and it did not disappoint. The Egg Soufflé was a standout dish, prepared with a spiced anchovy broth, it’s not like any baked egg dish I’ve ever had before. Some of you may know, that my wife loves perilla leafs in all its forms, and for the first time I got to try perilla prepared like it was Kimchee, this was also something I’ve never experienced before and further cemented perilla as a legendary leaf!
What can I say about charcoal meat here, I mean it was immense and delicious, absolutely epic portions of meat prepared in various ways. Beef neck, galbi, it was all served with the green sides to wrap that delicious meat up in. What’s shocking is this was not the “main”, we opted for the Korean soup as the main and it was delicious. Some of you know my love for the Korean “Army” soups across London, this was a more delicate soup of pork and clam broth, all prepared with fresh noodles. We certainly left this place properly fed! The soft serve ice cream is also worth shouting out, both options were great but I’d have to side with Lilian in that the sweet corn soft serve was just that much more unusual and delicious than my rice pudding option.
This is a solid spot in San Francisco and well worth the trip out, though I’d suggest booking well in advance as the queue for walk-ins was absurd!
A special shout out to Lilian and Tim for also giving me a quick tour of the area and showing me the viewing point of the Golden Gate Bridge, with “Karl the Fog!”
Price Per head: $150 with a drink