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Our first meal in SF was at the famous San Tung Chinese restaurant. We heard about their amazing chicken wings so my friends and I decided to give it a try #wheninSanFrancisco. We ordered quite a few things on the menu, but must admit, the chicken wings were undoubtedly our favorite.
When you look up San Tung, there is the original San Tung and also a San Tung #2, but they are actually right next door to each other. There was no wait at #2, so we went ahead inside. A small negative was a limited menu, however, they still have all the popular dishes like the crispy wings, garlic string beans, jjajjangmyun, and the leek dumplings (sold out by the time we got there).
Pictured below is the Sizzling Rice Soup. It is literally what the name is. The server brings out a large bowl of soup, dumps the rice in and it starts to sizzle lol. This was probably our least favorite dish, it was on the blander side and nothing particularly special about it. However, the warm broth was a nice touch to the chilly weather.
Ah pictured below are the famous San Tung dry fried chicken wings. As a Korean-American, I've tried my fair share of different delicious Asian-style fried chicken dishes. However, these were one of my favorites. I think the main thing that sets these wings apart is it's crispy and caramelized texture. The seasoning was not overbearing to my surprise as I was expecting a wave of saltiness and msg flavoring. It was seasoned with a savory, tangy sweet sauce and not too salty. The wings were pretty amazing. 
The garlic green beans were our next favorite. They were a good compliment to the wings and were not overbearing in seasoning as well. A classic side-dish.
The seafood jjajjangmyun was good, but once again, nothing particularly special. I've had better ones to be honest, but the seafood twist was nice because I usually have meat in my jjajjangmyun.
After dinner, feeling full and recharged, we went out for some drinks in the financial district. Some of my local friends recommended Local Edition so we checked it out. LE had a very hip ambience and is a nice place to grab fancy drinks and have long conversations. For those of you in LA, the vibe reminded me of a slightly fancier and spacious version of Library Bar.
My friends ordered an old-fashioned, a ginger infused jasmine green tea cocktail (dangerously good), and an amber ale.
Next stop was Blondies Bar. There was a line when we arrived around 10:30pm and it was PACKED inside. We were literally brushing up against strangers as we walked through the bar. Despite the crowdedness, we really enjoyed the music selection and stayed till closing! For those of you who lived in San Diego, it reminded me of a smaller version of PB Bar & Grille with a more older-looking crowd. If you want to go dancing, this may be your place to be.
We came back pretty late Saturday night, but I was determined to try some cruffins (i am a dessert person, my friends are not) and convinced my lovely friends to wake up at 8am to get in line at Mr. Holmes Bakehouse (lol we got 4hours of sleep).. We got there a little after 8:30am and there were already 15-20 or so people in line. Just a heads up, if you plan to go, the shop opens at 8am for other pastries/drinks, but there is a separate cruffin line that you need to wait in. The cruffins are served at 9am and you have to have a sticker. Each person is limited to 2 cruffins with the sticker. They make a limited quantity everyday. You can check their instagram for the flavors of each day. (:
Pictured here, is my friend patiently waiting, but not amused of the line. <3
Pictured here is my other friend, who is also not amused and giving me "the look".. hahaha <3
Yay stickers! I think they handed these out about 10-15minutes prior to serving the cruffins. You have to be in line to get one.
Getting closer to the cruffins.. This display was such a tease.
Cruffins obtained! They were flaky, crispy, buttery, sugary, creme-filled, but surprisingly not too sweet and scrumptious! My friends who are not big fans of sweets actually said it was pretty good, but they probably wouldn't sacrifice sleep to get these again, but me on the other hand... Anyone want to go to the LA location with me? >.< The flavor of the day, which is what the creme filling is, was Strawberry Nesquik.
Also, please excuse my fail photo, the cruffins should be in focus, but I caught the sign instead -_-;
Next up, is Brenda's French Soul Food!
After consuming the cruffins, we went back to catch up on some sleep and made it just in time for lunch. Brenda's has over 7,000 reviews with a 4 star rating on Yelp so we went to see what the hype was all about. FYI, we heard the wait can get outrageous like 2 hours outrageous, but maybe because it was on a Sunday afternoon, we were called within 20min or so. I recommend going after prime brunch hours if you want to avoid the wait.
Pictured below are their famous crawfish beignets.
The beignets were good, but they were not great. I felt like the dough was a little dense for me. Also there was not enough filling compared to the amount of dough. I'd give the beignets a 3.5/5 stars.
Joanna's reaction to the crawfish beignets.
We ordered a side of gumbo and I think this gumbo and the Shrimp N Grits were our two favorites.
Joanna's reaction to the hearty gumbo.
Pictured below is the fried chicken and biscuits with hash. It was good, but nothing particularly special.
The "ehh it tasted alright, but I still killed the whole dish" look.
The shrimp n grits dish was amazing! It was bursting with so much savory goodness and the shrimps were nice and juicy. I think they could go lighter on the cheese, personally for me, but it was still great all in all!
Delicious shrimp and grits = One Happy Nayoung
After lunch, we met up with some local friends and chilled at Dolores Park. Mind you, when San Francisco has a good weather day, aka when it's sunny, the whole city is out at the park. It was crowded with people, their dogs and we had the best time just listening to music, catching up, sipping on some pilsners, and basking under the rare SF sun. Probably our most favorite part of the trip. <3
Aww <3 Friends since 2009 O.O
This dog was enjoying the nice weather too.
After staying at Dolores Park for about 2 hours or so, the clouds started to move in on us so we left for the Golden Gate Bridge.
Joanna reminiscing on how much $ she spent buying her new bridge >.<
The bridge was great, but it was cold, windy, and we were getting hungry so we travelled across the city literally from coast to coast to eat at the famous Hog Island Oyster Co.
We also heard this place could have a pretty long wait, but we were seated in about 20min because we opted for the bar. Not sure how long the other folks waited, but looked like it was going by quickly for table seating as well.
The view outside was so serene and refreshing.
We actually didn't spend much on food due to our gracious friends treating us out so we decided to ball out on our last meal here. Not sure who we thought we were though..lol.. Pictured below is the squid salad.. it was ehh alright, it was lacking in flavor, but the squid was cooked nicely.
We got the oyster sampler that had 5 different types of oyster. Honestly though, we couldn't really tell the difference between them haha, but they were all good.
Treated ourselves to a bottle of chardonnay. #Pinkiesup.
This grilled cheese was amazing. The bread they used was amazing. I need to expand my vocabulary.. I've used "amazing" and "good" too many times. >.<
This seafood stew may have been our favorite dish from the entire trip! It was everything we wanted a seafood stew to be. It was warm, tomatoey, loaded with seafood, savory, rich and just lovely. We literally wiped the bowl clean.
Cheers to a great trip, meaningful friendships, and wonderful memories. Love you guys!
Our view at the bar. The bay bridge was lit.
Hope you enjoyed this short, but detailed photo blog. If you have any questions about the places we went to, let me know and I will try my best to help you!
Till next time! (:
