How To Eat Your Way Around San Francisco’s Foodie Neighbourhoods

In the 1990s, The Slanted Door (an award-winning Vietnamese outfit) put this district onto the map. Now the area has more restaurants per square mile than any other in the city, and while the original Latin American community still has a foothold, tech workers have brought rapid gentrification. The streets are super eclectic as a result; bric-a-brac bodegas and hole-in-the-wall cheap eats are propped up against boujee restaurants and hipster cocktail bars covered in street art.

You’ll probably hear people talk about Tartine Bakery (tartinebakery.com) – a lot. It’s something of a San Francisco institution. Locals will wait in epic queues outside the Guerrero Street outpost to get their hands on a legendary morning bun; flakey, buttery, baked dough from the gods that’s spiked with cinnamon, dusted in sugar and should come with an addiction warning.

No visit to Mission is complete without sampling its famous burrito, invented in the 1960s at either El Faro or La Cumbre (depending on who you ask). Taqueria (taqueriasanfrancisco.com) is probably the most popular ($9.50/£7.21/AED 35 per burrito), but there are some hot contenders following closely on its heels, like Taqueria Cancún (2288 Mission St) and Papalote Mexican Grill (papalote-sf.com).

If you can handle eating elbow-to-elbow with your fellow diners, try local favourite Yamo (3406 18th St). This cash-only, Burmese hole-in-the-wall is where you’ll find simple but moreish salads, spring rolls and samosas (appetisers cost a wallet-friendly $4.50/£3.41 and mains $6.50/£4.93). Tacolicious at 741 Valencia Street, meanwhile, makes the most incredible Baja-style fish tacos (four for $20/£15). They’re fried in a light and crispy beer batter, doused in Mexican crema and come with a fiery, salt-rimmed margarita to wash it all down with.

These shouldering neighbourhoods are where tech billionaires take up residence in their Painted Ladies (the slang name for San Fran’s colourful Edwardian houses). As a result, Pacific Heights and Nob Hill have some of the best restaurants in their area codes.

Noosh (nooshsf.com) is a vibey new spot that’s just opened at 2001 Fillmore Street and already has chatty queues trailing out of the door every night. The modern Mediterranean kitchen serves up comforting dishes like Turkish kebabs ($7/£5.31/AED 25), Instagrammable pork flatbreads (have fun forking at the whole egg yolk) ($15/£11.38/AED 57) and, in my opinion, the creamiest baba ganoush ($6/£4.55/AED 22) you’ll ever eat.

If you can squeeze in a night cap, it’s a short walk to Eno (enowinerooms.com) in Union Square to nose at some of California’s best bottles, alongside cheese and artisan chocolate. Bliss.

A seriously overlooked foodie hotspot in San Francisco, the Nihonmachi area is one of only three remaining Japantowns in the US. This tiny enclave, which has existed since the early 1900s, is now just six square blocks in size, but there are plenty of culinary treasures to check out in the area.

I recommend booking an three-hour food tour with Edible Excursions (edibleexcursions.net). It costs $110/£83/AED 399 per person plus $2/£1.50/AED 7 booking fee, and includes everything you eat on the way. We made six food stops in total, so come hungry.