munch mun.ch

We’ve been visiting Ben in San Francisco and, with only one day left in this city of seafood, cakepops and burritos, I thought I’d share with you some of the best foodie discoveries we’ve made.

1. At the Knead Patisserie – hidden behind Local Mission Eatery – I ate one of the yummiest chocolate cookies I have had for a while.  The Eatery itself does a mean line in brunches and, if you simply must have something savoury before tucking into your cookie, I’d recommend the eggs, asparagus and hollandaise on brioche toast.
2. San Francisco’s corner shops boast the widest range of sodas that I have ever encountered.  It seems that every store, from organic whole food purveyors to rough-round-the-edges mexican minimarkets, stocks the smooth, sweet and somewhat addictive Boylan’s Creme Soda.  Yay!
3. If you fancy a beer in San Francisco, you won’t have to look far for a good one.  Every neighbourhood seems to have its own brewery and there’s a definite theme of keeping it local.  For the ultimate in beer choice – and a pretty tasty food menu – you’ll want to try The Monk’s Kettle.  With a choice of over 180 beers on the menu and staff that are both knowledgable and friendly, it’s a great place to spend an evening (provided you have plenty of dollars in your wallet and a tolerance for ale with a high % abv).
4. We suffered a food coma of not inconsiderable proportions following Papalote burritos.  This place is also home to the best roasted tomato salsa ever to be made by man.
5. Head to Sur La Table for foodie heaven.  This kitchen shop sells everything from deluxe espresso machines to tiny unicorn shaped biscuit cutters.  We settled for a set of cedar and maple planks for roasting fish, a number of tart tins and some ridiculous edible glitter (all of which I’m sure will feature in future munchmun.ch recipes).
6. When you’re done spending all your holiday money on kitchen equipment, you should wander through the Ferry Building and marvel at all the foods that exist even when they clearly shouldn’t (vegan doughnuts, turkey jerky and mushrooms that are shaped like ears).
7. The Bi-rite Creamery is so good.  Sadly, a million other people also know this.  Never mind, queuing for 10 minutes for a scoop of their delicious brown sugar ice-cream is worth it.  Particularly when the sales assistant happily lets you sample other flavours before deciding (seriously though, go for the brown sugar).
8. For a really special evening out, Foreign Cinema is most certainly the place to go.  We sat in the courtyard and watched an early George Lucas film projected on the wall while eating oysters and sipping a cocktail called The Song Remains the Same.  This is a deceptively strong single malt whisky-based cocktail made with the juice of half a lemon, honey syrup, orange bitters and half and a good splash of cherry brandy.  It’s like a super-fruity Old Fashioned and might well be my new favourite thing.