I went to the new-ish (opened in 2023) SF Ikea recently a couple times to pick up some things, and had a couple lunches at their Saluhall food hall which opened last spring. Saluhall is a two floor food hall attached to the Ikea that has a bit of a focus on plant based foods - there are several vegan or vegetarian stalls, and other stalls have vegetarian options as well.
Article from Eater SF:
Here’s some pictures:
First Floor
Second Floor
You can also get some of your Ikea favorites (e.g. the Swedish meatballs, hot dogs, etc.) here at the Ikea Swedish Restaurant, which is located inside the Ikea store but also has a window in Saluhall as it’s right next to the entrance.
On my first visit I went to Casa Borinqueña on the second floor, which is a 100% plant based restaurant serving Puerto Rican cuisine.
Sampler Plate (Pinchos) ($20)
Arroz Con Gandules, Specialty Puerto Rican Rice And Beans With Bbq sauce, Maduros And A Side Of Salad VG / GF
I had the sampler plate with the vegan chicken pinchos, which are two skewers of mock chicken with a sweet BBQ sauce. There was also a pretty good arroz con gandules which is a seasoned rice with pigeon peas, and some very nice maduros - fried caramelized ripe plantains that were nice and soft and hot. And also a simple side salad dressed with a vinaigrette.
On my second visit I had some noodles from Momo Noodle, also on the second floor. Momo Noodle is also a food truck, I believe this is their first brick and mortar location.
Popo’s Noodle ($15.99)
The Flavor Of Family. Egg Noodle Mixed With Sesame And Peanut Paste, Topped With Wood Ear Mushroom, Green Onion, Granulated Peanut, And Greens
I had a bowl of their “Popo’s Noodle” which has their thin egg noodles in a peanut and sesame paste sauce. You have a choice of spicy pork, spicy chicken, or house tofu as a protein. I picked the chicken and also added MOMO spicy pickled cabbage (+$1) and a pork broth marinated egg (+$2.50). It was a pretty good bowl of noodles. The egg noodles were kind of clumped together and had a bit of spring. The sauce was spicy and a little creamy with the sesame and peanut pastes. Not bad. The pickled cabbage was a good addition as it added a little bit of acidity. The egg was fine, just a boiled egg with some flavor from the marinade. There was also some peanuts for crunch, green onion, wood ear fungus to round it all out, along with some arugula that I found a bit incongruous.
I also had some dessert down on the first floor at Snöberg, which serves both vegan and dairy soft-serve. I had a cup of their vanilla soft-serve ($5), which I believe is vegan, and also added some chocolate sauce as a topping. It was a very nice dessert. I couldn’t really tell that it was vegan. It tasted like a fudge sundae from McDonalds (this is a good thing).
So far, some pretty good food from the stalls that I’ve tried but nothing particularly great yet. It’s a nice place to eat in the area even if you aren’t shopping at the Ikea. I’m also interested in trying Kayma - the plant-based Algerian restaurant, Smörgåsland - the bakery downstairs that serves pastries and open faced sandwiches, and Smish Smash - a popup turned food stall that serves smash burgers.
