Hip menu, quality ingredients, menu pulls from various Asian(/American) cuisines and is supposed to rotate items. SF MOMA’s In Situ aside, I can’t think of a museum whose food interests me as much.
The Korean fried chicken is delicious and crunchy. The chicken pieces are large, one piece in particular, a labyrinth of crispy skin, had more to chew on than two other pieces combined. The sauce is mild, a shade tangy, and used with restraint. It isn’t the super brittle, almost translucent skinned-style.
Bunh mi came with kim chi fries or a side salad. Really flavorful pork. Toasting the inside of the bao elevated this beyond a cliche fusion gua bao. It could have used more pickled veggies, and a longer pickling time too.
Kim chi fries were good, but I’m glad I didn’t order them a la carte— they’re not topped with kimchi as expected, but simply fries tossed with sliced scallions and a dry chili seasoning.
The funky flavor of tea leaves is minimal in their version of Tea leaf salad, and it’s more akin to the tea leaf dressing with greens style you can get at Burma Superstar, albeit with better quality greens and vegetables. Taking a step back from the dish’s inspiration, it’s a great salad, full of life, crunch, and acidity.
Kids rice bowl came with an unannounced Choco Pie (unpictured)
For dessert we got a Craftsmen & Wolves strawberry Kouign Amann. C&W’s pastries have their fans, but their constructions continue to beffudle me. A few months ago I got a Kouign Amann whose filling (lemon custard?) filled the height of the tall pastry and seemed to be replenished with each bite. In contrast, their strawberry Kouign Amann had a small pinball of strawberry jam placed at the top center of the pastry, underneath a macaron, impossible to get to without unhinging your jaw. I wound up tearing off pastry and dipping into the jam, a concentrated fruity prize.
Hong Kong milk tea, made by Boba Guys’ with an organic condensed milk and homemade boba, was great. Getting this stuff without the long lines of their other locations is reason enough to stop in the museum, and a great strategy to appeal to a younger clientele.
