Monday, October 12, 2009

It's tradition.

My family has a few food-related traditions. We always have creamed onions at Thanksgiving. We observe cocktail hour, religiously. And, when we're in San Francisco, we visit Nanking.

We first stopped in at The House of Nanking about nine years ago, just before my mother moved to Fresno, California. Born and bred East Coasters that we are, Mom believed Jeremy and I needed to be convinced of the wisdom of a westward migration, and treated us to a whirlwind tour of California (With Fresno last, so as to soften the blow.).

The first stop on said migration was San Francisco, and one of our first meals (and Jeremy's favorite) was at Nanking. On a slightly dodgy block just south of most of Chinatown, it used to be a wildly popular hole-in-the-wall. Now it's a wildly popular double-storefront restaurant with souvenir t-shirts and nice paneling, and the food is still delicious.

My colleagues YaeRi and Mary were kind enough to indulge my Nanking craving (once I'd realized how close it was to our San Francisco office - you can see it from the window, just across from that copper-lined building), so we headed there for lunch on Tuesday afternoon.

It was as good as I'd remembered - the sesame chicken, unlike most, was just lightly breaded, and coated with a sauce as spicy as it was sweet. Served with sweet potatoes and a green melon, it was downright delicious. YaeRi's crispy noodles with vegetables cam with the same melon, and we were both taken with it. It was like cucumber crossed with honeydew, and all I know is I must have some.

Now.

House of Nanking
919 Kearny Street (at Jackson)
San Francisco
(415) 421-1429

2 comments:

Lorna Yee said...

Oh, that chicken sounds incredible! Is it a specialty of the restaurant? I haven't seen that preparation before.

Meg Blocker said...

Yes, it's their specialty! I typically shy away from sesame chicken, but this version is delicious.

Blog Widget by LinkWithin