See Us Eat: Lunch at Bong Su, San Francisco, CA

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Lunch at Bong Su, San Francisco, CA

When we say the build out starting for Bong Su, we were interested, since it was replacing the dreadful Mel's. It opened up about two and half months ago, and Giao had a chance to go. During the morning it is very hard to tell it was open because of the window decoration, but when you went in, it was opulently, if a bit fakely, decorated. For dinners, I would imagine that light would identify it better as being open.

There was a set lunch menu for $16, which you could pick a starter and appetizer. Everything looked so good that we decided to share a few ala carte dishes. The cuisine was contempory Vietnamese, comparable to Slanted Door. In general it was a better meal at cheaper price that it's Embarcadero competition.

Duck Mustard Wraps - $8

These wraps were good, extremely evocative of it's Vietnamese roots, but combining it with freshness and classiness.

Goi Kampachi - $12
Giao was a bit skeptical of how they would pull off this more Japanese inspired sashimi dish, but the combination of flavors was delectable.

Shaking Beef - $21
Perhaps the only mis-step we encountered, though the meat was tender, the dish was formulaic and uninspired.

Basil Tofu - $7
This time taking a page from the Thai, this dish combined the ever loved crispy basil with well seasoned tofu.

Caramelized Black Cod - $7
Though Giao was initially sad to see that they didn't have a Catfish Claypot, this dish was a welcome stand-in. The fish was flaky and tender.

Ratings:
Food: 2
Decor: 1
Service: 1

Website
Health Code Violations

# posted by Giao and Alexis @ 12:06 PM