Seafood Curry Near Embarcadero Center ?
This is my first post here. I will be visiting SF for a week, staying at the Hyatt in Embarcadero Center near the financial district. I won't have access to a car so I have to either walk or use public transportation.
I love sea food, shell fish, and crustaceans, the more exotic, the better! I also love spicy curries. I am of Bengali origin, so I can endure high levels of hotness. Any Asian cuisine will do. Looking to spend under $20 or less per meal, maybe $30 for something exceptional. I am more of a foodie than a gourmet, so not really in to fine dining. A hole in the wall type place suits me best.
I have dined at the Far East Cafe in Chinatown on a previous trip, and felt it was pretty good, though a little touristy.
Requesting recommendations from experienced SF Chowhounders for any restaurant that will have what I am seeking. I will be there for a week, and plan to visit multiple restaurants. Any tips will be greatly appreciated.
If you are ever visiting Albuquerque or Mumbai, I will return the favor :)
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Far East Cafe
631 Grant Ave, San Francisco, CA 94108
By LetBinding
on Aug 3, 2011 06:39 PM
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Z&Y is walking distance. Viva Goa, Lers Ros, Thai House Express, Singapore-Malaysian, and Angkor-Borei are all easily accessible by public transportation.
If you need near your hotel, Osha Thai in the adjacent Embarcadero 4.
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Angkor-Borei Restaurant
3471 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Singapore Malaysian Restaurant
836 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94118
Thai House Express
901 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA 94109
Z & Y
655 Jackson St, San Francisco, CA 94133
Osha Thai Embarcadero
100 Drumm St, San Francisco, CA 94111
Lers Ros Thai
730 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA
Viva Goa
2420 Lombard St, San Francisco, CA 94123
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Lers Ros is great. It's much better than Osha.
Check out:
Lahore Karahi
mild but delicious Japanese curry from Muracci's (takeout lunch on Kearny)
Spices I and Spices II (Sichuan) in the Inner Richmond
In the Ferry Building, go to Hog Island Oyster Company, especially for happy hour oysters.
Many good sushi bars, most not in that price range. I did have sea cucumber, fresh abalone, and geoduck last week at Sushi AKA Tombo for reasonable prices (more like $40+).
Local Chinese restaurants may offer interesting shellfish at a good price. Great Eastern in Chinatown would be $25-30+ with multiple people.
And agreed, don't limit yourself to the area near the Embarcadero. Small city, easy to get get around, much better food beyond the Financial District.
You can buy a 7-day SF MUNI pass good on buses, cable cars, and streetcars inside the city limits.
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Spices II
291 6th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94118
Great Eastern Restaurant
649 Jackson St, San Francisco, CA 94133
Lahore Karahi
612 Ofarrell St, San Francisco, CA 94109
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I would try New Woey Loy Goey in Chinatown.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/573124
They serve freshwater snails in a black bean sauce with jalapenos (probably pretty tame by your standards), as well as oysters, crabs, and lobsters seasonally. Prices are very reasonable, and it definitely is a hole in the wall (actually below street level). I've never seen these snails outside of Chinese restaurants.
I would also try a Vietnamese-Cajun crab shack. There are several of these restaurants, which serve crawfish, oysters, crabs, etc in your choice of sauces at your choice of spiciness. I've only been to Craw Station (9th Avenue between Irving and Judah in the Sunset district
www.crawstation.com
where the food was salty, buttery, spicy, and good. There are similar, closer restaurants such as Red Crawfish in the Tenderloin
redcrawfishsf.com
but I can't vouch for them.
Korean marinated seafood can also be quite exotic/spicy, with whole small crabs, whole small shrimp, raw swimmer crabs, raw oysters, raw sea cucumbers, and raw sea squirts among others. I haven't seen these in the usual array of banchan at most places in San Francisco; perhaps someone else will have a suggestion (you can get vats of these goodies at Korean markets in the Sunnyvale area).
(Actually, I would say the best place to eat shellfish in SF would be at my house at select times, where over the years we've had live geoduck, Pacific oysters, Olympia oysters, Virginia oysters (complete with pea crab), California spiny lobster, Atlantic and Pacific bay and deep sea scallops, Spot prawns, wild red abalone, cultured red abalone, Chilean abalone (locos), horseneck clams, signal crayfish, gaper clams, of course Dungeness crab, Stone crab, langoustine, rock shrimp, Royal red shrimp, brown shrimp, whole belly (soft shell) clams, freshwater prawns (Macrobrachium/chingri--filled with delicious fat/roe)...
My last two dinners have been pan fried walleye cheeks and pan fried Atlantic cod tongues. Still need to get through the lobster, shrimp, locos, and Pacific razor clams in the freezer.
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New Woey Loy Goey Restaurant
699 Jackson St, San Francisco, CA 94133
Red Crawfish
611 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA
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Freshwater snails with black bean sauce and jalapeños? Can't decide if that sounds amazing or terrifying.
Unfortunately none of the good Korean restaurants in the city specialize in seafood.
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The Indonesian Jumbo Prawn Curry at Kam's has had a favorable review and is apparently quite spicy.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/401360
You can reach the restaurant in the Richmond district on the 38, 31, or 5 bus lines.
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I was not impressed by Red Crawfish at all.
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Red Crawfish
611 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA
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I definitely have to check out this hole in the ground. The snails with jalapenos sounds very interesting!
That's a very sumptuous artillery of seafood you described! Happy chomping :)
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If you don't mind a walk to 3rd Street, you might check out Ruchi. It's a simple, inexpensive place. South Indian cuisine.
One specialty is Nellore Fish Curry. There is often a fish curry of the day.
http://www.ruchisf.com/
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Ruchi
474 3rd St, San Francisco, CA 94107
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Leaving aside the curry part of the request, La Mar has some good and unusual Peruvian seafood dishes. Pricey but there are some good deals on the happy hour menu in the bar.
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La Mar Cebicheria Peruana
Pier 1 1/2, The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94111
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Wow! These are some very comprehensive and informative recommendations!
With only 6 nights, I am now spoilt for choice! I will try out most of the suggestions from this thread, and report on them!
Thanks a lot everyone Much appreciated!
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Naan n Curry on Jackson and Columbus is your typical Pakistani curry restaurant. They have an extremely spicy Fish Vindaloo. They make a decent naan and usually get the standard Chicken Tikka Masala, Palak Paneer, Lamb Briyani.
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