So our blog will shift to focus on San Francisco for awhile. I’ve been working at the Bay Area for the past two months and I’m having a wonderful time staying in San Francisco. This is also where I began to use iPhone to take food photos. I’m still getting familiar with it so a lot of the photos turned out not too great unfortunately.
First and foremost, researching for a restaurant on SF Yelp seems rather unreliable as every business has over thousand reviews. You’d get a median of 4 stars for almost every places. On my first night at SF, my friends and I had to look for a place to celebrating a birthday. We wanted somewhere low key (Mission has too much foodie traffic) and easy to get a table for a big group. We found a place called Campanula at North Beach. Their menu features small plates and a modern take on classic American bistro food.
It was emptied for a Sunday evening. Roasted Beets Candied Pecans, Goat Cheese & Pink Peppercorn Vinaigrette
Macaroni & Cheese Applewood Smoked Bacon, Herb Bread Crumbs & Truffle Oil. Very tasty but not much truffle oil.
Veal Tartar Quail Egg Yolk & White Anchovy Foam.
Roasted Pork Belly Caramelized Apple, Frisée, Cipollini & Pickled Watermelon. Very good! The combination of the crispy skin, the execution and the plum sauce reminded me of Chinese BBQ pork.
Wild Boar Sliders Fennel Slaw, Brioche Roll & House Made Pickles. Meaty and flavorful wild boar meat contrast well with refreshing pickles and the crunchy fennel slaw.
Lamb Carpaccio with Cardamom-Honey Vinaigrette & Almond. A Sausage dish that I forgot the name of.
Kobe-style beef burger. For the birthday boy!
Brioche French Toast & Creme Anglaise. Fluffy, custardy and incredibly yummy, very good.
The food was delicious and beautifully present. The services was warm and friendly. We enjoyed everything, but I can’t say I would want to come back soon. Perhaps it lacks a certain charm and character? Maybe this is an example of a Yelp 4 stars median SF restaurant – good, but not great nor particularly memorable in a competitive city where the people embraced the ‘neighborhood’ feeling above all else? All in all it’s not a bad start for my first night in the city and it served exactly of what we were looking for.
Campanula
701 Union St. (Powell St.)San Francisco, CA 94133
Tags: American, small plate
