San Francisco Weekend Trip

Earlier this month I'd visited San Francisco to hang out with some friends, including May, Cat, D, and I also got to meet Lulu. I'd already been to SF a few times within the past year, so all I really wanted to do was just hang out, and of course, eat. I must warn you that this post is extremely picture heavy, especially with pictures of food! You might not want to read this if your stomach's empty, keke.

I stayed in downtown at the Marriott Marquis, which is a very convenient location. Just a quick walk away from Sephora, H&M, and Sephora! However, I didn't do any shopping this time. I got lucky and received a free upgrade to a corner room on the 30th floor. I love city views so I was very happy.

Here's the view from my window. SF was having a warm and sunny weekend while I was there.

The last time I was in SF, I'd stayed at the same hotel but on a different floor, I think the 21st. I didn't share pictures from that trip so I included some here.

Beautiful sunset which my camera didn't quite catch properly.

Evening view...

The hotel has a bar with a 360 degrees view on the 39th floor. I went for happy hour and had a horrible raspberry martini (it tasted like cough syrup), but the view was spectacular.

These are pictures of my hotel room from my previous trip. I had a corner room then (same corner! lol you can tell from the view) too but the set up was slightly different (I prefer the one I had this time more but didn't take any pictures).

The bedding and comforter were sooo comfy. You can see me in the mirror taking the the picture, lol.

The hotel provides Bath & Body Works Aromatherapy Ginger Orange shampoo, conditioner, and lotion. While it's not my favorite, I now have tons of these and also gave some to friends, hehe.

The hotel also has a concierge lounge that's open a few hours daily with free breakfast, hors d'oeuvres, and snacks like fruits, cheese and crackers, cookies, and brownies. They also have free water bottles, Tazo teas, and orange juice (at breakfast).

I had a healthy bowl of oatmeal with dried cranberries, dried bananas, and walnuts.

On my first night, I meet up with May and Lulu and we had dinner at Osha Thai Restaurant, at the Embarcadero location. It's a really nice location since it's near the water (somewhat). We ate family style so that we could share more dishes, hehe.

Crunchy Calamari
Deep-fried calamari served with green apple and Sriracha cream.

Pad See You
Rice noodles pan fried with Chinese broccoli, egg, black soy bean sauce and choice of chicken, beef or pork.

Pineapple Fried Rice
Fried rice with egg, tomato, onion, green onion, cashew, raisins, pineapple, chicken and prawns

Duck Curry
Sliced roasted duck with pineapple and tomatoes in red curry. This was delicious!

The next night, I hung out with Cat. We went to a few places during the day and went to Little Star Pizza for dinner. We shared a deep dish pizza was was half Mediterranean Chicken – Chicken breast, artichoke hearts, red bells, green olives, onions, feta and Little Star – Spinach blended with ricotta and feta, mushrooms, onions, garlic. The garlic bread there is also really good.

The next day, Cat, May and I had brunch at the Waterfront Restaurant. We ordered the Dine About Town set menu.

Clam Chowder. This was so good and they kept refilling our sourdough bread!

Cat and I both choose the halibut tacos. I wanted something light and healthy.

May got the local Sole with mashed potatoes which looked really mouthwatering!

It was a really beautiful and warm day. Somehow I always get lucky and visit SF when the weather's nice...or maybe I bring the sun and warmth from SoCal, keke (jk).

Our view from the restaurant.

When we paid, May and Cat both got postcards with their bills, but I didn't. The girls were nice enough to give them to me, hehe.

We headed to Japantown afterwards and had Japanese crepes. Mine is the one with strawberries, vanilla ice cream and nutella. Yum!!

For dinner, May and I met up with D at First Crush. (She already posted it on her blog). The restaurant was walking distance from my hotel, so convenient! It's a small and dimly lit restaurant but the food was really good. We choose from the Dine About Town set menu which was a really good deal (appetizer, main entree and dessert for a set price).

D's Organic Idaho Russet Potato Gnocchi
parsnips · guanciale · roasted tomato · chilies de padron · red kale · ricotta salata.

My Mixed Organic Heirloom Tomato Salad
watermelon · fresh burrata · garden mache · cracked black peppercorn vinaigrette.

It was really refreshing! Great summer salad.

We all choose the same second course, hehe.

Grilled Wild King Salmon
yukon gold mashed potatoes · abalone mushroomsharicot verts · lobster-caper beurre blanc

For dessert, we ordered one of each so we could sample it all.

Seasonal guava sorbet, orange creme brulee (fresh berries · short bread cookies), and bread pudding (vanilla bean gelato and caramel sauce)

D and May agreed that the bread pudding was the most magical of the desserts.

We all found the orange creme brulee to be nothing special (luckily the orange flavor was not strong).

I personally really liked the guava sorbet! It was very light and refreshing. I could really taste the guava and yet it was kind of funny because the sorbet had a pinkish-orange color which made me think I would taste cantaloupe instead, hehe. (Sadly, no solo shot of the guava sorbet.)

On my last day, I had lunch at Cheesecake Factory. Yes, we have it here in SoCal too but the one in downtown is so convenient, I always end up eating there.

Seared Tuna Tataki Salad
Fresh Ahi Lightly Seared and Served Rare with Avocado, Tomato and Mixed Greens Tossed with Wasabi Vinaigrette

Truthfully I was craving sushi hehe but I also wanted something light. The dressing was really good and didn't taste like spicy wasabi at all (to me, at least).

I saved room for dessert so that I could try the Mango Key Lime Cheesecake. So light and yummy, perfect for summer!

For some reason the slice looks much smaller in my picture than it actually was. I couldn't finish it all.

I didn't have much time left before my flight so I visited Pier 39 since it's much closer to downtown than Golden Gate Park.

The seals were totally being lazy and just lying around. Those bums! ;)

Since I am such a piggy, I will also share pictures of food from my last SF trip, hehe. Please don't judge my winter comfort food cravings which I'd satisfied.

Dinner at the House of Prime Rib. Omg the portions are monstrous. I mean, a third would suffice for me. Even if these two old ladies with completely white hair did eat all of their bloody rare steaks (I'm talking Flintstones style, hehe), I simply could not.

The English Cut (thinner cut for better flavor) with mashed potatos, creamed spinach with bits of bacon, and Yorkshire bread pudding. Don't be fooled, the portion is at least twice the average (American) size.

The server gave me both mashed potatos and a baked potato. This baked potato was enormous! I mean, bigger than both of my fists put together.

I found a Louisiana fried chicken place within walking distance of the hotel. Apparently this place also serves donuts (I didn't get any) and is Viet owned/runed (yay, my peoples). Chicken is pretty tasty.

 French Toast from Denny's. I was just really, really craving French Toast and it was the closest to the hotel.

More Cheesecake Factory. Again, the portion is much bigger than it looks in my picture.

Fettucini with Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
In a Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce with Garlic, Cream and Parmesan Cheese.

Kara's Cupcakes. I really like the Raspberry Dazzle (the other is the Java Chip one, it's alright). Yes, I ate all four, don't judge me!

And lastly, Bi-Rite Creamery ice cream! I don't remember if this was the Balsamic Strawberry but the bottom is the Salted Caramel. I had some again with Cat but didn't take a picture (Balsamic Strawberry, Creme Fraiche, and I think Mango Sorbet).

So...did I make you hungry or do you feel full now? =)