Hakka Restaurant

Hakka Restaurant
Neighborhood: Outer Richmond
4401 Cabrillo St
San Francisco, CA 94121
(415) 876-6898


"THIS IS SO GOOD"

I kept saying that line over and over again while eating. I don't think I even took breaths or breaks between bites. I just gorged myself on some excellent Hakka cuisine.

Soup:
Lao Huo Tang (Old Fire House Soup)
Cantonese folks like to make this deep, savory broth from scraps of bone, meats and herbs and render it all day. The broth is a much more flavorful pork version of the broth you get in pho, with mellow Chinese herbs and even red bean.

Entrees:

Stewed pork belly slices with preserved vegetable and iceberg lettuce. The pork belly was incredible, stewed to almost falling apart, and the flavor from the preserved vegetables infused the pork and sauce completely.

Fried pumpkin with salt duck egg batter. The "HOLY MOLY THIS IS FREAKING DELICIOUS" dish of the evening. If you can imagine the salty goodness from the egg batter paired with the sweetness of the kabocha pumpkin, cut like steak fries and served piping hot....well....I don't need to say any more.

Stir-fried lily bulb with woodear fungus, peppers, cucmber and asparagus. Light and flavorful, with all of the vegetables cooked halfway retaining their freshness and snap.

Half order of the salt baked chicken. This has been talked about thoroughly in other reviews, but what I love about this dish is how simple it seems, but has such difficult components working sublimely and harmoniously. The chicken meat was juicy and tender. The skin was salty/crispy like roast duck skin. The bird used was lean, flavorful and small, reminiscent of wild chicken or yellow feathered chickens. The dipping sauce didn't overpower the flavor of the chicken meat.

Stir-fried clams with basil. Aromatic and subtle, the sauce is good over steamed rice, and the clams were super plump. I loved that they used serrano chilis as opposed to the more astringent jalapeno to spice it up.

Dessert:

Pumpkin pudding with tapioca pearls. Served warm, with a bright orange glow from the pumpkin, we were stuffed, but couldn't let one drop go to waste. Not overtly sweet, and the tapioca was cooked to perfection.

Total cost: $52 and some change

Takes credit cards. Friday night at 7pm, we didn't have a reservation and were seated immediately. The staff are very friendly and the owner's son was gracious and helpful.

Will be back with family and more friends in tow.