San Francisco’s best food & drink

Cioppino, a seafood stew made with Dungeness crab, that, rumour has it, traces its roots to Fisherman’s Wharf.

Creamy and white clam chowder is a local staple that came with settlers who’d moved West. For a real San Francisco experience, have it served in a carved-out bread bowl from one of the city’s iconic sourdough purveyors, like Boudin. Their flagship bakery is in Fisherman’s Wharf.

The bold and bursting-at-the-seams Mission-style burrito is a San Francisco invention, one loaded with beans, meat, cheese…the works! You’ll find it everywhere in the city’s Mission neighbourhood, where it originated.

Also look out for popular fortune cookies – apparently invented in Golden Gate Park. There’s a fortune cooking factory tucked away in the alleyways of Chinatown where you can watch them being made (and score a big bag to-go!).

With amazing restaurants filling all corners of SF, the question becomes where not to eat.

For delish Asian food, of course head to Chinatown. SF’s Outer Richmond neighbourhood is known for its dim sum eateries.

To try SF’s famous to-die-for ‘Mission’ burritos, look for hole-in-the-wall cafés in the Mission neighbourhood, which many Latin Americans call home.

Food trucks offer some of the city’s tastiest and most inventive dining options (think steamed bao buns and Ukrainian pyrizhky). Look for them in Golden Gate Park and the Presidio’s new Tunnel Tops experience.

Hot restaurants and cool bars populate buzzy districts like SOMA, while North Beach and the gay-beloved Castro are good bets for fun after dark.

Fancy, five-star eateries tuck behind Victorian facades in Nob Hill and Pacific Heights. However, scoring a reservation at a buzzy restaurant can be near impossible. To pull a seat up to a particularly hot table, try going during lunch.