See what it’s like to eat Vietnamese food at the Slanted Door in San Francisco.
Traveling presents many learning opportunities. One thing that we learned in France with our epic dinner at Maison Lameloise is not to eat too much for lunch when you’re having dinner at a three-star Michelin restaurant.
We also know that it doesn’t make sense to starve all day and arrive for dinner too hungry. That’s how we ended up having a light, flavorful lunch of modern Vietnamese food at The Slanted Door.
After a relaxing morning in our comfortable room at the Hotel Triton, we were ready to leave the hotel. After a quick detour to Nordstrom, we walked a mile or so to the Ferry Building.
Ferry Building
We ambled through the marketplace to see what was new from our last visit, but we didn’t graze despite tempting food at favorites like Acme Bread and Cowgirl Creamery.
Our goal was a light lunch with no grazing. Of course, we had to get some coffee from Blue Bottle, but that doesn’t count as grazing.
Lunch at the Slanted Door
The Slanted Door is a perfect place to enjoy a light lunch. (To be clear, the lunch was light in quantity but not light in flavor.) Upon arriving at the popular restaurant without a reservation, we were quickly seated at the comfortable bar.
As we perused the menu, the server thoughtfully poured our coffee into proper mugs from the Blue Bottle to-go cups.
Food at The Slanted Door
We kicked off the light meal by sharing a stomach-conditioning green papaya salad, which was served with pickled carrots, rau ram (a Vietnamese herb), crispy shallots and roasted peanuts.
We finished the light meal by sharing a noodle dish. We chose the noodle dish that features grilled pork meatballs and pork loin with rice vermicelli noodles, an imperial roll, cucumber, mint and peanuts.
This noodle dish is not to be missed. The ingredients were all spot on. For us, the dish’s highlight was the pork meatballs which were perfectly charred on the outside and had a rich, savory pork flavor on the inside. Before long, the dish was gone.
We thoroughly enjoyed the light meal and will definitely return for a full meal the next time that we’re in San Francisco. There are so many restaurants in San Francisco, and The Slanted Door is one of the best.
The Slanted Door is located at 1 Sausalito – San Francisco Ferry Building #3, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA.
Next Stop – Napa Valley
We left the Ferry Building and headed to Napa Valley. We took a slightly longer route so that we could go over the Golden Gate Bridge. The view of this bridge is always breathtaking, even in the fog.
Before we knew it, we reached our destination, a lovely B&B in Yountville. We had just enough time to relax and refresh before heading over to The French Laundry for dinner. A memorable dining experience was waiting and our stomachs were ready.
Hungry for More in San Francisco?
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About the Authors
Daryl & Mindi Hirsch
Saveur Magazine’s BEST TRAVEL BLOG award winners Daryl and Mindi Hirsch share their culinary travel experiences and recipes on the 2foodtrippers website and YouTube. The married Food and Travel content creators live in Lisbon, Portugal.
Original Publication Date: July 14, 2013
Luann
Saturday 24th of April 2021
The slanted door in the ferry building is and has been closed for the past year. Their other location is open - SanRamon. Your article always gets my hopes up when it pops up on my feed. :(
iheartfood
Monday 15th of July 2013
Welcome to San Francisco! Hope you enjoyed it! Nice you guys scored a reservation at French Laundry. I've lived in the Bay Area my whole life and haven't had the pleasure yet. I've tried to get reservations (not very diligently) but haven't been successful. One day :)