Growing up in Los Angeles, there are a wide range of places that people head to on their holiday vacations — it could be anywhere from Cabo to Hong Kong, but there’s one city my family and I went to time and time again, and that’s the wonderful city of San Francisco. If you grew up in a foodie family as I did, trips to the Golden City always meant one thing: dim sum and lots of it. While we do have a fairly decent dim sum scene in LA, nothing truly compares to San Francisco’s decades-old history and culinary tradition when it comes to dim sum.
Across the city, you can find everything from high-end banquet-style restaurants bustling with rolling carts and round tables filled with families enjoying succulent xiao long bao to casual neighborhood spots well-loved by locals for its handmade sui mai. Now that I call San Francisco home full-time and regularly spend a day eating throughout the city, I am blessed to have all of these wonderful dim sum restaurants at my fingertips — and let me tell you, I’ve made it my mission to explore every dim sum destination this food-obsessed city has to offer. From classic Cantonese-American institutions that have been dishing out dumplings for decades to newer age spots bringing a fresh energy and modern flair to the craft, here are six of the best dim sum restaurants in San Francisco.
1. Yank Sing
I am forever indebted to Yank Sing for giving me (or gifting me) my very first dim sum experience. I can remember the day like it was yesterday — I was 7 years old with my whole family visiting the city on vacation, and the second we walked through those doors, I was completely overwhelmed in the best possible way. The clatter of the waitresses tossing their tongs back into their bain maries, the woody, aromatic smell of the bamboo steamers, the endless chatter filling the dining rooms — the atmosphere was perfect, but the food was even better.
My first bite was the turnip cake — a savory Chinese rice cake made from daikon radish, dried shrimp, scallions, shiitake mushrooms, and Chinese sausage — and it was quite possibly one of the best bites I had the whole meal. With its unique chewy texture and its delicate, shrimpy, umami flavor, it was nearly impossible for me to reach for more than just one. Alongside the turnip cake, I tried the crab claws, har gow, and most importantly, the Peking duck. Served straight from the rolling carts, featuring crispy, golden brown skin with tender meat served with fluffy steamed buns, scallions, and hoisin sauce — each bite was pure bliss. Be sure to book a reservation online and with two locations — one on Spear Street and another on Stevenson Street — if you’re not going to Yank Sing on your next trip to San Francisco, then what are you even doing in the city?…