Abaca in San Francisco

                                                            Sisig fried rice with chicharron
 

Abaca is a modern take on Filipino cooking.  It was recently listed in The New York Times list of fifty best restaurants for 2022 with good reason.  The food is interesting and delicious.  I’m familiar with some of the staples of Filipino cooking and these well loved recipes are featured in the menu.  I had a Baguio Breeze Slushy with pandan-infused vodka as a base.  It was a great drink.  I noticed people with the ube-colada, which was deep purple and I really wanted to try that too, but that is too much alcohol for me.

We had the longganisa pork sausage BBQ stick, sisig fried rice, nilasing  na salmon and squash fritters.  This was four small plates shared among three people.  This was a good amount of food.  The fried rice is very filling!  We were satisfied, but it left room for dessert.

We shared two desserts: maja blanca and tupig.  One was a sweet, sticky rice and the other was a deconstructed blueberry panna cota with a sorbet and a chocolate mousse.  

It was a fantastic meal and I felt like it was a special experience.  We had a great waiter, who explained the dishes and helped us order.  The restaurant is also a bakery and is open for breakfast and lunch.  It is located just inside the Klimpton and close to Fisherman’s Wharf.