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Tinkuy is the lunch buffet that even non hotel guests can reserve for lunch. It costs about US$44 per person and has a wide variety of items. I presume the same kitchen prepares this food as next door. It is open 11am-330pm. Online reservations are through their Facebook page.
Tampu Breakfast Buffet walk thru in the Sanctuary Lodge at Machu Picchu, Peru.
Why did we eat here? – Tampu is the main restaurant in the Sanctuary Lodge at Machu Picchu. Breakfast and lunch are open to hotel guests & non-hotel guests (based on availability – reserve ahead). Breakfast buffet costs US$35. Dinner is open to hotel guests only. The other restaurant next door is a lunch buffet for the general public USD$44, that the hotel also runs.
Foodnut travels, eats, and tells! We’re based in San Francisco but have flown all over. We document our trip to Peru. Machu Picchu, Rainbow Mountain and a lot of eating in between. Lots of weird eats and unexpected new food finds.
Some American Express cards including their Platinum Card have $400 Resy Credit each year, $100 a quarter. There’s a lot of marginal spots on the list. What are the restaurants worth eating at in San Francisco?
Foodnut travels, eats, and tells! We’re based in San Francisco but have flown all over. We love Thai food and find some of the best in Thailand.
Why did we eat here? – We were staying at the Ritz Carlton Bangkok and had Free breakfast thanks to Chase Sapphire Reserved The Edit or Amex Platinum! It normally costs 1118 THB = USD$34, which is Very reasonable. This is not just a beautiful and great hotel, it is centrally located next to the One shopping mall. This mall has some great food options on floor B1 and 3rd floor.
Buffet Walk Through
Won Kok Millbrae opened in November 2025 where Asian Pearl was last. Won Kok has had a location on Monterey Blvd in San Francisco for many years. This spot has updated decor from the previous restaurant along with a temporary wall to sub divide the room.
The menu is pretty straightforward old school traditional Cantonese dim sum. Not a lot of modern or cutesy dishes.
Part of Koi Palace Empire.
Why did we dine here? – Dragon Beaux is a new restaurant from the folks who run our favorite Chinese restaurant, Koi Palace, Palette Tea garden, etc. This location is in the Outer Richmond district and focuses on Dim Sum during lunch and Hot Pot/Cantonese food at dinner. We came here when it first opened in 2015, and recently returned in the Spring of 2026.
Blue Sky Cafe is a casual Hong Kong style Chinese eatery in the middle of an industrial park in Belmont. Weird location but very solid Cantonese Chinese food and a popular destination. If you appreciate this type of food, run here as there is nothing like it on the Peninsula. Everyone knows now, because the place is really busy on the weekend. Takeout on a Saturday night had a 2 hour delay, so order early for dinner, like at noon! Last visited in late 2026.
Joy, aka Joy’s Taiwan or 5 Joy Restaurant is a small restaurant in the Beach Park plaza strip mall bordering the San Francisco Bay in Foster City, just south of the Highway 92 San Mateo Bridge. A hidden gem in the middle of no where. The Thai restaurant in the same complex is also solid.
Last Update: 2026
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Foodnut travels, eats, and tells! We’re based in San Francisco but have flown all over. We love Chinese food and find some of the best in Hong Kong.
Great choice for reasonably priced, solid dim sum in San Francisco.
Hong Kong Lounge is a popular Chinese Restaurant located in San Francisco’s Outer Richmond district that opened in late 2008. They serve dim sum at lunch time and are quite busy. Last meal was Summer 2026.
Why did we dine here? – Pho Ha Noi is a Vietnamese restaurant located in an outdoor mall Vietnam Town Plaza in San Jose. The area is full of high quality Asian restaurants and shops. Their pho is some of the top in the SF Bay Area. This restaurant also has a location in Cupertino and added Palo Alto in 2023.
First time in Texas and we had to get BBQ. Pinkerton’s BBQ has locations in Houston and San Antonio. It is one of the top spots on Yelp when we searched, plus it was not far from IAH airport.
Why did we dine here? – Din Tai Fung is a popular Xiao Long Bao (It means small bamboo steamer bun in Chinese) – Shanghai Steamed Soup dumpling restaurant with locations in Bellevue, Seattle, Southern California, Taiwan, Japan, China, Indonesia, Macau, Singapore, and several other countries. Few Chinese dishes generate so much obsession. Think of it like a quest to find the best burger or pizza. We have been to this location several times. Din Tai Fung grosses more per location than any other restaurant, even Nobu.
Where does a San Francisco Foodie eat in Morocco? Follow our journey and learn from our experiences. Here are Restaurant Reviews and Notes from our Summer 2025 trip to Morocco.
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Where does a San Francisco Foodie eat in Seattle? Follow our journey and learn from our experiences.
Last Update: 7/4/2025
Where does a San Francisco Foodie eat in New York? Follow our journey and learn from our experiences over several trips.
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Zhangjiajie is an amazing place in the Hunan Province of China. The scenic beauty of Zhangjiajie National Forest Park is unmatched with its sandstone pillars. The movie Avatar was inspired there. Zhangjiajie’s Avatar Mountains are located in Yuanjiajie, Wulingyuan Scenic Area of Hunan Province, China. The area is accessible via Zhangjiajie City. Be sure to pay extra for VIP tickets to cut in line!
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We recently finished a culinary tour of China in the Summer of 2025. Shanghai is a world class city full of great food. Most of the Chinese food was superior to that in the San Francisco Bay Area and even Vancouver, BC Canada.
Redefining top notch dim sum and Chinese food near San Francisco.
Why did we dine here? – Grand Harbor is a Chinese restaurant in Burlingame, California, located right by the San Francisco Bay. (Next door to Benihana) The building and parking lot look sketch. It has a grand view of the Bay and the San Francisco Airport to the north. Leisurely watch planes landing all meal long. Our Last visit (#6) was in Winter 2025.
Last Update: June 2025
We love Xiao Long Bao (XLB) aka Shanghai Steamed Soup Dumplings and have eaten all over the world seeking the best. Are you a Xiao Long Bao addict too? Read on.
One tip: If you are looking for good XLB, do not order them from a Cantonese Chinese restaurant. You are almost always guaranteed disappointing results even at the Best Chinese Restaurant in San Francisco: Koi Palace. Order these little balls of wonder from a Shanghainese Chinese restaurant.
Best Shanghainese Chinese restaurant in San Francisco? Little Shanghai Restaurant is a family run Shanghainese Chinese Restaurant in San Mateo near the San Mateo Fairgrounds. They have the usual Americanized Chinese dishes along with a fair amount of Traditional Shanghai dishes not served in most restaurants. Our last visit was at end of 2025 for takeout.
San Tung is a popular Chinese restaurant in the inner Sunset of San Francisco. They serve northern Chinese food that has some Korean influence, as the San Tung region of China is near Korea, hence the free Kim Chee. We have eaten here many, many times, back to when it was located west of here. Last visit was for take out in summer 2025. They used to have San Tung #2 next door and So restaurant.
When we get asked, “where do we get the dim sum in Chinatown?” Our answer is.. Great Eastern Restaurant San Francisco has been serving Cantonese Chinese food in this location for many years.
Why did we dine here? – Dumpling Home was featured in the SF Chronicle for Xiao Long Bao or Soup Dumplings making us really want to try it.
Mamahuhu is Mister Jiu’s casual restaurant in the Inner Richmond district of San Francisco. You order at the counter and they bring the food to you.
They’ve opened more locations including one in Mill Valley. Their motto: “We envision a future in which delicious, affordable, sustainably-sourced food is the norm and Chinese-American cuisine plays a central role.”
Here are Restaurant Reviews and Notes from our Summer 2024 trip to Greece – Athen and Naxos.
Horn BBQ Is a legendary barbecue restaurant in Oakland, California. It has 3.5 stars on yelp and had long lines at the old location whenever it’s open. A fire closed them down and made them re-open in April 2024 at 464 8th St. near Chinatown, Oakland at their former burger joint. You now order using the computer tablet by the entrance, then sit down.
Horn BBQ Definitely serves up barbecue that was not as good as the old location. Top-notch barbecue the San Francisco Bay area. Breakwater BBQ in El Granada is really good. 4505 in San Francisco is also good for ribs.
Why did we dine here? – Hummus Mediterranean Kitchen has become our goto place when looking for this type of food. They have expanded to four locations including Palo Alto, San Francisco and Mountain View.
Last Update: November 2019
We are big fans of Vietnamese Pho Noodle Soup. Slowly but surely, we have eaten at many of the San Francisco Bay Area’s best Pho restaurants. Here’s our constantly evolving list of the top 10 in search of the Best Pho San Francisco and beyond. Please leave comments with suggestions for other places we should try.
Reviews for restaurants, bakeries and other spots we deemed not important enough for their own.
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Last Update: 5/10/2024
Where does a San Francisco Foodie eat in the Durham – Chapel Hill – Research Triangle, North Carolina? Follow our journey and learn from our experiences. We have family there and will return again.
Why did we dine here? – Flour & Water Pizza is the pizza only specialty restaurant from the folks at famous Flour and Water. This location opened in 2023, the previous one is run by a former employee and is now called Yellow Moto Pizza. Tony’s Pizza is right around the corner!
We visited Osaka, Japan in December 2023 and made a list of interesting finds. Our goals are to eat local and seek out authentic experiences. Sushi, udon, soba, yakitori, oden, whatever! Yelp and Trip Advisor were not helpful in spotting places to eat at, only Google reviews were useful. We did not seek our Michelin rated spots.
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Cheung Hing replaces China Village Seafood Restaurant in Belmont, California located just off the Highway 101’s Ralston Exit. The former had been around since 1996, serving dim sum during both lunch and dinner, as well as standard Cantonese Chinese cuisine, but changed hands in 2022. It appears that they may have a similar menu and chef from before. The interior and exterior are still the same too, so is the phone number.
Cheung Hing has several locations in San Mateo, Millbrae, and San Francisco. Those concentrate on Chinese barbecue dishes and don’t serve dim sum.
City View Restaurant is a Chinese dim sum restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown. that only serves lunch.. Our last visit was in the middle of 2023 when they moved in to a new location next to Portsmouth square.
Be sure to read our Introduction to Chinese Dim Sum
Lai Hong Lounge Restaurant is a Cantonese Chinese restaurant on the outskirts of Chinatown. They have been around since Lichee Garden closed, 2012. They are VERY popular for lunch (Noon had a Wait for a Monday lunch), but it was much more quiet at dinner. We were in the neighborhood so we decided to try it out, being big Chinese food fans. Last visit was in Winter 2024.
Why did we dine here? – Lily is a Modern Vietnamese restaurant in San Francisco is inner Richmond District. Sort of a neighborhood joint kicked up a notch. The Chef Rob Lam used to run restaurant Butterfly on the waterfront. There are a ton of VERY good restaurant options nearby including Burma superstar, Chapeau!, Wako, and Mamahuhu. Traditional Vietnamese restaurants are a block away. We have been here 3 times for lunch during the Pandemic, last visit Spring 2024.
Southwest Restaurant reviews from our trip in Spring 2023
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1/27/23
B Star Bar serves Pan Asian style comfort foods with flavors from Thailand, China, Burma, India and Japan. It is the sister restaurant of popular Burma Superstar Burmese restaurant (And has several of their dishes) and is located a couple blocks from it. Our last visit was in Spring 2023. No more parklet.
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Reviews from our 2023 trip to Spain and Portugal. Our goals were to eat at authentic non-touristy places while fulfilling our wishes to try certain items. One of us is Vegan, so will see many options for vegans and vegetarians.
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