This was my 4th visit to The Slanted Door modern Vietnamese restaurant in the Ferry Building and it is still a top favorite of mine in San Francisco. You need to make reservations to get in and even though you may arrive with a room full of empty tables, don’t blink…because within a matter of minutes every one of those tables will fill up! It is a favorite in the area and people also come from far and wide to enjoy their food.
The service is fantastic and quite fast, especially for a restaurant with so much seating. It has a cafeteria style decor with little ambiance, but it really doesn’t affect anything, because their incredible food is the featured item here. The menu is designed for sharing plates and it’s a good thing because you would be very jealous if you didn’t get to try everything that came to your table!
Each and every visit of mine required that the first item ordered would be their Crispy Imperial Rolls. They are the most incredible egg rolls filled with gulf shrimp & pork shoulder served with vermicelli noodles, lettuce leaves, mint, roasted peanut and a yummy sweet sauce. They are simply devine!
I ordered new items this time so that I could try something different. Next up was their Daikon Rice Cakes made with shitake mushroom, shallot and sweet chili soy sauce. They were tasty, nicely crusted and the sauce was yummy. A little too bland for me though and not my most favorite item.
The Green Papaya Salad was made with pickled carrot, rau ram,(cilantro) crispy shallot and roasted peanuts. It was crisp and perky with a slight tartness. I really enjoyed it.
For one of the main entrees I ordered Mesquite Grilled Niman Ranch Flat Iron Steak served with pommes frites and a jalapeño-early girl tomato ragout. The steak was cooked to order and tender. The ragout nicely complimented the beef. However, I didn’t understand the pommes frites. First of all they were not cooked very well done at all and sitting on top of the entree, they just didn’t seem to coordinate well with the texture of the dish. I think it would have been fine with just eliminating them or at least crisping them appropriately.
The other entree was the Caramelized Catfish Claypot with cilantro, ginger and thai chili. It came with a side of brown rice which was the perfect base for the succulent sauce. The fish was tender and delicate – watch out for the bones! A delicious entree.
Lunch ended with a couple of their unique tea blends served Vietnamese style.
Yes, I do love the Slanted Door and their unique and delicious food. I look forward to my next visit where I plan to try more new items on their menu, except of course, for the Crispy Imperial Rolls that I will have to have!