"You can feel the electric energy emanating from their shoebox space," wrote Esquire contributing editor Omar Mamoon. "Cantopop ballads blast from the speakers. Vintage posters of Hong Kong cinema stars decorate the walls. Woks go orange with waves of flame. Behind the wooden counter, you see the chefs cooking the dishes they grew up eating—and reinvesting in their community along the way."
The menu is packed with fresh takes on Cantonese cuisine like chicken-fat clay pot rice topped with lap cheong sausage, chrysanthemum, thick-cut bacon and a single egg yolk. The coveted house special fried squab is limited to 15 per night because of the 10-day process involved in preparing the fowl. It is marinated, dry-aged, smoked and then deep-fried to order, according to Esquire.
Four Kings wasn't the only San Francisco restaurant to make Esquire's list of the best new restaurants. 7 Adams, a Lower Pacific Heights restaurant known for its affordable tasting menu, also made the cut. Chefs Serena Chow Fisher and David Fisher formerly worked at Marlena but abruptly left in June 2023. A year later, their first solo restaurant won a Michelin star in August 2024.
The five-course, $87 tasting menu features dishes such as chilled corn veloute with serpent cucumber, burnt avocado and cilantro, as well as Berkshire pork collar with lollipop kale, breakfast sausage and cherry mustard.
Collection
[
|
...
]