Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Herbivore San Francisco

After a great day hiking in Angel Island, V and I started our drive out of the City, debating where to go for dinner in our grungy hiking clothes. We needed a down-to-earth place which served good vegetarian grub. Herbivore struck us to be the perfect choice. A cafe' type casual setting serving great food. (Right next door is the more upscale "Dosa", a South Indian restaurant, that was already getting crowded at 5:30 in the evening.)

http://www.herbivorerestaurant.com/valencia.html

Our wait for a table at Herbivore was around 10 minutes, and the time passed quickly because we met a charming couple. The wife had been to India several times to teach psycho-drama (need to look that one up!).

Now to the food. We ordered the green papaya salad to start with. V really loved it, it was tangy because of the shredded raw papaya and spicy because of the sauce.

For the main course, V ordered the Kung Pao which I ended up eating and I ordered the Wasabi Soba noodles which is another story.

The Kung Pao was unlike any other Kung Pao we had seen or tasted. It has char-grilled vegetables, like peppers, mushrooms, brocolli, tomatoes, etc. in a sauce, served over quinoa. I liked the taste, but V wasn't sure he liked the taste of the partially blackened veggies.

About the Wasabi Soba noodles, I think we got the Curry Coconut Udon noodles instead eventhough we didn't realize this until much later! However V liked it very much and gobbled it up. The coconut sauce with cilantro was very flavorful and the noodles were well-cooked.

All in all, a very good meal after a day of light hiking. The check came to around $25 for the two of us. Herbivore would be a great place to grab lunch or dinner if you are in the City.

3 comments:

V said...

Mouth watering pictures. I wish I could visit the city by the bay to visit this restaurant. Keep these articles.

Unknown said...

from the photo it definitely looks like the actual soba noodle dish, not the curry. I have eaten there many times and always order the wasabi soba noodle dish. It's amazing.

VV said...

Good to know that we got the actual thing, Megan! We have never been back to check! Anyway it was delicious.