Polkcha

Polkcha: San Francisco’s New Asian-Inspired Cocktail Bar Opens on Polk Street | Eater SF

"Debuting Friday, February 9 in the former Trade Routes space, this new cocktail bar at 1750 Polk Street is named Polkcha as a portmanteau of “pocha” (Korean night-market vendors) and Polk. Owned by Ryan McCargar, Chen-Chen Huo, and Jay Ryoo, with McCargar creating the drinks, the menu is split into spirit-forward, sour, refreshing, and sweet categories and leans on Asian spirits and ingredients—sake, soju, baijiu, ube, coconut, and Sichuan peppercorns—while keeping all cocktails at $15 or less. Notable cocktails include the Back Bay (a sesame- and Sichuan peppercorn–flavored Old Fashioned), the Hua Hin (a pandan-infused tequila Negroni), the Divisoria (an ube colada garnished with banana leaf and coconut flakes), the Hoi An (Vietnamese coffee and tonic crowned with salted cream foam), the melon-forward Gwangjang with a melon popsicle garnish, the Kuromon sparkling sake spritz, the nonalcoholic Ameyoko (green tea and mint), the Nishiki (gin and sake with shiso), and the Night Owl (a lychee sour starring baijiu and vodka). After 10 p.m. Polkcha switches to a late-night menu that keeps core cocktails and adds special shots plus highball and soju sets. The renovated space abandons the previous nautical global-trade motif for a street-market feel—large tree, street signs, murals, and custom wallpaper by Tokyo designer Yusuke Yamazaki—with the intent of evoking slices of Seoul, Tokyo, Ho Chi Minh, or Shanghai. Hours are Wednesday–Thursday 4 p.m.–midnight, Friday–Saturday 5 p.m.–2 a.m., and Sunday 4 p.m.–midnight." - Lauren Saria