Abacá
Filipino restaurant · Fisherman's Wharf ·
Modern Filipino eatery with Californian twists on dishes
Modern Filipino eatery with Californian twists on dishes
"Combining old family recipes and Filipino flavors with Northern California’s best seasonal ingredients, this Bay Area destination aims to showcase the beauty and vibrance of Filipino culture and cuisine. The menu weaves in language and staples—“pamilya” (family), “pica-pica” (snacks), “salamat” (thank you)—while highlighting favorites like pork lumpia, sisig fried rice, and halo halo. Local producers are everywhere on the plate: stonefruit from K&J Orchard in the pork lumpia, a cauliflower steak from Ledesma Family Farm, and seafood frequently sourced from Pier 45; and the kitchen isn’t shy about blending backgrounds, pairing Monterey squid with adobo sauce or pandan bibingka with fresh sunchoke cream." - Daniel He
"This Filipino restaurant is offering a family-style kamayan dinner for four ($260), typically eaten by hand, with Filipino-inflected dishes like sisig bread pudding, coconut green bean casserole, and a seafood chowder with salt spring mussels, shrimp, and scallops, plus options such as a turkey stuffed with longanisa roulade, wagyu steak, and grilled fish; sweet finishes include a buko pandan pie with pistachio pandan crumble or a smoked ube pie with maja blanca and blueberries for $60 each, and Thanksgiving meals and pies are available for pre-order via OpenTable with pickups at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, November 26." - Dianne de Guzman
"An ambitious Filipino American History Month series turns this San Francisco restaurant into a weeklong showcase for the country’s cuisine, with four events running Saturday, October 18 through Friday, October 24. Things kick off with a brunch featuring chef-owner Francis Ang alongside Monique Feybesse (Tarts de Feybesse), Jade Cunningham (Carabao), and Andre Casper (Roline’s), paired with a marketplace of Filipino makers at the Kimpton Alton Hotel, where the restaurant is located. Follow-up dinners include a pulutan night—Filipino drinking food—offering small bites and cocktails by a team including Evan Kidera and Gil Payumo (Señor Sisig), Ej Macayan (Ox & Tiger), Kevin Diedrich (Pacific Cocktail Haven), Lordfer Lalicon (Kaya in Orlando), and Carlo Lamagna (Magna Kusina in Portland); and a festive kamayan feast where guests eat with their hands at a styled table, featuring Harold Villarosa (the Peach), Deanna Sison (Mestiza), Melvin Reyes (Mano Modern Cafe in Chicago), and Melissa Miranda (Musang and Kilig in Seattle). The final Paubaya dinner—“to entrust,” a nod to a tasting menu—is led by Ang with Paolo Dunca (Kayu in Washington, D.C.) and Ellie Estrada (Nisei). The series doubles as a fundraiser, with each meal benefiting groups such as Filipino Food Movement, SOMA Pilipinas, Bayanihan Equity Center, and Sentro Filipino. Ang says the goal is to “make a statement,” educate diners who may be new to Filipino food, and build momentum for the cuisine; reservations for all events are available on OpenTable." - Dianne de Guzman
"Breakfast at chef Francis Ang’s Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant is pretty damn good. I had put off visiting for brunch for the same getting-busy reasons as anyone and I’m kicking myself for it now. For $22 I think the chicken tocino silog enters the realm of outstanding breakfast orders in the city: I’m a sucker for creamified rice, so imagine me working through the two sunny side up eggs superimposed atop the garlic rice, weeping into the carby base below, while the pineapple-cured chicken’s softness balanced by crackly chicharron is just the right amount of meatiness so early in the day. Rounding things out are the little pile of pickled veg and ramekin of hot sauce, saving me the extraordinary labor of requesting any spicy accoutrements. The pastries on their own are worth a visit — the bibinkga rice cake, complete with soft caramelized brie and sharp salted egg, is the soft muffin-tamale-combo that only springs to life in a portside pastry-obsessed town like San Francisco — and I half stumbled out, having survived my anaconda-like gorging, to put brunch here on my standby list." - Paolo Bicchieri
"If the sun rays coming through the huge skylight at Abacá don’t jolt you awake, the food certainly will. This upscale spot does weekend-only brunch full of Filipino classics with the sour, salty, and sweet flavors dialed up. There’s tocino slabs covered in a zippy pineapple marinade, an incredible ganache-crowned banana bread, and ensaymada french toast topped with hollandaise, bacon, caviar, and lime juice, which is simultaneously ultra-light and richness personified. A meal here is stellar, and will make you forget you're in a Fisherman’s Wharf hotel near where the tacky souvenir fleeces roam." - julia chen 1, lani conway, ricky rodriguez, patrick wong