House of Nanking
Chinese restaurant · Chinatown ·
Chinese institution known for peanut sauce & ordering for you
Chinese institution known for peanut sauce & ordering for you
"Reading the House of Nanking cookbook transported me back to that chaotic San Francisco dining room I loved as a kid; the book captures nearly 50 years of the restaurant’s multiregional Chinese cooking (Shanghainese, Cantonese, Hunan, and more) and the Fang family’s multigenerational story, with essential recipes devotees crave — like crunchy sesame chicken with glossy sweet potato, Prawns in Twin Happiness Sauce, and Veggie ABC — plus family dishes (tofu and Calimeris salad), upgraded simple classics (tomato-egg stir fry with creamy egg tofu and dashi), a thorough ingredients glossary, and a guide to the best San Francisco markets and international supermarket chains for pantry staples." - Bettina Makalintal
"A classic San Francisco restaurant that still serves up some of the best Chinese food in the city. Get there early if you don't want to stand in line (though the queue is often a lively experience in itself), and while you're at it, don't bother ordering off the menu. Mr. Fang and his brusque staff know exactly what you want." - Volume
"This is the kind of San Francisco institution so beloved it earned itself a TV show on the Food Network. The restaurant is open for its typical hours on Christmas Day which means pork confit eggrolls, baby pea shoot salads, kung pao shrimp, and so much more for all those looking to head out rather than cook at home." - Dianne de Guzman
"A Chinatown standard for more than 40 long years, the family-run House of Nanking remains a reliable destination for Shanghainese food unlike what’s found elsewhere in San Francisco. The pro move is to let the staff order for you; all you have to do is sit back and await heaping plates of house noodles, sesame chicken, and shrimp packets swimming in peanut sauce. It’s affordable and popular, so there may be a wait." - Paolo Bicchieri, Eater Staff
"Both House of Nanking and chef Kathy Fang get starring roles in the docuseries Chef Dynasty: House of Fang, as well they should: It’s a show about the Fang family running its restaurants, after all. Food Network greenlit the series which follows Kathy Fang and her father Peter Fang and explores how they work together to run the family restaurant as business partners. House of Nanking is also briefly featured in The Matrix Resurrections, which was filmed in San Francisco." - Dianne de Guzman