The Happy Crane
Chinese restaurant · Hayes Valley ·
Modern Cantonese cuisine with creative twists and impressive presentation
Modern Cantonese cuisine with creative twists and impressive presentation
"In Hayes Valley, chef James Parry’s restaurant shows a serious point of view paired with playful, cosmopolitan bites, serving things like the best tofu salad you’ve ever had and hazelnut-oozing Ferrero Rocher sesame balls." - Paolo Bicchieri
"Chef James Yeun Leong Parry’s intense Michelin-starred resume spanning Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States informs the refined but not over-the-top modern Cantonese dishes at his first solo restaurant. A lot of work goes into the XO sauce — it takes five or six days to come together — so I recommend ordering anything that highlights it, like the XO Little Fry King. Fans of sesame balls and/or Ferrer Rocher should get the Mochi Rocher, a playful hybrid served freshly fried with a chopped hazelnut exterior and a molten dark chocolate ganache inside. If you’d rather leave your meal to the team, the “Happy as a crane” option runs $120 per person and requires the entire table to participate. The crowd spans dates, friend groups, and adults dining with their parents; it isn’t quite child-friendly for kids who prefer dino nuggets, though noise levels shouldn’t be too excessive for babies. Don’t miss the drinks menu art — Parry’s sister illustrated it with Chinese mythology–inspired drawings based on the Classic of Mountains and Seas." - Dianne de Guzman
"On my return to this new restaurant from chef James Yeun Leong Parry, the standout was the crab rice roll: rice rolls arrive swimming in sauce and salmon roe, and a server snips the noodles with scissors for easy sharing. The “gravy” is a seafood-laced, umami-packed sauce punctuated by pops of caviar, and the delicate-but-bouncy rice rolls hold their own against it; I’m already planning to order it again. Bonus: If you love fried sesame dumplings, don’t skip the mochi rocher for dessert." - Paolo Bicchieri
"Taking over the former Monsieur Benjamin on Gough, Happy Crane marks one of the city’s most-hyped debuts, aiming to be a destination for fine dining Chinese-style dishes and featuring a spruced-up riff on sesame balls made to look like a Ferrero Rocher." - Paolo Bicchieri
"A new guard, modern Cantonese restaurant where the jian dui is served to look like a Ferrero Rocher, marrying playful presentation with tradition." - Paolo Bicchieri