San Francisco: Zen Yai
Way back in November, I was fortunate to get to watch Hamilton in the city...for free. Yes, free. The Orpheum Theater very kindly donated tickets to the organization where I work and we got to have the best staff fun day of all time.
Coincidentally, T and CV won the Hamilton lottery for tickets that very same day. I went to the matinee show while their tickets were for the evening performance. There was just enough time in-between the shows for us to get dinner together.
T and CV picked up Jiejie and met up with me in the city. The original plan was to introduce Jiejie to Turtle Tower, but unfortunately we got there right as they were closing. We quickly changed gears and headed to Zen Yai instead:
The restaurant was pretty empty at first, but we were rather early for dinner on a weekday:
We were most curious about Zen Yai's boat noodles. Since there were only three options, we got one of each. There was the yen ta fo ($9.25 for a large):
The noodles came in a pink soup with fish balls, shrimp balls, squid balls, fungus, steamed pork blood, calamari, squid, tofu, and fish cake.
Then there was the meat balls and sliced meat boat noodle ($8.95 for a large):
And the tom yum noodle ($9.25 for a large) with ground pork, fish balls, red pork, pork liver, bean sprouts, onions, and peanuts:
Just because, we also added a prig khing moo grob or sauteed pork belly with string beans ($11.95 for a large):
What's nice about Zen Yai is that you can order a lot of the dishes, including the noodles, in either a small or a family-sized portion. This way, if you want to do a sampler of noodles without over-stuffing yourself, you can.
The noodles were definitely the highlight of the meal. The flavors were awesome, the noodle texture spot on. You can even choose what type of noodle you want, from thin to flat rice noodle, from vermicelli to egg noodle. You can also choose between beef and pork. So many choices!
If you can handle the spice, Zen Yai apparently dishes out Thai-levels of spiciness. I'm weaksauce, so I didn't even attempt it. But you totally should. I have faith in you.
We noticed some menus posted on the wall that were all in Thai. Is there a secret menu at Zen Yai?! Guess I need to go back with someone who can read Thai.
Zen Yai
771 Ellis St
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 885-0725
Coincidentally, T and CV won the Hamilton lottery for tickets that very same day. I went to the matinee show while their tickets were for the evening performance. There was just enough time in-between the shows for us to get dinner together.
T and CV picked up Jiejie and met up with me in the city. The original plan was to introduce Jiejie to Turtle Tower, but unfortunately we got there right as they were closing. We quickly changed gears and headed to Zen Yai instead:
The restaurant was pretty empty at first, but we were rather early for dinner on a weekday:
We were most curious about Zen Yai's boat noodles. Since there were only three options, we got one of each. There was the yen ta fo ($9.25 for a large):
The noodles came in a pink soup with fish balls, shrimp balls, squid balls, fungus, steamed pork blood, calamari, squid, tofu, and fish cake.
Then there was the meat balls and sliced meat boat noodle ($8.95 for a large):
And the tom yum noodle ($9.25 for a large) with ground pork, fish balls, red pork, pork liver, bean sprouts, onions, and peanuts:
Just because, we also added a prig khing moo grob or sauteed pork belly with string beans ($11.95 for a large):
What's nice about Zen Yai is that you can order a lot of the dishes, including the noodles, in either a small or a family-sized portion. This way, if you want to do a sampler of noodles without over-stuffing yourself, you can.
The noodles were definitely the highlight of the meal. The flavors were awesome, the noodle texture spot on. You can even choose what type of noodle you want, from thin to flat rice noodle, from vermicelli to egg noodle. You can also choose between beef and pork. So many choices!
If you can handle the spice, Zen Yai apparently dishes out Thai-levels of spiciness. I'm weaksauce, so I didn't even attempt it. But you totally should. I have faith in you.
We noticed some menus posted on the wall that were all in Thai. Is there a secret menu at Zen Yai?! Guess I need to go back with someone who can read Thai.
Zen Yai
771 Ellis St
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 885-0725
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