San Francisco
Jina Bakes was Ophelia's one requirement on this trip, and to ensure we didn't miss anything, we were the very first customers in line. Banoffee croissant, honeycomb candy, kablijjim croissant, honeycomb toffee lattes, I forget what else...
Since we were already in Japantown, went on a little bit of a walk, then had a slightly earlier than planned lunch at Daeho Kalbijjim, which was the other restaurant choice under consideration for Mason's birthday dinner the night before. The kalbijjim is damned good, but having just spent an obscene amount of money on a massive amount of baked goods and sweets at Jina Bakes, let's just say we could have been more hungry. Oh well: leftovers! Also would skip the bibimbap there in the future, it's not bad, but it's clearly not the specialty that the kalbijjim is.
Plenty of hanging out the rest of the day, we eventually decided we were hungry again, although waiting was okay... so we waited in line at Hon's Wun-Tun House, another OG place in San Francisco's original Chinatown. Green onion pancakes and won ton noodle soup hit the spot. Having taken a break from the rest of the group in the afternoon to go on a long run, I decided to indulge in my own dish (like Mason did yesterday), with my own bowl of won tons and organ meat as a special treat. The other specialty here is the pan fried xiao long bao, which may seem odd at first, but apparently it grows on you!
Did some wandering both before and after dinner, then decided to call it an early night and reconvene the next day.