One would expect that once a restaurant receives a Michelin star it gets well known and has a lot of publicity. But sometimes it seems even a Michelin star restaurant kind of still flies a bit under the radar. Here in San Francisco Ssal https://ssalsf.com/ is such an example. Run by a husband and wife team it delivers a great modern, fine dining interpretation of Korean food through a California lens. Overall great ambience in a small, simple but inviting space with outstanding service. Thoughtful and well executed dishes with interesting connections to Korea and family, including sesame oil made in very small amounts by the father of the chef or a live tank in the back for their signature dish. This restaurant deserves to be more widely known and it will be interesting to see how the menu evolves over the seasons.
Island Creek oyster, choujang, brown butter
Yukhoe, kaluga caviar, father’s sesame oil
American live eel, gamtae seaweed
Dry-aged sea bream, angelica, perilla oil
Dungeness crab juk, sea urchin, semogasari
Diver scallop, kimpo yaegu, fava beans, trout roe
Ssal x Arsicault bakery croissant, injeolmi, honey butter
Wild jeju galchi, gold queen III, maeuntang, firefly squid, crysanthemum, kimchi, cornichon
Wolfe ranch quail, red ginseng, bokbunja
Toasted sweet rice, albion strawberry, mugwort
Barley tea
Yuja chiboust, matcha cake
Nurunji date cracker, injeolmi chouquette
Leathered kumquat, omija pate de fruit
Market fruit