The Slanted Door, San Francisco

Slanted Door: Beef Pho
Originally uploaded by Suzi Edwards

The Slanted Door...so good I went back the next day.

Vietnamese food is one of my favorites, and I was spoiled in both London and Sydney. San Franciscans are also spoiled, with this modern Vietnamese restaurant that showcases a lot of the very delicious artisan produce that California has to offer.

Originally opened in 1995, the Slanted Door moved from its original home on Valencia, to a spot inside the Ferry Building overlooking the beautiful SF Bay. The menu is extensive, with around ten different sections, from Raw Bar to Rice. The restaurant is expansive, but the bar area is a boon for single travellers looking for a place to park their derrieres.

I was spoiled for choice, so I started with a lillet blanc, while I decided what to eat. Everything seemed to be shouting out to me "pick me, pick me" and the only way I could have tasted everything I wanted, would have been to have had about 20 friends with me. So to begin, some wood oven roasted Manila clams with chilies and crispy pork belly, followed by some imperial rolls with shrimp and pork, and the most incredible dipping sauce and then some kick-ass shrimp with roasted pineapple and garlic (breaking my usual moratorium on sweet with savoury). Everything was sparklingly fresh, served with plenty of zip and incredibly well balanced. Apart from the huge amount I had ordered.

I still felt I hadn't done justice to the Slanted Door; I'd barely scratched the surface of the appetizers. So I went back for lunch the next day. The pho (pictured), came with a beautiful selection of fresh herbs, amazing, raw Prather Ranch beef and a deeply-flavoured broth. But this was firmly upstaged by the Vietnamese sausage with oysters. I love meat with oysters, and this was the best combination of the two I have ever eaten. Musky, spicy sausage patties, with a side of teeny little Kusshi oysters from BC (yay, go Canadia). The oysters had each been sprinkled with a little tobiko, a little chili, a little citrus and fish sauce. Nothing to overpower them, just a little decoration to help them stand up to the sausage.

If I hadn't eaten at Manresa two days before, it would have been the most delicious thing I'd eaten all year.

Slanted Door is at 1 Ferry Building, #3. Call 415 861 8032 for reservations.

Cay Tre

I think that Cay Tre is really hit and miss. It's one of those restaurants with a really long menu, but only about ten items are actually worth eating. So the first time I went, I followed Guardian food writer Jay Rayner's advice from 2005, had an amazing meal and went back a week later. Being a creature of habit, I ordered the same thing again. I keep finding myself stuck on dishes in certain restaurants, especially Vietnamese places. So Viet Garden on Liverpool road is golden pancake and then pho...and so on.

So I liked Cay Tre so much I started taking people there. At first, people who hadn't read the review, but who were adventurous eaters and who liked the same kind of things as me. And then I got cocky and took non-adventurous eaters who don't want to eat the specials. And then it all went wrong. I remember one dish, I think it was squid in tomato sauce and I asked for a taste and the sauce was watered down Heinz tomato soup.

So, off the top of my head, the pho sate is OK, but the normal pho isn't. The summer rolls get by and the Imperial spring rolls are good. There's a pho roll as well, with beef, that was pretty tasty too. The La Vong fish is the best stater and I'd just go for that. Avoid the soft shell crab. Mainswise, I'm stuck on the mackerel in banana leaf and despite being told the cat fish in caramelised sauce is great, I haven't tried it. Campfire sirloin steak was overpowered by a crazy hand with the red chilli on my last visit.

There's a simple rule of thumb, and if you follow it, you'll eat well here. Order anything with a smiley face next to it, otherwise you're on your own!