Creating art at Fang
A Norman Rockwell foodventure in San Francisco
Foodventure:
Fang 660 Howard St, San Francisco, CA 94105
From time to time a content creator or friend will offer a dinner invitation that turns turns into a moment in time. That’s right folks… press dinner! On the second floor of a Chinese restaurant San Francisco, was a beautifully set table with yellow floral arrangements and persimmons.
This time the invitation was to Fang in San Francisco hosted by Twrl Milk Tea with a menu Chef Kathy Fang from Food Network show Chef Dynasty. Surrounded by Asian imagery carved into wood, we were served some treats.
Illustrator Felicia Liang unveiled her version of Norman Rockwell’s painting Freedom from Want called "Home for the holidays”, featuring an Asian couple standing at the head of the table to make it representative of the evening.
The dinner was styled to mimic the famed painting with each guest seated around Asian cuisine. Photographer Anna Wu was there to take photos of the food places on the table. This was a press/ influencer dinner so everything was picture perfect. I’m sure if you see these photos publicly you’ll see my hair or my glasses behind someone’s head. The RBF doesn’t photograph well and in all those years watching Top Model, I never learned to “smize” (smile with your eyes).
The menu included some nice surprises, many of which were not a part of the regular menu and made specifically for this dinner.
Here’s a small offering of what we had:
Twrl co-founders Pauline Ang & Olivia Chen’s family recipe is the Peking Turkey and Chinese stick rice. Olivia’s father happily made the first cut for the photos.
It’s always nice to have a fried potatoes ball plopped on your plate. Just one.
Regular menu item Indo Spiced Sizzling Rice Soup, with tofu coconut, ginger, tomato, crunchy cucumber, spices, lemon. I love a spicy soup and while this wasn’t on the original tasting menu, I’m glad I got to experience it. Just enough heat blended with a creamy broth to reset the palatte.
Crispy tofu with zucchini fritters, basil and five spice in Ching Kiang glaze. I didn’t get a chance to ask about the glaze but I wanted more of it.
Vegetarian wonton’s filled with peas with garlic eggplant. There weren’t enough of these wontons. I try to remind everyone that I’m not a food critic. I do make sure that I highlight what I enjoy and what excites my palatte though. This is one of those places that I would have never explored without an invitation.