Now who doesn’t love clam chowder?! SF has one of the best clam chowder soups and it’s especially fresh and delicious right next to the pier!! That’s the shortest distance between the clam’s home and into our stomachs! At Boudin Bakery & Cafe, San Francisco, CA, you’ll find one of the best and most fresh clam chowder soup bread bowls!!
So this morning a gf and I ventured on a girl’s road trip to SF bright and early in the morning (5am to be exact)! Yes, we’re that crazy but it allowed us to reach Fisherman’s Wharf at 1130 where we stumbled upon Boudin Bakery by accident! We’re like “OMG, we forgot about this place!” I love accidentally stumbling upon a foodie, bookmarked place without even trying! Not only that, but we were able to beat the lunch rush hour too!!! We ate our soups before everyone started to rush in!
But clam chowder soup isn’t the only thing that makes this place so famous, special and popular! I mean, let’s face it: were in SF and there’s plenty of bomb clam chowder places in the city! What sets this place apart is their bread! Yes!!! BREAD! I love bread!!!! And you can even watch the pastry chefs make, knead, and bake bread right on the spot through the looking glass out on the sidewalk! If that isn’t enough for you, they even provide a tour that shows you the process of making bread in THEIR factory! There is always a crowd of people outside the glass watching them make bread. I wonder if these pastry chefs ever get nervous?
Look at how cute their breads are! This is just some of them!! They even do this special thing where you can specially order to-go bread and soup and the pack it in the most convenient way for you so you can take it on the go! How nice of them!
There is even a cute souvenir shop designed right within the place for you to buy pastry trinkets and even their special canned clam chowder soup! I got some for myself 😉
Soup in a bread bowl served in sourdough bread – their dough is thick and filling! Plenty of carbs to fill you up!
Rustic tomato (vegetarian) with sourdough croutons and Parmesan cheese – I always enjoy a hearty, hot tomato soup! This one was savory and delicious in all of its tomato ways, but a teeny, tiny bit too sour for my taste. Their croutons are extra crispy though so they didn’t get soggy in the soup! I love the croutons.
Clam chowder (New England style) – this is my favorite! I love this hands down and this place has the best clam chowder soup ever! I think it’s their special seasoning that gives their soup a different kick! There were plenty of chewy clams in the soup, which I enjoyed!
There was way too much bread leftover and I could never finish my bread! But you can always feed the extras to the seagulls nearbyy! There’s ALOT of them!
And you know what else is nearby and walking distance? 😉
Wait for it….
The Original Ghirardelli Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop!
I don’t know about you guys, but I LOVE their chocolates! They have a number of their stores throughout, but this is the ORIGINAL and FIRST location! So that makes it the best! Haha 🙂 they have an assortment of sundaes, ice cream, and drinks! They are known for their chocolates and ice cream made right there! Anything is a good pick from their menu, and it is so tempting to want to just buy everything. Too bad we can’t stomach it all! Since it was cold, and poor me was wearing shorts and a crop top, I opted for one of their hot chocolates!!!
Sea salt caramel hot cocoa topped with whipped cream and served with Ghirardelli Squares milk chocolate – This comes with a milk chocolate square and what you do is put it inside so it’ll melt and become part of your hot chocolate! Cool huh??
That’s what the inside looks like and let me tell you, it was so delicious. Perfectly hot so it doesn’t burn my mouth, but enough to warm my entire body instantly. The hot chocolate was very chocolate-y and creamy at the same time! I love tasting the bits of sea salt and milk chocolate as I drink! It reminds me of pulp in OJ! Gives it sustenance and texture.
For dinner, we went to a place with happy hour for oysters! Cause how can you come to SF and not be craving seafood and oysters! We went to Bar Crudo! Here they have happy hour oysters, mussels, and other appetizers from 5-630pm Sunday-Thursday. Perfect! We made it for the last day of the week 🙂
This looks kind of lonely..It’s like a little niche for singles to come and eat while standing! Or start your happy hour drinks while waiting for a table or bar seat to fill up! The restaurant opens at 5pm, the same time as happy hour and there were already people waiting outside way before it opens!
SKB Pilsner by Social (beer special) and Sauvignon Blanc, Cotes de Gascone (white wine) – Perfect to pair with our oysters!
The white wine was very light and sweet! And mind you, I am a low weight so this was enough to give me a good buzz haha 🙂
$1 Drake’s Bay Pacific Oysters from Baja and $1 Herb and Jalapeño Marinated Mussels – The oysters were very fresh and clean and had that light taste from the sea! I just personally like small oysters to big oysters because I don’t like that big, chewy, white plump that big oysters had. I wish they only gave us small oysters! 🙁
Uni toast, avocado, chicory salad, yuzu – this was very good! The toast was lightly marinated with oil and very crunch and crispy. The Uni itself tasted like the sea. I love it.
A closer look at our mussels! I like these more than the oysters! Very chewy and fresh! I absolutely love the sauce that they were marinated in! Felt so refreshing and light to eat.
And of our Uni toasts!
Manila clams, red pepper flakes, sage, white wine – These were cooked fresh and was good! The sauce is to die for and I feel like they could make a good linguine dish out of this light sauce with the clams too!
And you know by now I was pretty buzzed from my single glass of white wine.. And I wanted macarons! We found a cute macaron place nearby that was walking distance just a few blocks away called Chantal Guillon Macarons. They had a handful of their regular macaron flavors and a couple of seasonal and holiday ones.
From top to bottom: raspberry, rose & lychee > salted caramel > earl grey > whiskey and Belgian chocolate double dipped in chocolate (tuxedo) > sea salt popcorn (Independence Day) > wild strawberry and orange blossom
Complimentary macarons thanks to the workers for being so nice! We were their last two customers of the day <3 These were wild strawberry and orange blossom and red velvet.
Another view of them 🙂 the red velvet was SOOO good! It was like a cupcake in macaron form! I think the filling was the same cream cheese frosting as the cupcake but even more creamier!! Tastes exactly like a red velvet cupcake.
This is the tuxedo macaron! Nothing too special and just tastes like chocolate.
This earl grey macaron is so pretty, sparkly and glittery! My other favorite with the red velvet! So chewy and soft!
What stood out to me was the Independence Day because it’s sea salt popcorn! It tastes like popcorn! Haha
And that’s all I ate for today!!! Feels like a lot of food, but at the same time not enough because SF just has sooo many good places to eat! Time to get more fat tomorrow! 😉
