Bun rieu. Photo courtesy Soup Junkie.
Well, this is exciting: after the success of their wonderful noodle soup pop-up, Soup Junkie has found a brick-and-mortar location on Market Street in the Financial District. They are replacing the former Oishii Cafe space at 388 Market Street, serving breakfast and lunch Monday-Friday. They’re open as of Monday June 18th.
Hung Lam is serving his excellent Vietnamese soups, including his signature bun rieu, which boasts a six-hour tomato and crab stock with a tender crab omelet, housemade pork meatballs, vermicelli rice noodles, spinach, and herbs. Yeah, it’s beautiful to behold, and, yeah, you should check it out. There are also his usual exceptional renditions of beef and vegetarian pho, and Cantonese-style wonton soup with pork and shrimp filling. Oh, and if you weren’t sold already, that also comes with chicken, braised pork, and pork cracklings. There are additional, non-soup vittles like Vietnamese crepes, braised pork sandwiches, and imperial rolls. And that’s not all, Lam says: “I’m also working a few new dishes that I plan to include as weekly specials such as rice bowls, dry noodle bowls, [and a] vegetarian dish with housemade vegetarian ‘fish’ sauce.”
For breakfast, you’ll find pastries from Belinda Leong of b. patisserie and Gillian Shaw of Black Jet Baking Company and coffee from Bicycle Coffee Co. There is also Vietnamese iced coffee made from a custom blend that Lam’s mother and uncle created years ago. How adorable is that? Open Mon–Fri 7am–2:30pm.
388 Market St. at Fremont.
Marcia Gagliardi writes a popular insider weekly e-column about the SF dining scene, “the tablehopper.” Subscribe for free at www.tablehopper.com.
