House of Nanking

North Beach & Chinatown


Meekly suggest an interest in seafood, nothing deep-fried, maybe some greens? – and your server will nod brusquely, grab the menu and return laden with Shanghai specialties: gingery greens with poached scallops, garlicky noodles and black-bean-glazed eggplant. Expect bossy service and a wait for a shared table – but also bold flavors at reasonable prices.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby North Beach & Chinatown attractions

1. Columbus Tower

0.02 MILES

If these copper-clad walls could talk, they'd name-drop shamelessly. The tower's original occupant was political boss Abe Ruef, ousted in 1907 and sent to…

2. Wentworth Place

0.07 MILES

Dragons bring this shadowy brick byway roaring to life. The narrow entryway is illuminated with 'Dragon Boats Chasing Moonlight,' a new mosaic mural…

3. Chinese Culture Center

0.09 MILES

You can see all the way to China from the Hilton's 3rd floor inside this cultural center, which hosts exhibits ranging from showcases of contemporary…

4. Jack Kerouac Alley

0.1 MILES

'The air was soft, the stars so fine, the promise of every cobbled alley so great…' This ode by the On the Road and Dharma Bums author is embedded in his…

5. City Lights Books

0.11 MILES

No one could have predicted the cultural force City Lights would become when it first opened in 1953. Sure, it had a proletarian ethos suggested by its…

6. Chinese Telephone Exchange

0.11 MILES

California's earliest high-tech adopters weren't 1970s Silicon Valley programmers – they were Chinatown switchboard operators c 1894. To connect callers,…

7. Portsmouth Square

0.11 MILES

Chinatown's unofficial living room is named after John B Montgomery's sloop, which staked the US claim on San Francisco in 1846. SF's first city hall…

8. Beat Museum

0.11 MILES

The closest you can get to the complete Beat experience without breaking a law. The 1000-plus artifacts in this museum's literary-ephemera collection…