Fermentation Lab Japantown — Restaurant in San Francisco

It’s currently restaurant week (RW) and this place had one of the more affordable options for brunch at $25. You start with coffee or tea and a blueberry muffin. The online menu showed cinnamon roll instead, but I’m not complaining. The blueberry muffin was delicious! It had a nice sugar crust on the top and blueberries throughout. And pairing that with coffee was good start. I didn’t need cream or sugar because the muffin brought the sweetness. And they didn’t offer it anyway. But I think drinking the coffee black was good because it actually had some fruity notes that would’ve otherwise been masked or muddled with cream/sugar. I had just come back from Japan where I drank black coffee all the time because it’s so good there. So this was taking me back.

As for the porridge, it was a decadent comfort in a bowl. The duck added a subtle richness while the crispy skin gave it a nice textural contrast to the softness of the rice. The sesame oil wasn’t heavy-handed so everything was balanced so well. The main menu has an option to add an egg, and I wish the RW menu had that option. I also wished I asked for an egg. I think having egg yolk would’ve made it a perfect breakfast for me as someone who grew up eating a lot of egg with rice dishes. But now I have more of a reason to go back.

And it is beautiful inside! Today also happens to be the first day of the Cherry Blossom festival in Japantown, so the restaurant was decorated with cherry blossoms everywhere. Even without themed decor, it’s very pretty inside. The dark walls give the place depth and I like the gold details that bring some elegance. But it’s not pretentious. The staff was dressed somewhat casually, though this was during brunch hours. It might be different in the evening.

Speaking of which, the staff is great. They were welcoming and approachable.

This is what a RW experience should be and I will be dining here again...

Came here to celebrate my bday with my friends and let's just say we were underwhelmed with the food. The ambiance is very chic and cute. It's great place to catch up and have drinks but the food leaves something to be desired.

We started off with the ahi poke and the Korean kimchi pancakes. The ahi poke was fresh and was a bit over seasoned because it was a bit salty and had a bit too much sesame oil. The kimchi pancake had kimchi flavor but was the soggiest pancake we've ever had. It just kept breaking and falling apart.

We shared some of the mains which were the makeogolli pork belly , the octopus pasta and the tea leaf salad. The tea leaf salad is their own spin on the salad and it came mixed already, I didn't feel like it had enough tea leaf but it was an ok salad. The makegolli braised pork belly was pretty tender and flavorful but would have been better if it had some lettuce and kimchi on the side to make wraps. The octopus pasta was interesting since it was cold, there was a generous amount of octopus to mix in but the flavor for pasta was faint. You can't really taste any hint of citrus in the pasta. It was spicy , cold and somewhat refreshing but it wasn't a real standout. We all agreed the pork belly and the tea leaf salad were the better mains.

Overall this is a cute spot but the Asian fusion spin kinda misses the spot. Some felt over seasoned and others under seasoned. Probably wouldn't come here for full dinner maybe just for drinks and an appetizer.

Total...

Pros: the food was delicious, I enjoyed it. The atmosphere/decor is very nice. I would want to come back and try more foods as their menu has interesting combinations of flavors. we came at 4pm for dinner and thankfully their event was over and we were allowed inside at 4:04pm and told to pick our own table. under each photo I described the food. Avocado toast was delicious. Sunday breakfast time the TV had a more appropriate show playing, no more inappropriate scenes for kids. the server Adrian is great. He has a very calm and peaceful demeanor and made us feel comfortable and not rushed. No aggressive water pouring into the cup from Adrian lol. Very calm experience.

Cons: I would not bring my kid here. Saturday dinner time The TV at the bar was showing HBO Sex In The City show and there were quite a few explicit sex scenes where they show almost everything. One family sat their young child facing away from the TV, but the wall is like a mirror so it reflects. Definitely not kid appropriate.

I initially came here at 10:00am for breakfast and they put up a sign they are closed for a private event as I walked up even though their posted hours were open. I tried calling before I arrived but nobody picked up. I wish Google was updated by the business warning people that this can happen and for them to pick up their phone to inform...