Eating with Edmund

🚨 stop paying for $300 tasting menus! 🚨

These are the best spots in SF under $100 (and one Michelin-starred letdown you should definitely skip)

In this economy it’s hard to find good food at a good price. I ate at three “under $100” tasting menus in San Francisco, and the difference in value is insane. One is the best new restaurant in the city, one is a true hidden gem, and the other is a Michelin-rated letdown padded with hidden fees.

🏆 The Winner: At $90 for 6 courses, this is the best value in SF right now. Incredible sourcing, amazing masa, and top-tier service. (Pro tip as told to me by a waiter: Text them directly for reservations!)

💎 The Hidden Gem: $99 on weeknights gets you 5-7 courses of stunning fine dining. The plating is gorgeous, and the pastry chef is incredibly talented.

❌ The Letdown: Hilda & Jesse Advertised at $99, but with SF mandates and fees, it’s actually $130. A single meatball as a main course for a Michelin-rated spot, I’d pass.

📌 save this post so you know exactly where to book (and where to skip) for your next date night!

I drank the world’s most controversial coffee. ☕️💩

Kopi Luwak is famous (and infamous) for being one of the rarest, most expensive coffees on earth. It’s harvested from the droppings of the luwak native in Bali.

The animal’s digestive system naturally ferments the beans, stripping away the acidity. The result is an incredibly smooth and earthy coffee, with zero bitterness.

But at around $200USD a kilo, and with a major lack of sourcing regulations in the industry, it’s an ethical gray area that I probably wouldn’t dive into again. It was a fascinating culinary experience, but I think I’ll stick to my regular morning brew.

The ultimate foodie experience in Bali 🌴🇮🇩

Skip the beach clubs and spend a day cooking traditional Balinese food with a local chef. My Bali trip highlight was spending the day with learning traditional Balinese cooking. We didn’t just cook, we fermented our own soybeans to make tempeh from scratch, manually crushed fresh turmeric, galangal, and ginger in a stone mortar for our Bumbu Bali, and steamed fresh snapper in banana leaves to make Tum. The crispy Tempe Mendoan was next-level. Food is the ultimate way to connect with a culture. Getting your hands dirty and learning the traditional techniques changes the way you taste the food. And the best part, since you made all the food yourself, no Bali belly here :)

If you’re going to Bali, check out .bali on

This Shanghai ancient town has handmade street foods no one is talking about. 🤫🥟🇨🇳

Forget the crowded tourist ancient towns like Zhujiajiao and Qibao. Xinchang Ancient Town is an absolute must-visit for food lovers. Just a short 20 minute trip outside central Shanghai, you get stunning canals, historic architecture, and some of the best handmade street food I’ve ever tasted.

Here is what we ate:
* Giant Savory Tangyuan: Massive, hand-rolled glutinous rice balls stuffed with meat
* Fresh Shanghaineese Shumai: Steamed fresh in bamboo leaves right on the street
* Braised Pork Zongzi: Sticky rice and incredibly tender pork belly wrapped in bamboo leaves

It was amazing getting to share this authentic foodie experience with my dad. The craftsmanship at these local stalls is exactly why I love exploring local cuisine and culture.

Save this post for your Shanghai itinerary! Have you ever tried savory Tangyuan?

When it’s crab season in San Francisco, you can pick freshly caught crab right off the boat at Pier 47 and 49 near Fisherman’s Wharf. My favorite way to cook these is to steam them and open the head up, slopping up all the juicy goodness a scoop of rice. They run a Facebook group to advertise when their freshest crab come in. Bring cash and get ready for a delicious home-cooked meal!

Hot take: Dumpling lasagna is not better than the real thing.

I keep getting asked about this viral trend, so here’s my honest take as a dumpling chef. Yes, layering pork and premade wrappers works, and yes, chili oil on top is delicious.

But the ratio is off. Premade skins are thicker. You lose the chew, the folds that trap sauce in all the nooks and crannies, you lose the balance and ratio.

It’s definitely a tasty and convenient dish, but I wouldn’t choose it over real dumplings. If I’m already spending the time, I’m going to be hand-rolling skins and folding!

The limit does not exist: lock in for unlimited Wagyu shabu shabu.

📍.official in Irvine (with branches throughout the US)

We are 30 stacks of meat in 90 minutes 🤤

What’s your strategy to tackle this meat stack? Tag someone who owes you a Wagyu dinner 🥩

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Shanghai’s oldest vegetarian restaurant serves up dishes that look, and taste, like seafood and poultry 🌱

Founded in 1922, the Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant Gong De Lin (功德林) is Shanghai’s oldest vegetarian restaurant in the heart of the city, opened for Buddhist monks and scholars who sought refined plant-based cuisine that mimicked the elegance of imperial banquets.

For over a century, their chefs have turned tofu skin, mushrooms, and wheat gluten (kao fu) into lifelike versions of roast duck, braised pork, and fish, all without using a single piece of meat.

A hundred years later, Gong De Lin still proves that plant-based dining isn’t a new trend. It’s a timeless Shanghainese tradition.

           

3 Michelin-starred restaurants in Shanghai to feed 3 people for $100usd or less 😋

1️⃣ Yidao 意道 - The legendary thousand cut chrysanthemum tofu with other Shanghainese classics like braised pork belly and river shrimp
2️⃣ T’ang Court 唐阁 - Cantonese elegance, steamed fish perfection with classics like pigeon and BBQ pork
3️⃣ Jhouse Yellow Fish 黄鱼馆 - A yellow croaker prepared your way for pure flavor artistry, using wild fish that was caught in the last 24 hours

In a city of sky-high fine dining, these restaurants are proof Michelin starred doesn’t have to mean $$$, especially outside the US. Save this for your Shanghai list 🥢