Liholiho Yacht Club

Tucked into San Francisco’s Lower Nob Hill neighborhood, Liholiho Yacht Club is the kind of place where memories are made. The airy, brick-lined dining room buzzes with energy as the open kitchen takes center stage, with cooks adding finishing touches to dishes that look almost too beautiful to eat. This is where you come when life calls for something special—a birthday, an anniversary, or simply a night that deserves to be remembered.

The menu draws on South and East Asian influences, filtered through a lens that chef-owner Ravi Kapur describes as “heritage driven.” What that means in practice is a parade of dishes that feel genuinely inventive. The shaved pig head salad is legendary for good reason: glossy, melt-on-contact slices of meat surrounded by frisée and Asian pears, all tied together with a punchy fish sauce vinaigrette. The rendang curry arrives as pure theater, with turmeric butter naan baked directly over the top—break through the bread to release fragrant steam and discover fall-apart lamb beneath. For something lighter, the swordfish katsu delivers satisfying crunch alongside bright pickled onions and caper butter.

Smaller plates hold their own against the entrées. Beef tongue steam buns ooze with kimchi and miso aioli, while gulf shrimp get an upgrade with sweet longanisa stuffing. And whatever you do, save room for the Baked Hawaii—a torched meringue mountain concealing coconut POG sorbet and airy orange chiffon cake that practically demands to be ordered on every birthday going forward.

With pandan-infused cocktails flowing and sparklers lighting up the room, Liholiho feels like a party that never quite ends. This is bucket-list dining for anyone looking to celebrate something worth remembering, or for those who simply want to experience a meal unlike anything else the city has to offer.