Poleng Lounge (SF/NOPA, Asian-fusion)

Poleng Lounge, (415)441-1710
1751 Fulton St.
(@ Masonic)
San Francisco, CA
(Western Addition/NoPa district)

Price: $-$$
Rating: 8.5 (Rating & price key)
Last visit: 11/29/06

This stylish NoPa eatery/nightclub isn't just another pretty face in the restaurant crowd. Located near the corner of Fulton & Masonic, Poleng Lounge features excellent drinks and small plate meals for quite reasonable prices.

Sarah & I arrived at 5:15 to find that they don't start serving dinner until 6 (it would have helped if we'd looked at their website first!), so we sat at the bar and enjoyed some happy hour (4-6pm) cocktails and wings ($0.25/ea with a 6 wing ($1.50) minimum). We've since decided that this is the best way to dine here - arrive at 5:30, have a drink or two and some wings, then dinner - perfect!

Their specialty cocktails ("Tea Elixirs", mostly around $9/ea) contain some tea, which gives them an unusual twist. My favorite so far is the Po'my Leng, a wildly eclectic drink comprised of wasabi vodka, thai hot chiles, lychee, cucumber, and black tea. I've definitely never had anything like it - spicy (from the chiles, not the wasabi, which I could barely taste) yet cooling thanks to the 'cuc & lychee. Sarah's had a Hong Kong Cosmo, the usual cosmo, with lychee and tea added. It was quite similar to the standard cosmo, and I wouldn't bother ordering it again. The Lady Boy (wasabi vodka, crushed ginger, soda water and black tea), was excellent with a strong, spicy ginger flavor and a mild tea aftertaste, and the Asian Passion Mojito (a mojito with passionfruit juice and green tea), was good, but like the HK Cosmo, wasn't really all that different from a "normal" mojito. The Monkey Love Juice, lychee juice with muddled raspberries, Malibu rum, black tea and Han (asian "vodka"), is also superb. In the sea of excellent drinks we've had, this is perhaps our favorite. The raspberries were bright and flavorful, giving off a wonderful perfume, and the lychee and malibu provided just the right amount of sugar. No wonder when our waiter said that this is their most popular drink!

The bar scene was neighborly and casual with good bartenders. They've been spinning nice downtempo music at an appropriate volume for our visits, which suits us just fine. The interior is rather Zen, with a long branch hanging over the bar to diffuse the bar lights, several tables with loveseats in lieu of chairs, and a lovely slate fountain along one wall. Behind the bar hang two large LCD TVs running a slideshow of Asian photographs, a nice touch.

About those quarter-apiece wings - they're great! Crispy (thanks to being deep-fried) and flavorful, with a delicious dipping sauce. We agreed that we could easily get in the habit of swinging by Poleng after work just for a drink and dozen wings, and the happy hour price is hard to beat! We were chuckling at the gent sitting next to us with an enormous pile of wings until we'd tried ours, and then we saw the light.

On our first visit, we ordered four small plates, which were brought out two at a time, just the right pacing to keep the table from getting overcrowded. We first had the S'n'P Calamari ($8.50), a delicious crisply-fried pile of squid with an excellent green chile sauce on the side, and the Burma Samosas ($6.50), a quartet of flaky crispy dumplings filled with potatoes and served with a delicious sweet raisin chutney, mmmm!

Our next two dishes were the much-vaunted Buddah's Treasures (vegetable-filled dumplings w/ponzu sauce, $6.50) and the Yakitori (skewers of braised pork belly and pineapple, $7.50). Although every review I've read of Poleng raves about the Buddah's Treasures, they were our least favorite of the five (including the wings) dishes we tried. Which is not to say that they were bad, but they weren't a standout. The Yakitori was wonderful, however, with a deep smoky flavor. A few of the larger pieces were a tad tough, but the outsides were wonderfully charred.

On a subsequent visit we had some delicious Shanghai Lumpia ($6) and Temple Eggplant ($7.50), an attractively-presented plate of eggplant with a tasty sauce, and again the Yakitori ($7.50). After a dozen wings at the bar for only $3, we didn't have room for a 4th plate, alas.

Dessert-wise we've had the Coconut Gelato ($7), served atop a bed of rock salt in a coconut shell, and topped with toasted shredded coconut - yummy! and the bread pudding ($6.50), a hearty and delicious take on the classic.

The only misstep so far was on our first meal here when I ordered a sake flight, but was brought a Shoju flight instead, as a couple of sips confirmed. Despite both being brewed from rice, they have little in common flavor-wise, and Shoju is quite a lot stronger. Our waiter was apologetic and offered to let us keep the Shoju for free, but our dinner was shaping up to be too liquid as it was, so we had it taken away. The Shoju sampler is very good, actually - I (intentionally) ordered it on our second visit and it was very interesting to see how very different the three shojus taste.

Service throughout was attentive and very helpful, with drinks refilled as needed, and plate delivery and cleanup well-paced. Especially since we live only a few blocks away, I can see coming here on a bi-weekly basis at least!