Hai Ky my love

All this cold, cloudy, rainy weather makes one pine for the nearest bowl of soupy comfort. Mine comes in various guises, but I'll often crave a bowl of noodles from one of my favorite Chinese-Vietnamese noodle joints, Hai Ky Mi Gia. Hai Ky is located in Little Saigon, a Vietnamese-American neighborhood in SF's Tenderloin district. It's a gritty side of town, but you'll find some amazing food joints here if you're open to trying something new.

Hai Ky was the restaurant my friends brought me to on my first official day of moving to San Francisco. Noodles for breakfast on a cold day. Not a bad idea....


Number 9 - small ho fun noodle dry (soup served on the side) + pork & shrimp wontons. I can't stop ordering this bowl. It's my goto magic-maker.



If I'm very hungry, I'll order a side of fried fish cakes. These are two fish cakes cut in half, served with a side of lightly pickled veg (cucumber, carrot & daikon). This serving was more than I imagined, so if you're ordering for one, just get one fish cake. They serve this piping hot, while the salad cools your mouth down.

My dipping sauce of sriracha sauce, soy sauce and picked jalapenos is in the foreground. I use this sauce for the fish cake, and the meat and wontons served with my noodles.



Vietnamese iced coffee (ca phe sua da): very strong coffee brewed in an old-school drip filter, mixed with sweetened condensed milk. Sometimes I'll dilute it with a bit of tea. My favorite style of iced coffee hands down.


Hai Ky Mi Gia
707 Ellis St (between Larkin St & Polk St)
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 771-2577

Open: Mon-Tue., Thu-Sun. 8:00am - 6:00pm
Closed on Wednesdays
Cash only