Mekong Restaurant in San Francisco: Asian Fusion at Its Very Best

Nestled in San Francisco's Tenderloin District, Mekong Restaurant lies only a few doors down from the Great American Music Hall. Despite all the things that have been said about the Tenderloin District, such that it's seedy and high in crime, generally unsafe and has no redeeming features, I implore you to overcome these stereotypes and delve deep into the district's heart at Mekong Restaurant. If you're willing, you'll be greeted with one of the finest Asian Fusion meals that you could ever hope to have on this continent.

Mekong Restaurant sports an almost exclusively Thai menu, but the owner is Chinese (as are the decorations), so the overall result is actually somewhere along the lines of Asian fusion. While there are certainly criticisms of this variety of cuisine, as it lacks the cultural integrity of the individual cuisines from which it borrows, Mekong will make you forget all of that once you're actually eating. The menu is extensive, and even the PanAsian pros will have trouble deciding what to get, as everything sounds delicious, from the Som Tum (green papaya salad) to the Duck Basil. One of the best things about the menu is that every item on it can be prepared vegan, which means that this is one restaurant that will cater to the dining needs of absolutely everyone you know. This is no ordinary offer for substitution, mind you-- when Mekong makes you a vegan "Beef Basil," it will come out looking and tasting like the dish you once loved so much in your meat-eating days. The staff was more than accommodating, willing to substitute fried sweet potatoes (Mekong uses golden sweet potatoes in a light breading, which was very different from the starchy purple potatoes and and puffy coating to which I had grown accustomed while living in Hawaii) for the shrimp tempura that usually comes with the sampler appetizer. The crispy tofu is amazing, with a peanut sauce that calls to mind previous Senegalese dining experiences we've had, and the spring rolls are exactly what one expects when ordering a spring roll-- only slightly better.