Quince @ San Francisco

My birthday celebration climaxed to this special detour to Quince, a Michelin 3-star French restaurant in San Francisco.

Founded in 2003, Quince is an award-winning fine dining restaurant situated in San Francisco’s historical downtown. The Jackson Square Historic District is a vibrant area in downtown San Francisco rich with shopping and fine dining. It is known for its buildings dating back to the Gold Rush days and has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

On the occasion of their twenty-year anniversary, the restaurant was closed for several months in 2023 to allow for an extensive remodelling. It underwent a year-long renovation and redesign, and opened with a brand new main dining room where they serve their 10-course Gastronomy menu composed of ingredients that best highlight the season.

The Quince bar features the residency of Bar Agricole, a one-of-a-kind spirits company focused on single-origin sourcing. Bar Agricole and its founder, Thad Volger, has a meticulous and long standing fascination with acquiring California-grown ingredients.

Guests can also visit the Quince bar for a more abbreviated four course menu, or their a la carte menu, light snacks, or simply for a cocktail or glass of wine. And they also offer a $195+++ Lunch Menu that is a smaller 4-coursed degustation of the main offering.

They offer an unparalleled private dining experience, recognised as the best in the city by the San Francisco Chronicle this year. Guests are invited to an artfully designed space, recently remodelled with striking lighting fixtures by Paavo Tynell and vintage furniture from Finland and Italy. This haven for wine enthusiasts provides immersive experiences with access to a vast cellar of over 3,000 selections.

Chef Michael Tusk creates honest cuisine with Franco-Italian influences in a hundred-year-old house with an Art Deco interior. Chef Tusk’s approach to food is refined and contemporary, taking immense pride in offering guests a unique opportunity to taste exceptional ingredients at their purest.

Tables don’t come cheap at Quince, where the lunch tasting menu is $390 for the two of us. Supplemental beverage accompaniments were the $90 non-alcoholic “Seasonal Non-Alcoholic Progression” option and a choice of two wine progressions, the “Classic & Appellation” and the $290 “Rare & Unique.” And we added a few courses to supplement the lunch course, and that quickly added up the bill.

The dining table is as artful as the food and an important part of the presentation, with bespoke plates, crystal glassware, and silverware, all crafted by local and global artisans.

Compliments of the house, a flute of champagne for the birthday boy and his Darling to kick-off the culinary journey. NV David Leclapart Champagne Premier Cru l’Amateur Blanc de Blancs Pas Dosé Trépail was zippy, a bit of rose florals, buttery brioche in the mid, and the aftertaste was dry with a bit of ginger.

Amuse bouche ~ 21 Years of Quince

This year, Quince celebrated 21 years of becoming, and amuse bouche highlighted some of their favourites over the period at 1701 Octavia, West Marin & Jackson Square.

Aged Comte almond cream celeriac root tartlet

Comté is a French cheese made from unpasteurised cow’s milk and has a firm, pressed cheese with a smooth, supple texture and nutty flavours that can range from milky and fresh to complex and savoury, depending on aging. Shaved onto a nice tartlet of sautéed celeriac root and almond cream, it kind of reminded me of Nyona kueh pie tee except for the cream and cheese. Nice little bite.

Onion chip royal caviar crème fraîche

Next, a cracker made from a dried onion slice was topped with caviar and seasoned with lemon juice. The “cracker” was slightly sweet and a bit sticky. Interesting – it had an aroma of lemon and an aftertaste of onion. This bite was so incredibly delicious.

Ableskiver cultured cream chives

And the final bite of the first trio of amuse bouche, Ableskiver or “Danish doughnut” filled with chive cream.

Brioche green beans inspired by time in Sicily 

And the final amuse bouche for lunch, which came after the caviar service, a tiny brioche with English pea infused butter inspired by chef’s trip to Sicily. Sicilian Brioche (Brioche col Tuppo) is not as buttery as the French one, and it’s slightly sweeter because of the honey added to the dough. And instead of the “tuppo”, it is topped with a quenelle of green bean infused butter.

Traditional Royal Osetra Caviar Service add-on

And since it was my birthday, we decided to pamper ourselves with the caviar service. Caviar is traditionally served on a soft blini (fancy little pancakes), lightly toasted brioche or straight up on a mother of pearl spoon alongside a cold glass of brut champagne. And since this is Quince, it cannot be conventional.

Royal Osetra Caviar is the most popular high-grade caviar and is originally from the Caspian Sea. Osetra sturgeon fishlings have since been relocated to aquaculture farms, where they’re now sustainably farmed. Osetra is renowned for its stunning large pearls and decadent buttery flavour. The caviar was served with a mother of pearl spoon to avoid impacting the flavour and texture, and it was presented on a bed of crushed ice to maintain its optimal taste.

These looked like the Reserve quality of the caviar from Tsar Nicoulai, which is farmed in Greece. They were definitely more flavourful than the Chinese version that we have been eating in Hong Kong and Shanghai, perhaps because the environment is closely matched to the coastal areas and sandy beds and mudflats that these Acipenser gueldenstaedtii (Russian sturgeon) prefer. 

The first bread service for the meal proper was the same toasts from the caviar service. Which made me craved for blinis for the caviar service instead.

2006 Champagne Billecart Salmon Cuvée Nicolas François,

First of the season English pea

Lunch is a hyper-seasonal menu inspired by the renewal of spring and the quiet elegance of the garden. April brings the full embrace of spring, with vibrant new produce like sweet spring onions, delicate asparagus, and fresh peas. Edible flowers, tender greens, and delicacies were from Fresh Run Farm.

Quince has an exclusive relationship with Fresh Run Farm, a 25-acre farm in Bolinas, about an hour north of the San Francisco. Third-generation farmer Peter Martinelli is a pioneer in the field of sustainable agriculture and is committed to using regenerative methods at Fresh Run and throughout the region.

The first English peas of the season are a spring delicacy, known for their sweetness and tenderness. They are at their peak flavour and best enjoyed fresh, simply prepared with minimal additions like olive oil, lemon, and salt. 

The peas were accompanied by pickled beetroots and green alpine strawberries and sprinkled with fennel vinegar granita. Alpine strawberries, also known as woodland strawberries, are a type of strawberry plant that produces small, flavourful berries. 

Tortelli alla “Cecelia Chiang” add-on

The next add-on course was a homage to the Godmother of Chinese-American cuisine, Mdm Cecilia Chiang 江孫芸 (1920-2020), who singlehandedly popularised Chinese dishes from her seminary restaurant, The Mandarin. She brought her hometown (Wuxi, near Shanghai) favourites like Moo Shu pork and potstickers, and complex Chinese cuisine like beggar’s chicken and shark fin’s soup to the general American public in the post-war years (although the last one did fall out of favour of the environmentally conscious.)

The Tortelli di patate, a type of filled pasta typical of Mugello, a mountainous area near Florence bordering Emilia Romagna. I did not understand the association of the pasta with Cecilia Chiang except that Chef Tusk ate many years ago in her restaurant. But Chef Tusk is famous of bringing authentic pasta dishes to San Francisco with the freshest ingredients. And incorporation of the season new potatoes was signature of his style. It was delicious for its combination of briny caviar and creamy smoked sturgeon. And the sauce made from heavy cream and Vin Jaune was spot on.

2002 Riesling Smaragd Wachstum Bodenstein

And to pair with the tortellini, a crisp Riesling from Wachau region. The 2002 vintage in the Wachau was generally good, despite some rain, with a warm spring and summer contributing to a successful harvest. 2002 Riesling Smaragd Wachstum Bodenstein is a highly regarded Austrian wine, particularly known for its aging potential and complex character. It exhibits a light gold colour with aromas of peach, tangerine, and a hint of kerosene, transitioning into a palate with more mineral notes, lemon, peach, and some kerosene on the finish.

Beetroot spaghetti & Tsar Nicoulai caviar add-on

The other add-on pasta course was homemade spaghetti cooked in beetroot juice, yuzu vodka, and topped with Tsar Nicoulai caviar.

Tsar Nicoulai is the only ECO-CERT sturgeon farm in America, but that doesn’t mean anything to me. I am not a fan of “caviar for the sake of caviar,” and I had enough of the fish roe for the day. But the buttery saltiness really added to the flavours of the beetroot spaghetti, just like it did for the tortelli.

Vilmart & Cie Emotion Rose 2015

Grower champagne refers to champagne that’s produced and bottled by the same people who grew the grapes for it. Champagne authority Tom Stevenson lauded Vilmart as “best grower Champagne” at one point, while Antonio Galloni of Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate gave it top marks as well. Today the Champagne Vilmart can be found in some of the best restaurants and bars in the world.

The champagne has a delicious orange pink hue with calm and fine effervescence. On the nose, this wine is powerful, fruity, developing aromas of strawberry, raspberry, sour cherry and floral notes of peony with a vanilla finish. This bouquet of fruit is supported by slight notes of almond, cinnamon, honey and wood. Length, complexity and balance define a mouth in harmony with the nose. In the mouth, very refreshing, reminiscent of pomelos on the finish.

For the main course, there were choices of sole or quail. Darling picked the fish while I went with my usual favourite, the quail. And right before the main courses were presented, the waiter came with our second bread service.

Oddly, it was placed on our table without any comment from our servers. The bread was served warm and tasted like the sweet dinner roll from Del Frisco’s. The timing of the bread would have been even more useful during the previous courses with their excellent sauces, but the bread was savoury, it became an overload with the main courses.

Wolfe Ranch quail, fava bean & chamomile

Wolfe Ranch quail refers to quail raised by Brent Wolfe on his Wolfe Ranch in Vacaville, California. They used seemingly every part of the quail: breast, leg, offal and even its head. It came with sautéed fava beans with kale, and truffled quail au jus infused with marsala spices.

The truffle parts of this dish were quite good: the sauce and a truffle oil .

2008 Clos Saron Holy Moly!

The bird was paired with this bold Californian red which was a blend of Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache. The bouquet had beautiful deep crushed ripe red berries, smoke, tobacco and coal. Love the low alcohol, putting forward red berries, sweet red drops, Red Orlic tobacco. Very nice depth and length with a medium body.

Dover sole, white asparagus & riesling

Moving on to a fish course, the Dover sole, aka king of the soles, has a crisp white flesh, firm to the touch and an almost sweet taste. It has been rolled into a medallion with pesto sauce in between. It came with a creamy milk froth sauce finished a splash of Riesling, and sides of spring vegetables, fava beans puree and white asparagus.

The flat fish was overcooked, which made the texture of this delicate fish more like canned tuna than Dover sole. The vegetables and asparagus saved the plate, and the very heavy sauce which ruined the fish.

And it came with a sides of smashed potatoes, which was quite good but again a questionable pairing with the delicate fish.

And at this juncture, the savoury part of the meal was over and before the sweets were unrolled, we were presented the cheese trolley. They looked delicious, but we were not in a mood for cheese, nor adding to the already hefty bill.

First of the season rhubarb & cherry blossom

I have never appreciated rhubarb as a dessert. Rhubarb is known for its tart, sour flavour, which is often balanced with sugar in recipes.  The rhubarb was also made into a sauce and came with Meyer lemon drops to provide the tartness to contrast the sweetness of the quenelles of sakura (cherry blossom) sorbet on a bed of crushed Sicilian almond.

Yours truly was celebrating birthday, and they came with a small birthday cake which had a nice dar chocolate Grenache on the outside and a sweet, milk chocolate filling.

Renardat Fache 2023 Bugey Cerdon

Bugey is located halfway between Geneva and Lyon at the foot of the Jura Mountains, where Alain Renardat Fache and his son Elie produce the traditional sparkling wine Cerdon from organically certified Gamay and Poulsard. Cerdon is produced using méthode ancestrale, allowing the wine to ferment to about 6% alcohol, after which it undergoes a light filtration and continues the fermentation after being bottled without added sulphur. The result is a refreshing and fruity sparkling wine of about 8% alcohol with a certain amount of residual sugar preserved.

Mignardise

After dessert, a mignardise cart is rolled out with 8 different treats; I asked for all of them and they happily obliged. A raspberry pate de fruit was stellar, perfectly balancing sweetness and acidity. The best bite came last: a hazelnut Rocher, made with excellent milk chocolate around a crunchy hazelnut centre. Upon exiting, you are presented with the day’s menu and a cold herbal tea to takeaway.

Quince isn’t just a meal, it’s a celebration of culinary craftsmanship, design, and hospitality. However it was not without its flaws. The wine pairing was interesting, but we received essentially no introductions to any of the wines. The majority were poured literally without any comment – if I hadn’t taken pictures of the bottles I wouldn’t even have known what we were drinking.

We came for the food, and in that department it did not disappoint. I loved the quail, but I am biased for this choice. The fish was murdered, they did not do any justice to a very delicate piece of fish. The peas (and the way they treated the vegetables) were amazing, and so were the amuse bouche. But would we return for the full degustation? It wasn’t worth the detour given that we spent more than $1,700 for lunch for the food, drinks and gratuity.

Quince
470 Pacific Avenue, Jackson Square, San Francisco, CA 94133
Tel : +1 415 775 8500 (Reservations)

Visited May 2025

Michelin California Guide 3 Stars 2019-25; Green Star 2024-25 (no guide in 2020)

Michelin San Francisco Guide 1 Star 2007-13 ; 2 Stars 2014-16 ; 3 Stars 2017-18