Filipino food may not be as widespread in the United States as, say, Mexican or Japanese food, but it’s definitely making inroads into the market. You might see a lumpia vendor at a state fair, while Jollibee is expanding across the country. It’s not all fast food and snacks, either — the San Francisco Bay area, for example, has dozens of sit-down Filipino restaurants. One of these, Abacá, is located inside the Kimpton Alton hotel in Fisherman’s Wharf. Its offerings are hardly typical hotel fare, however, since the restaurant is known for a secret menu offering dishes that may appeal to more adventurous eaters.
Now, this menu isn’t “secret” in the Starbucks sense, where you annoy your barista into making some complicated off-menu item you just dreamed up. Instead, it’s actually sanctioned by the restaurant, although not touted on its website. You might need insider knowledge (such as having read a restaurant review) to know to scan a barcode that only appears on the dinner menu. Once you’ve scanned and accessed the menu, though, what will you find? Balut, for one thing. Yes, that terrifying hard-boiled duck fetus that you certainly won’t find at Jollibee. At Abacá, it comes dipped in beer batter and deep-fried, accompanied by fried chicken skin with an egg yolk mousse topping, along with a shot of duck broth served in an eggshell. The secret menu also includes a few other items, including chicharron bulaklak (deep-fried pork connecting tissue), isaw (barbecued pork intestine), balun-balunan (chicken gizzards), and grilled oysters in fish sauce.
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Abacá’s main menu offers all three meals
assorted foods on a table at Abacá – Abacá / Facebook
Unusual for a fine dining establishment, Abacá offers breakfast and brunch menus in addition to lunch and dinner ones. The former includes such dishes as pork lumpia in pineapple-chile sauce, bibingka (rice cake) topped with caramelized brie and a salted egg, and silog (garlic-fried rice and fried egg) served with a chorizo-like sausage called longganisa. The dinner menu blends contemporary cuisine with traditional Filipino accents, offering dishes such as stuffed quail with fava bean tinutungan and wagyu dumplings with a tomato-based root vegetable stew called kaldereta.
Desserts include banana fritters with salted cheese foam and matcha ice cream, as well as sticky rice cakes with chocolate, citrus, and caramel ice cream. For the full Abacá experience, there’s even an omakase-type “kamayan” menu costing between $95 and $125 per person. This option allows each diner to experience a wide variety of appetizers, main courses, sides, and desserts, and every dish can be eaten without utensils.
TripAdvisor reviewers give Abacá 3.8 stars, while Yelpers award it four. Many reviewers praise the food and the ambiance, but some complain of small portions. Others grumble at the service, and quite a few call out the high prices (such is the state of dining today). Even if it’s not the highest-rated Filipino restaurant in the Bay Area, it’s still one of the few places you’re likely to find balut on the menu (secret or otherwise). If that dish is on your bucket list, Abacá will let you check it off with no trouble.
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