{"id":392472,"date":"2026-07-09T20:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T20:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/392472\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T20:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T20:27:12","slug":"review-cantoo-latin-asian-rotisserie-offers-tasty-fusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/392472\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Cantoo Latin Asian Rotisserie offers tasty fusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cantoo came onto my radar about a year ago, as reported by Mission Local<\/a>. Now that Mission Local\u2019s reporting has expanded across the city, it was the perfect time to check it out.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Cantoo is owned and run by a Chinese family from Venezuela. There are quite a few countries in South America that have large Chinese populations and, over time, their cuisines have intertwined.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Cristina Wu Feng came here from Venezuela to study, and opened the restaurant in the Tenderloin almost four years ago, with her uncle as the main chef. Cantoo\u2019s popularity is evident. We arrived early on a recent Monday evening, and within 20 minutes, almost every table was full of regulars \u2014 big groups, families, and other locals.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

We were wowed by our first meal here.\u00a0We started out with an empanada pabellon.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Pabellon, a shredded beef stew with black beans, is considered Venezuela\u2019s national dish. Here, it\u2019s folded into a light, fluffy cornmeal pastry and fried, as all empanadas should be.\u00a0Savory, saucy, cheesy \u2014 quite possibly the best empanada I\u2019ve ever had.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

We also ordered, to share, the chili oil pan-fried dumplings.<\/p>\n

\"FourCantoo empanada pabellon.<\/p>\n

Tender dumplings swimming in an addictive, house-made Sichuan peppercorn chili oil \u2014 a nice surprise, adding a little m\u00e1l\u00e0 touch to the dish.\u00a0I\u2019d certainly get these again.<\/p>\n

For his main, the BF ordered the combo cuatro estaciones.<\/p>\n

\"ACantoo combo cuatro estaciones.<\/p>\n

This may look like your typical steam table Chinese fare, but from the beautifully lacquered ribs, meaty and slightly sweet, with nary a bit of dryness, to the crispy egg roll with its hint of cumin, to the savory chicken chop suey that we could not. stop. eating., so chock-full of crunchy vegetables, and the slightly crispy fried rice with ham and chicken, nicely redolent of sesame oil, every bite felt homemade, and as if it had just been prepared especially for us.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I really wanted the lechon, but instead of getting the Chef\u2019s special, our server suggested getting the combo, which comes with rice and bok choy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ACantoo combo.<\/p>\n

Perfectly cooked pork belly; moist and tender, with gorgeous crispy bits of skin in each bite, as the gods intended it, with a light plum sauce to accompany.\u00a0Alongside, wonderfully fragrant rice and bok choy.\u00a0We eat a lot of rice at home, but I\u2019m not sure what wizardry takes place here to make just plain, white, steamed rice so delicious.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are two sauces on each table, a sweet and sour, and garlic aioli with scallions, both homemade, I believe, but the latter of the two was fantastic, and I poured it over everything.<\/p>\n

Serving sizes were generous, and we had leftovers to take home.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

We were so excited to try more of the menu, we went back the following week.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

We started out with another Venezuelan staple, taque\u00f1os.<\/p>\n

\"FiveCantoo taque\u00f1os.<\/p>\n

This popular snack \u2014 squeaky, mozzarella-like cheese sticks in a light pastry dough \u2014 are apparently found in other parts of South America, too. They\u2019re meant to be dipped in a sauce, so I slathered on the scallion aioli.\u00a0I can see these being good with a cold beer.<\/p>\n

I was intrigued by the salted egg and pumpkin on the appetizers list.<\/p>\n

\"ACantoo salted egg and pumpkin.<\/p>\n

Another breaded and fried dish, I unfortunately could not discern the flavor nor texture of salted egg, but to be fair, I don\u2019t really know what that tastes like.\u00a0The pumpkin within was slightly sweet, but the whole was just a bit oily for me, and I didn\u2019t care for them much.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The BF really liked them, and we took most of them home (once they\u2019d cooled, I could taste the salted egg; just a savory little spread, not super flavorful, but better than I\u2019d first thought).<\/p>\n

As some dishes come with mini-arepas, I thought I\u2019d get a side order to share.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Normally, arepas are the size of pupusas or salbutes, and the ones I\u2019ve had are split down the middle and filled with cheese and veggies and\/or meat.\u00a0These little disks were filled with cheese but came whole, and sadly weren\u2019t soft nor melty, but a little stiff instead. I suspect they were not made in house, and I\u2019d not get them again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cantoo is known for its rotisserie meats, and I was torn between the duck and the chicken.\u00a0Our server solved my dilemma, saying I could order a combination of the Cantonese style duck and the Venezuelan beer-brined chicken.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ThreeCantoo rotisserie duck and beer-brined chicken.<\/p>\n

Happiness ensued.\u00a0Both were scrumptious, but that duck!\u00a0Incredibly juicy, with a crackling, delicate skin covering tender meat. As good if not better than any you see hanging in the windows of Chinatown.<\/p>\n

The BF\u2019s punta trasera (beer-marinated tri-tip) was huge.<\/p>\n

\"ACantoo punta trasera.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a huge pile of white rice underneath that slab of meat.\u00a0The tri-tip was a bit chewier than the BF would have liked, but with a robustly beefy flavor.\u00a0Good slaw, a bit sweet, and just OK fries alongside.\u00a0The rice was saut\u00e9ed this time, and still quite nice, scented with cilantro. We again had quite a bit of food to take home.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a real family atmosphere at Cantoo that\u2019s unassuming, yet welcoming.\u00a0On both visits, the young servers were all sweet, warm, and efficient. The menu holds multitudes of dishes of both Venezuelan and Chinese cuisines we\u2019ve yet to try, but we\u2019re already planning return visits.\u00a0And the price is right, especially for such homey, well-prepared food.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cantoo (website<\/a>)
572 O\u2019Farrell St.
San Francisco<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cantoo came onto my radar about a year ago, as reported by Mission Local. Now that Mission Local\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[579,101,103,102,104,106,105,13528],"class_list":["post-392472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-restaurant-reviews","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-tenderloin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}