Sunflower

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I've walked by the Sunflower in the Mission many times, but never really felt the need to go in.  The absence of any Asian customers gave off Slanted Door vibes (high prices and lackluster food). 

I had almost given hope on any bun (vermicelli) in San Francisco, but I have to admit that this is one of the better versions of bun I've had.  The prices aren't even that bad.  At around $9 (which is actually cheap for SF), the portion size is really generous with a lot of noodles and meat plus two giant fried egg rolls.  The lemongrass beef was well cooked giving the beef a tender and juicy flavor.  The only gripes for me is the small portion of nuoc mam (fish sauce), which barely covers the surface of the heaping portion of vermicelli, and the vermicelli noodles cut into super small strands.  That being said, I'd go back to get this one again, but ask for extra nuoc mam.

Five spice chicken with vermicelli - 7x7 2014 Big Eat

The five spice chicken vermicelli is actually my usual vermicelli order when I eat bun, but while the chicken is well cooked and juicy, the flavor is bland and is probably one of the tasteless ones I've ever had.

Usually my go to Vietnamese garlic noodles is PPQ, but I had to try Sunflower's version since it was one of their popular dishes.  While it doesn't have a super garlic flavor like PPQ's, it is a lot less oily.  Don't get fooled on the shrimp upsell like I did.  The measly five shrimp was more of an afterthought and didn't add anything to the dish.  The shrimp didn't even much garlic flavor.

updated - Working my way through the 2014 7x7's SF big eat 100 things 

 

Address:                  Sunflower
                                 288 Connecticut St.
                                 San Francisco, CA  

Type:                        Vietnamese

Popular chomps:      garlic noodles
                                  five spice chicken vermicelli
                                  pho
 

Chomp worthy:         garlic noodles