Start your tour by walking through the Dragon’s Gate [Bush St & Grant Ave., San Francisco, CA 94108] onto the densely populated Grant Ave dotted with oriental gift shops and restaurants.
The street art is perfectly aligned with the motif of the area.
Some old school kitsch put a smile on my face.
Stop for a free tasting at Vital Tea Leaf [1044 Grant Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133].
Midday it was hushed inside and I was treated to a personal mini tea lesson tailored to my body type.
Deviate from the main drag and head to the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory [56 Ross Alley, San Francisco, CA 94108] and watch the fresh cookies rolling off of the machine. For over 40 years the establishment has been pumping out cookies, now 20,000 are handmade a day. Try a sample and you can purchase giant fortune cookies, make your own fortune cookies, and chocolate fortune cookies.
Next time I visit (with an appetite!) I want to try out some dim sum and grab an egg tart. I also want to enter the Tin How Temple [125 Waverly Pl, San Francisco, CA 94108] which was closed for renovations. It is the oldest Taoist temple in SF founded in 1910 dedicated to the Chinese seagoddess Mazu and there is a top floor balcony which gives a vista out into Chinatown!