Three Papayas Brunch

Warning! Before you get excited to get some Vietnamese crepes, you should know this place is now closed. No more brunch, no more food in general :’(Just Doc’s for cocktails.

The place is located in a divey bar which was dimly and odd-​smelling. I did love the Simpsons pinball machine next to our booth.
After we seated ourselves, a waiter came by with a «menu» which was basically a playing-​card-​sized piece of torn-​up-​looking cardboard with THREE items on it. That’s it.
So, naturally, we ordered all three items.
We had a papaya salad, sticky rice, and ramen (I’ve uploaded all pics of all three).
Papaya salad: very good. It tasted fresh and was only slightly spicy. All too often, Thai restaurants make their papaya salad way too spicy, it kills the flavor of the entire dish. And this is coming from someone who absolutely loves spicy foods. This was perfect. A crisp-​tasting salad with a slight kick that accentuated the crispness.
Sticky rice: this was okay, but it might have been too spicy for most people. The texture was great. It would have been better if there had been more filling instead of just glutinous rice.
Ramen: bland. Anytime I get ramen at a joint that doesn’t specialize in ramen, I’m filled with trepidation because I know those places just don’t have the expertise and the time to properly cook the broth. So, it really was no surprise that the ramen here sucked.
I know some people are happy that each dish is only $ 8, but the portions were actually pretty small. The fact that I can get a killer bowl of ramen elsewhere for around $ 8 kind of negates any possibility of kudos for pricing. Put it this way, my friend (a girl) and I went to the Japan town street fair for food, only 2.5 hours later.
This brunch is really more of a fad than a true brunch spot one would crave for throughout the week.

If you don’t eat here it only means more from me and others. I’m still speechless from my last meal.

I’m a regular at Doc’s Clock and I’ve been hearing about the Three Papayas Brunch for a long time and finally decided to give them a try.
In case you don’t know what this is the deal is that you can get food at Doc’s Clock from Noon to five on Sundays.
First you order off of the menu, which is a bible with a sticker inside listing the food options. The sticker is covered in very small type with all of the options all run together separated by commas. I think I accidentally ordered two dishes so the waitress offered to give me the «hang town fry» with a half order of the bacon Mac N Cheese on the side making it a $ 12 brunch.
The «Hang town scramble» was eggs with two big shrimp, grits, and some kind of pickled red cabbage. The eggs had some different kind of seasoning than I’m used to in egg; I thought they tasted good. The shrimp were in the shell, which is a hassle but generally means that they’ll have more flavor but not this time; they were a little stringy and very bland. The grits were good, I’m pretty sure they were quick grits. The red cabbage was way too salty, probably the saltiest thing I’ve ever attempted to eat.
The Bacon Mac N Cheese had a nice flavor but it was all cheese with very little noodles. A little more macaroni would have given the dish a better texture and toned down the flavor a little which was on the verge of being overwhelming.
I’m not sure where the food comes from as they bring it in the front door. The waitress was very friendly and gave me a cupcake for Valentines Day.
It was just OK and I don’t really see me going back unless that cupcake meant something ;-)

This place will magnify whatever feelings you have coming in. If you’re happy, you’ll love the extremely friendly, almost invasive waitstaff and Elvis music. If you’re not happy, you will hate them.
The menu isn’t super vegetarian friendly. There’s a mac n cheese dish, and a papaya dish. There’s a vegetarian congee that consists of boiled rice (which i actually really like) and slightly burnt leafy vegetables (erm…)
The seafood congee is not bad, but I didn’t like the fermented soy beans in it. It did come with big huge prawns and a healthy hunk of crab though. Very messy and time-​consuming to eat.
If you like lamb, rabbit, duck, and other more unusual meats, I don’t think you’ll find a more affordable and exciting brunch venue.

great deal and pretty fun to eat inside docs. Food was tasty, it’s a great deal and bring your patience. Pampering and fine dining it is not — rather it’s really generous portions of food that I don’t often eat.
Salt and pepper (or even just packets somewhere) and maybe having you grab your own silverware/​water would be a pretty neat addition.
I was curious about the cupcake, is it just 1 for 8 bucks? Is it worth it???

I’m not going to tell you what an amazing deal Three Papaya’s is at $ 8 a dish, tax included, because then you’d turn it into Boogaloos and I don’t like lines between me and brunch.
I’m also not going to tell you that for brunch I had a highly devourable and unusual congee with fermented black bean sauce, frogs legs (still attached together at the hip), and prawns because you would be a wimp and ask for it sans frogs legs.
I’m definitely not gong to tell you that one of the insanely cheap dishes was a giant hunk of duck with more meat on it because you’d think that duck isn’t brunch food and whine that they didn’t have pancakes.
I WILL mention that the papaya salad wasn’t my favorite and that everything could have used a pinch more salt or fish sauce, as the beholder would wish it.
I WILL tell you that Doc’s Clock’s is having fun with their bloody mary garnish — mine came with ham and cheese. The garnishes change each week and the bartender is pretty damn charming for a dive bar bartender.

My friend, Colleen, brought me to Three Papayas for brunch one Sunday after telling me how great it was. Usually I hate it when things get built up because the let down seems inevitable, but not in the case of Three Papayas.
We got there right at noon and were the first people seated in the back of Docs Clock. Our table was a Pac Man arcade game. Some people may not be into that but I think it’s awesome.
My menu was glued to a page of the Bible and Colleen’s was in a graphic novel. Everything on the menu sounded so good we couldn’t decide what we wanted. The waitress sent the chef over to our table to explain some of the dishes. He was friendly and generous and, after we couldn’t decide between two dishes, offered to give us a sample of whatever dish we didn’t choose so that we could at least taste it.
We decided on the crêpe and sticky rice tamale and a sample of the mango salad. Wow, the food was incredible! The presentation was amazing and there were so many different combination of flavor to choose from.
Our total bill came to $ 16 and we were stuffed. An excellent deal for brunch in San Francisco. Neither of us ordered drinks, but since it is at Doc’s Clock you can order drinks at the bar if you want. Next time I am definitely getting a mimosa.

Let me tell you something about the food here — it’s the kind that makes you wish you could regurgitate food at will, like a bird of prey, then consume it all over again.
Since that would end up seeing you promptly tossed out of the establishment, repeated visits will have to do.
First off, the place is very nondescript — housed in Doc’s Clock, you’ll probably have to double back if you happen to miss the small sandwich board sign out front. Once you walk in, you’ll then wonder if you’ve stepped into the wrong place; it’s a bar, a divey one, that hosts a Sunday brunch… awesome.
During my last visit there, we were two of only three other people in the place, and there was only one server, with the chef handlin’ his business in the back. After taking our order — and kindly recommending alternatives to ingredients my date was not fond of — it took a bit longer to receive the food than it does at a diner, but that’s just part of the charm. This is the closest you’ll get to feeling like you’re a personal guest in someone’s house, about to throw down on some culinary delights.
Before i talk about the food, you should know that i’m the type who ofter times craves only certain ingredients — that morning, i was craving cilantro basil and lime juice. After taking a home pregnancy test, i suggested we head out to a Vietnamese/​Thai restaurant. I saw that the Three Papayas had a 4 ½ star rating and we headed out to the Mission.
Bssbbssbbbssbbsspt (Sound of fast-​forwarding time) — we’re about to treat our palates to what will go down in history as some of the finest food medley i’ve had in recent memory. I had the papaya salad with a side of roasted port — motherrrrrfucker… the salad had EXACTLY the ingredients i’d been craving, the lime juice was perfectly tart, and had juuuust the right amount of kick, compliments of a few sprinkles of red peppers. The pork was seasoned to perfection, and charred juuuust right — i’m pretty sure you could convince a Muslim to give up their aversion to swine with just one bite.
Without going into even more unnecessary detail, i’ll just demand that you go out to one of their Sunday brunches. The food s excellent, dished are super cheap ($ 8!!), the menu changes every week, the chef is super cool, and supporting homegrown/​local talent is good for the collective.

First person to give this place less than 4 stars… ouch.
Pros:
+ Quirky place. We ate off of a placemat with an old skool pic of Michael Jackson. The server wrote our orders on the back of Avery sticker label paper. The menu was found on the last page of a XXX spanish comic… yes i tried to read it… no success!
+ Tasty and interesting menu. It changes every week I believe. Only 5 – 6 things on the menu with each being $ 8. What an awesome deal! Friends had the manila sliders which were like 75% angus and 25% spanish sausage. Holy s*** that meat was geeewd. Topped with some kind of savory mushroom sauce and sat between hawaiian bread.
Cons:
— Slow, slow service. Took at least 20 minutes to get the first two dishes out, then appetizers came 10 minutes later, then my dish came out 10 minutes after that.
— Part of the food was served cool, not warm. Ick.
— Ordered the shrimp crêpe and it was overwhelmingly greasy. Taste was alright.
— The buns of the burger and the dumplings meal were burnt, not like a nice char kind of burnt, but a oops-​i-​forgot-​i-​was-​cooking kind of burnt.
— Water glasses are so small! Had to get up and refill my glass at least 3 times.
Bottom Line: Not sure if I’ll be back. I’d come back for the sliders but was disappointed with the rest of the food.

no complaints. the food is incredible, the vibe is perfect, the service is warm and friendly. three papayas and doc’s are doing it right.

So two weeks ago I was looking for brunch in all the usual places, the places I should have learned to avoid by now. While there are some great brunches without a wait (I’m thinking of you Foreign Cinema) there are very few cheap great brunches without a wait. Actually there are very few cheap great brunches, even in this brunch fixated town. Somehow I came across Three Papayas and it is a good cheap brunch, that as of yet is uncrowded.
Interesting food, nice staff, short but varied menu (dishes also seem to change slightly each time). My only concern is the location. I have done some things I am less then proud of in Doc’s Clock, and as I sit eating my crêpe (or the dumplings if they have the dumplings) these memories return, like little moths of shame and regret. You may not have this problem though.
I shouldn’t have written this review — the hungover brunching masses will discover it and then there will be a line. I can’t justify waiting in lines for brunch — ever.

We ordered one of everything. You should too. Bunny Chao with whole cardamom pods! Cardoons! Eggs fried in angel fat! Marrow! Crepes! You get the idea. Just go (but not so many of you that it gets too crowded).

Six of us had brunch there today, so we got to try a variety of things off the menu. I had the pork & shrimp Vietnamese crêpe, which was greasy in a good way, and very flavorful. It came with a pile of herbs (cilantro, dill, basil), a lime wedge, and two sauces (creamy peanut & citrus vinaigrette). We shared a Three Papayas salad, which had the same vinaigrette & herbs, along with fried garlic! My husband got the Bunny Chao, which was basically indian food in a bread bowl (YUM), and the chef stopped by after we finished to tell us the interesting story behind the dish’s creation.
I’m taking one star off because they’re not really equipped to deal with a group of six… the dishes came out one at a time, and the first person was done eating by the time the last person got her food. It definitely wasn’t «bad service,» but I’d definitely recommend coming in a smaller group to avoid that problem.

Yowza! Underground superstar cook Tawei is back slinging affordable, strange and delectable food in the Mission! I’d followed him from Yamo to Bender’s (before the fire) to Thee Parkside and was so sad when he stopped cooking!
I’m getting sorta addicted to his Vietnamese Crepes (two weeks in a row), although the dumplings Ida had looked awesome too! The papaya salad was beautiful, and each time it was different.
The best part is this «restaurant» opens at noon, just the same time that every brunch place has a one to two hour wait to get in, and did I mention that they have a full bar!?!

So, do you guys remember when Yamo used to RULE? When the intense Asian guy with the black hipster glasses whipped up fresh, spicy soups and curry dishes that brought dedicated customers to tears – due both to the hot ‘n spiciness and the moving artistic achievement? Well, he’s no longer there and the place now has a greasy diner feel with vague Burmese flare, at best. And the hipster chef/​God? Well, he moved to the Orbit Room where he continues to whip up fresh, spicy, artistic creations… of the liquid sort.
It was at The Orbit Room that I had my first conversation with him and learned about his plan to start up a brunch service. Visions of Vietnamese crepes with chilis and basil danced through my head as I sipped one of their masterpiece cocktails (an Exit Row with extra ginger – hooray!). The more I learned about his idea, the more determined I was to stay on top of it. By the end of the night, I had convinced him to add my email addy to the launch announcement list. Now all I had to do was wait.
Flash forward a few months, and I get the long awaited email. The brunch was up and running and would be held at… at Doc’s Clock. Yes, the dive bar on Mission St! Hmmm… curious.
So, a friend and I showed up there this morning, having no idea what to expect. What we found was the bar set up like a restaurant counter – with place settings and hand-​made menus at every seat (crafted from naughty comic books!). There were 4 entre options (Papaya Salad, Vietnamese Crêpe, Beef Pot Stickers, and Chicken Phở) and each dish cost $ 8. Oh and you want a Mimosa? A Bloody Mary? A beer? Well, friends, you’re seated at a full bar where the world is your oyster. You can even play shuffle board while you wait for your food to arrive.
In short, we were blown away by the experience. Not only was the food just as delicious as it was at the old Yamo (maybe better!), but the service was endearing (everyone was so excited to be there – from the bar tender to the waitress to the chef) and the other brunch goers were in fantastic spirits, giddy with appreciation. We felt like members of a secret club with a credo that has something to do with badass Vietnamese/​Thai food + day drinking.
The brunch, open to everyone, will now happen every Sunday at Doc’s Clock from noon to 4pm. The menu will remain simple, with 4 or so rotating options to choose from (posted on Doc Clock’s website in advance.) And the chef? Well, let’s just say he’s taken chili and basil to new heights.
3 Papayas Brunch. Check it out.