BELLOTA - SAN FRANCISCO, CA

Situated in the same building as HQ of Airbnb, Bellota is a great tapas restaurant for both locals and tourists. I wasn't exactly feeling tapas, but I was really glad our friend insisted that we visit this place. We arrived early to the restaurant and took a tour of Airbnb HQ. It was a Saturday evening so of course the offices are closed. But you are able to enter the Airbnb lounge through the door from Bellota and just browse around their lobby. I will upload a separate video later giving a mini tour of Airbnb lounge. Let's talk about the food!

Before we had dinner, we ordered a jar of sangria and wow, that sangria is strong! Feeling a little buzz we went on to the dining table. Knowing that the paella was going to take around 40 minutes we ordered that the first thing after we sat down. We wanted to try more flavors so we chose the squid ink and pork shoulder. Squid ink was recommended by everyone but not the pork shoulder, we figured our why afterwards. The pork shoulder was a bit dry and not as flavorful, I recommend other flavors besides pork shoulder.

We ordered the cheese + meats platter and it comes with bread, their bread is made on site and baked in their wood-fired oven. The meats are great and of course my favorite is the iberico ham. We didn't want another cold cut dish so we asked if there's another dish that includes more ibericao ham. Our server suggested us to get the Bravas (crisped potatoes) in animal-style which includes the iberico ham on top, I think this should be included in the regular menu! The Gambas is shrimp soaked in olive oil, I think this was my least favorite dish. The shrimps didn't taste oily, but at the same time it was not flavorful either. The croqueta was delicious but the taste of uni was not strong, if you didn't tell me I wouldn't even know it was there. The Chuleton is the bomb! T-bone is the way to go!!! The portion is quite big, it's enough to share even for a party of 6. The meat was cooked JUST RIGHT, not chewy, tender, a bit salty but I don't mind it. I just have to drink a lot of water later haha.

We got churros for dessert and told them it was someone's birthday to see if they would give us a birthday offering, but nope, they didn't. Anyhow, the churros is still very delicious and it melts right in your mouth! I would order another one if I wasn't so full! We also ordered the semifrio and it tasted like a piece of frozen whip cream cheese... if that makes sense. Both desserts were good, but I had to go back, more churros for me please!

Tips: Get the bravas animal style with iberico ham on top. Do not get the pork shoulder paella.