Dabao Singapore operates as a hawker stall inside San Francisco's Metreon food court, a few steps from Moscone Center and Yerba Buena Gardens. Chef Emily Lim, born and raised in Singapore and a Culinary Institute of America graduate, runs the counter.
The menu covers hawker staples — Hainanese chicken rice served poached or roasted five-spice, seafood laksa, char kway teow with lap cheong and shrimp, curry puffs, beef rendang, nasi lemak, and kueh bingka for dessert. Dishes lean on wok hei technique and a house-made sambal.
The char kway teow has been singled out as the standout on the menu, smoky with sausage and shrimp worked through the noodles, while the laksa runs more one-note on its own but gets lifted by a spoonful of that sambal. Lunchtime regulars have made it a habit, even as some Singaporean expats debate how closely the cooking tracks the hawker centers it takes its name from.
The restaurant's chef was a James Beard Foundation Emerging Chef semifinalist in 2024.
The menu covers hawker staples — Hainanese chicken rice served poached or roasted five-spice, seafood laksa, char kway teow with lap cheong and shrimp, curry puffs, beef rendang, nasi lemak, and kueh bingka for dessert. Dishes lean on wok hei technique and a house-made sambal.
The char kway teow has been singled out as the standout on the menu, smoky with sausage and shrimp worked through the noodles, while the laksa runs more one-note on its own but gets lifted by a spoonful of that sambal. Lunchtime regulars have made it a habit, even as some Singaporean expats debate how closely the cooking tracks the hawker centers it takes its name from.
The restaurant's chef was a James Beard Foundation Emerging Chef semifinalist in 2024.