Spotlight on San Francisco’s SoMa district

Before there were hotspot wine bars like High Treason and the Snug, there was Terroir – a vinyl-playing, map-decked hangout for adventurous tipplers. The bar specialises in natural, organic, and hard-to-find varietals from California and European wineries. The rotating nightly selection, scrawled on the chalkboard above the bar, offers around 15 wines by the glass, carafe, or bottle. Grab a stool at one of the long tables up front, or climb to the mezzanine for a cosier setting. 1116 Folsom St at 7th St. +1 415 558 9946. terroirsf.com. Mon-Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri 4pm-2am; Sat 5pm-2am.

Bar Agricole’s inventive craft cocktails have earned it a James Beard Foundation Award nomination for Outstanding Bar Program for the past seven years running. (Its airy, wood-swathed digs also nabbed it the JBF prize for Best Restaurant Design in 2011.) Bar Agricole – which roughly translates to “farm bar” – elevates bar food to an art, serving a butcher’s shop worth of charcuterie, oysters, and unfussy entrées sourced from local farms. But the main attraction is the list of rum cocktails like the Bulldog, which blends cherry brandy, Demerara rum, lemon, and stone fruit bitters. 335 11th St at Folsom St. +1 415 355 9400. baragricole.com. Mon-Thu 5-10pm; Fri, Sat 5-11pm.

Helmed by Michelin-starred chef Chris Bleidorn, this ambitious newcomer is an ode to the Pacific Northwest, serving wild game (say, buffalo, deer, or antelope), creek-raised fish, and locally sourced produce. The style may be upscale fine dining, but the cooking techniques are downright ancient. Request a spot at the 12-seat counter to witness the open-fire cooking, dry aging, and smoking in the unenclosed kitchen. Splurge on the ten-course prix fixe menu ($168) or visit Tuesday through Thursday to order à la carte. 1085 Mission St at 7th St. +1 415 369 9161. www.birdsongsf.com. Mon-Thu 5-8.30pm; Fri, Sat 5-9.30pm.

Fittingly for a restaurant situated in a museum, In Situ transforms food into fine art on a global scale. The menu is the result of foodie crowdsourcing: chef Corey Lee contacts renowned, boundary-pushing chefs around the world, from Chicago to Berlin, to contribute a dish and its recipe, which he faithfully recreates using local ingredients. The resulting 14-dish menu is a dazzling display of ingenuity and inventive flavours. The menu displays the name of each dish’s creator, their location, the ingredients, and the date it was conceived. 151 3rd St at Minna St. +1 415 941 6050. insitu.sfmoma.org. Mon 11am-3.30pm; Thu-Sat 11am-3.30pm & 5-9pm; Sun 11am-3.30pm & 5-8pm.

This is the place for serious beer buffs. Craig and Beth Wathen relocated their Folsom Street beer store and bar to Mission Street in summer 2018 for a long-overdue expansion. The couple’s industrial-sized coolers hold over 400 beers organised by style, from blondes to barrel-aged to Belgian darks. The spot is particularly renowned for its selection of IPAs and sour beers, including limited-edition collaborations with local breweries like the Bruery and Cellarmaker Brewing. Mix and match the ideal six-pack or case to go, or crack a bottle open on-site at the adjacent bar, where 15 rotating beers from local breweries like Temescal Brewing, Barebottle Brewery, and Faction Brewing are also on tap. 1148 Mission St at 7th St. www.citybeerstore.com. Daily noon-10pm.

Dining at this lively Spanish restaurant feels like a taking a detour to Seville. The mesmerising open kitchen showcases a woodfired oven, elaborate workstations for tapas assembly, terra cotta pots bubbling with stew and a hulking industrial slicer for imported cheese and charcuterie. Order one of the specialty paellas, which feed two to four, and wash it down with a proper Gin and Tonic flavored with juniper, citrus or elderflower. 888 Brannan St at 8th St. +1 415 430 6580. bellotasf.com. Mon-Thu 11.30am-10pm; Fri 11.30am-11pm; Sat 4-11pm.

Chef Mourad Lahlou’s Michelin-starred Moroccan restaurant blends old-world flavours with modern cooking techniques and design. The glamorous 560m2 space is modeled after a grand Moroccan home, decked with intricate tiling, vibrant rugs and twinkling lights. The highlight of the menu is the La’acha family-style dishes, such as lamb shoulder cooked with moyer prune, cumin, almond and chicories, or snapper served alongside calcot onion, radish, summer beans and charmoula. Pair your meal with an Old World red, displayed in the glass-encased wine cage suspended above the lounge. 140 New Montgomery St at Natoma St. +1 415 660 2500. mouradsf.com. Mon-Fri 11.30am-10pm; Sat, Sun 5-10pm.

This buzzy, 131-room hotel was outfitted by it-girl interior designer Kelly Wearstler, complete with lush chocolate brown and cream floral wallpaper, raw wood floors, contemporary artwork and marble accents. Don’t miss the rooftop bar, Charmaine’s, where the cocktail menu is a nod to San Francisco’s petite “7x7” size (7 miles by 7 miles); it’s divvied up into seven categories, with seven Instagram-ready cocktails. 1100 Market St at McAllister St. +1 628 895 2040. www.properhotel.com.

This century-old hotel got an upgrade in spring 2018 when it was purchased by the Sonesta hotels group. The 372 rooms were refreshed by star designer Philippe Starck and include 300-thread-count bedding, custom English sycamore furniture, flatscreen TVs and cosy Merino wool throws. Thankfully, the historic Redwood Room bar downstairs retains its Art Deco charm, from the etched glass bar to the original redwood paneling. 495 Geary St at Taylor St. +1 415 775 4700. www.sonesta.com.

This 159-room property is sleek, monochromatic and modern. Its inviting rooms are decked with curvy cream chaises longues and dove gray upholstery, while the halls are swathed in a glinting metallic mesh. But the real selling point is its ballpark-adjacent rooftop bar, dotted with fire pits, cabanas, and ample heat lamps. The indoor-outdoor space offers in-the-round views of the city, the Bay, Bernal Heights and the East Bay. 138 King St at 3rd St. +1 415 200 4977. hotelviasf.com.

The Hilton is conveniently situated in the center of downtown. It’s a few minutes’ walk to Union Square, the city’s main shopping hub, and two blocks from Market Street, where you can jump on Muni transit to get to the Ferry Building, Fisherman’s Wharf, the Exploratorium and the Embarcadero. Well-appointed rooms are swathed in shades of cream and gray, with comfortable beds and welcome perks like mini-fridges and Wi-Fi. Request a Skyline room for views of the cityscape or Bay. 333 O’Farrell St at Taylor St. +1 415 771 1400. hilton.com.