Francis Ang

Restaurant Abaca - San Francisco, CA

Francis Ang was born in San Francisco but spent his formative years in the Philippines. Ang returned to the States, moving from Manila to San Francisco when he was 19 and enrolled in the City College of San Francisco’s culinary arts and hospitality studies program. After graduation, Ang secured a position at the one-Michelin-star restaurant, Gary Danko, honing his skills among San Francisco’s best.

Ang later joined the line at Fifth Floor (now Dirty Habit) where his prowess really began to shine. While there, under the guidance of Executive Chef David Bazirgan, Ang earned Food & Wine’s “People’s Best Pastry Chef” and Zagat’s 30 under 30.

By 2016, Ang and his wife Dian decided to take a deep dive back into their culinary roots. The couple traveled to the Philippine islands for six months studying the local cuisine from origin to evolution. As a result, Pinoy Heritage was born as a Filipino pop-up. In 2018, Pinoy Heritage won Eater SF’s Pop-Up of the Year award as well as the San Francisco Chronicle’s Rising Star Chef award. In 2019, Ang also won StarChefs’ Rising Star Chef award.

Francis Ang also worked with the two-Michelin-star Taj Campton Place Hotel, where he created their dessert program. During the summer of 2021, Chef Ang’s dream of opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant came to fruition with Restaurant Abaca, located inside the Hotel Alton of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Since opening, Restaurant Abaca has earned local and national acclaim, including being named one of Esquire’s America’s Best New Restaurants in 2021 and one of the 2022 New York Times 50 Best Restaurants in America. Additionally, it received Eater SF’s Most Innovative Menu award and was a 2022 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best New Restaurant.