Daily Archives: April 24, 2012

Homemade glutinous rice cakes – Benu

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Project 365: Day 107

Yay, I’m back in San Francisco! And apparently, the weather has been frickin’ amazing. It’s the early evening and it’s still very warm outside. Ah, how I’ve missed you, my home! Whenever I get back from a trip, I always crave certain food. The first thing I did when I got back was order delivery from Mission Chinese Food. I needed something spicy and with punch-you-in-the-face flavor, and MCF always does it for me.

Honestly, I shouldn’t be eating again since I had a large and delicious brunch buffet at Wicked Spoon in The Cosmopolitan this morning. I was hungry again at the airport so I had a Whopper Jr. from Burger King. Argh, I can’t believe I did that!

Homemade glutinous rice cakes Benu

With pine nut, pumpkin, black truffle, garnished with flat leaf parsley. Pre fixe dinner $180
Benu, San Francisco

Wow, this dish was amazing! It was like a pumpkin gnocchi. The texture was different, but the flavors were warm, delicious, Italian. I loved that this wasn’t what I expected when I read the description. “Glutinous rice” doesn’t conjure up Italy in my mind, but I was pleasantly surprised. Everything work perfectly together and the flavors were absolutely spot on! Noms!

Homemade glutinous rice cakes Benu

Hokkaido sea cucumber stuffed with shrimp – Benu

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Hokkaido sea cucumber stuffed with shrimp Benu

With cucumber, onion, and fermented pepper. Pre fixe dinner $180
Benu, San Francisco

Um, this was the first time I’ve had sea cucumber. I was dreading it when I saw it on the menu and again when it arrived at the table. It actually wasn’t that bad. It didn’t have much of a flavor, but the texture didn’t appeal to me. The red sauce also didn’t taste like much, but the white gooey blob was kinda gross. I’m glad I tried it, but I don’t think I’ll be ordering sea cucumber again. If they couldn’t make me love it at Benu, I doubt I’ll like it from somewhere else.

Hokkaido sea cucumber stuffed with shrimp Benu

Foie gras xiao long bao – Benu

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Project 365: Day 106

It’s the last day of the conference, phew! We have classes until 1 pm and then we’re free. I’m flying home tomorrow so I’m going use this evening to decompress and eat, lol. I think I’ll head to The Palazzo and grab a late lunch at Sushi Samba. My roommate usually stays at that hotel and likes that place for sushi. For dinner, I’m gonna try Firefly off The Strip then hang out at a bar nearby. I’ve spent way too much on this trip when I should have been saving for my Europe trip next week. 😦

Foie gras xiao long bao Benu

Shanghai soup dumplings filled with foie gras. Pre fixe dinner $180
Benu, San Francisco

Meh, this was ok. I guess it was nicely cooked, but it was hard to locate the foie gras especially if you were dipping the dumpling in the vinegar sauce. I dont’ even know how the foie gras was incorporated. There was definitely a meat mixture inside, but I’m not sure if the foie was part of that or part of the soup. Anyway, one of my dumplings had a tear on the bottom so the soup had dripped to the bottom of the bowl. Lame.

Foie gras xiao long bao Benu