Grapefruit and espelette dessert – Benu

Grapefruit and espelette dessert Benu

With white chocolate. Pre fixe dinner $180
Benu, San Francisco

This was a very fun dessert! I loved the flavor combination and textures. The grapefruit was fresh, the white chocolate sweet, and the espelette peppers nice and spicy. You can see a red dollop of the espelette on top, but there was also a layer of it on the very bottom. A nice surprise! I don’t know if you could call this an ice cream. It looked like it was frozen with liquid nitrogen or something, resulting in an airy crystallized texture. Like I said, very fun!

Grapefruit and espelette dessert Benu

Faux shark’s fin soup – Benu

Faux shark's fin soup Benu

With dungeness crab, Jinhua ham, and black truffle custard. Pre fixe dinner $180
Benu, San Francisco

I liked this. A bit on the tasty side (from the black truffle custard), but still flavorful. I don’t know what all the fuss is about shark’s fin (or faux shark’s fin in this case). It doesn’t taste like anything – it just has a cartilaginous texture. The Jinhua ham broth was rich and the dungeness crab helped to lighten it up. Good dish, but not my favorite.

Faux shark's fin soup Benu

7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2012