Monthly Archives: April 2012

Chicken velvet – Benu

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Project 365: Day 108

Omg, the weather is still SO warm, sunny, and perfect. I went to the gym this morning, got my hair cut, picked up some Euros from the bank, caught up with DVR, and now just sitting on my balcony to blog (and pay bills, ew). It’s been a perfect day! I think I’ll go for a light run before dinner. It’s days like this when I feel so blessed and happy to be where I’m at in life. I do miss my honey, but he’ll be back from his conference on Monday.

Chicken velvet Benu

With abalone, abalone mushroom, and chrysanthemum. Pre fixe dinner $180
Benu, San Francisco

Another first! When this arrived, I asked “Where’s the chicken?” I’d never had chicken velvet before so I didn’t know where to look, hehe. I’ve subsequently read that chicken velvet is usually fried or poached in oil, then reheated through in a hot broth. I’m not sure if this velvet was ever fried, it didn’t taste like it, but it was definitely velvet-y and oh so delicious. The soup broth in this dish was also very delicious. And I loved the combination of abalone and abalone mushrooms. Fun!

Chicken velvet Benu

Beef braised in pear – Benu

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Beef braised in pear Benu

With beech mushroom, sunflower seeds and leaves. Pre fixe dinner $180
Benu, San Francisco

Sorry that this pic didn’t turn out very well, but the meat was dark and it was served on a dark plate. The beef, however, was tasty (perhaps a little on the tasty side though). My favorite part was the sunflower seeds and leaves. I’ve never had the leaves before and they were fun to eat along with the seeds.

Beef braised in pear Benu

Chicken with black moss – Benu

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Chicken with black moss Benu

With mountain yam and celery. Pre fixe dinner $180
Benu, San Francisco

I loved the chicken and the broth in this dish, but I didn’t like the mountain yam. The yam was too slimy for my taste. Also, I liked how the black moss looked on the plate, but it didn’t taste like anything. The chicken, on the other hand, was so moist and delicious. I don’t think I’ve ever had chicken prepared this way. That’s another reason why I loved this dinner at Benu, it afforded me the opportunity to try so many different things. I didn’t like everything, but I certainly appreciated all the dishes.

Chicken with black moss Benu

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

Salt and pepper squid – Benu

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Salt and pepper squid Benu

Puffed squid with pickled serrano pepper slices, serrano chili powder, micro cilantro leaves, dollops of garlic sauce, and diced pieces of squid. Pre fixe dinner $180
Benu, San Francisco

This was really fun to eat. At first, I didn’t realize that the black portion was also squid that had been puffed. I loved the flavors and all the different textures.

Salt and pepper squid Benu

Eel, feuille de brick – Benu

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Project 365: Day 105

I’m learning a lot at this conference – mostly about labor laws and conflict resolution. There’s a lot of information being thrown at us and I’m trying to take in as much as I can. I ran over to The Bellagio and had lunch at Todd English’s Olives. We were only given a short lunch today, so I barely made it back to the conference on time. We have a reception this evening where they will be providing basic drinks and oeur d’oeuvres. I think that since I’ve been pigging out way too much this trip, I’ll attend that and forgo having dinner afterward.

Eel, feuille de brick Benu

With creme fraiche and lime. Pre fixe dinner $180
Benu, San Francisco

Ok, let’s just call this an eel cigarette! This wrapped eel dish was really small, but tasty nonetheless. It was difficult to get a really nice eel flavor since there was only a sliver of it inside the feuille de brick. I appreciated the delicateness of it especially since its fried.

Eel, feuille de brick Benu

It looks like a smiley face!

Creme fraiche and lime Benu

Creme fraiche and lime.

Caramelized anchovy – Benu

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Caramelized anchovy Benu

With lily bulb, peanut, and pickles. Pre fixe dinner $180
Benu, San Francisco

I think the caramelized anchovy was actually the reddish, dome shaped gelee with more slices of lily bulb embedded inside. There were a few pieces of lily bulb scattered on the plate in addition to dried fish and pickle. I don’t know what the soft, white gelatinous cubes were. This dish totally brought me back to Filipino flavors and textures though. It struck me as odd to get that memory while eating at Benu!

Caramelized anchovy Benu

Monkfish liver – Benu

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Project 365: Day 104

The conference began today, and I’m both excited and dreading it. There’s people from all over the country and let me just say that the wardrobe is across the board. There are people in shorts and sandals, and there are others (like myself) in pressed slacks and dress shirts. It’s also during times like these that I wish I worked at a place where they can at least afford to provide coffee during breaks, hehe. The coffee in the lobby costs nearly $5 and doesn’t taste very good. I ran over to Caesars Palace to grab lunch at the bar at Mesa Grill. I’m not a huge fan of Bobby Flay, but I wanted to give his restaurant a go. It was pretty good and the bar service was friendly and expedient.

I kind of got carried away after the conference. I went for an early drink (Manhattan) and snacks (clam chowder and raw oysters) at P.J. Clarke’s, then went with a colleague for a full-on dinner at Grand Lux Cafe. Suffice it to say that I totally over-ate! Ugh, I have NO self-control when it comes to food.

Monkfish liver Benu

With caviar, pistachio, cauliflower, lemon jelly, and brioche. Pre fixe dinner $180
Benu, San Francisco

This was a very decadent course. It tasted great, but it was definitely on the heavy side. I’m still not sure what all the components were. The green crumbles were dried pistachio, but I’m not sure what the green blob was – it didn’t taste like lemon jelly. The orange disc was the monkfish liver. I got one! 🙂

Monkfish liver Benu

So many components, so little time (and tummy space, hehe)!

Brioche Benu

Brioche. So rich and buttery.

Thousand year old quail egg – Benu

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Thousand year old quail egg Benu

With potage, ginger, and micro greens. Pre fixe dinner $180
Benu, San Francisco

I guess potage is a kind of thick soup. I must say that the potage was the best part of this dish! It had such a depth of flavor. Everybody has made such a fuss about the thousand year old quail egg, but unfortunately it doesn’t taste like anything! It’s more a texture in the dish than a flavor. This dish was beautiful though and I loved the bowl it was served in.

Thousand year old quail egg Benu

7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2011

Oyster, pork belly, kimchi – Benu

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Project 365: Day 103

Today I flew to Las Vegas to attend a work conference which starts tomorrow. I’ll admit that I’m not a big fan of Vegas as a vacation destination. I don’t like the majority of tourists and everything is ridiculously overpriced. Vegas is a place that I can’t truly relax, even poolside. There’s inevitably going to be a bunch of douche-y college kids (and adults for that matter) partying it up WAY too hard in a trashy way. Oh well, what can you do? To each he’s own. It makes for AMAZING people watching though. Besides the conference, I’m going to try and focus on the food to keep me busy. I don’t have any plans tonight but I’ll probably hit up Secret Pizza at The Cosmopolitan for a quick bite, then head to a local bar off The Strip to relax and take the edge off.

Oyster, pork belly, kimchi Benu

Pre fixe dinner $180
Benu, San Francisco

Every dish at Benu has so many ingredients that it’s often difficult to know what every component is or how it’s incorporated into the dish. This was the second course, and I’m gonna say that it was one of my favorites! This small bite was presented on a wooden pedestal and you’re urged to eat it quickly because the warm filling might melt through the thin cellophane-y container. As proof of my ignorance, I’m still not sure where the kimchi was in this, hehe.

Oyster, pork belly, kimchi Benu

Beautiful and delicious!

Lavash bread Benu

Lavash bread. Complimentary