Benu by Chef Corey Lee

www.benusf.com

Visit date: December 18

Dinner at the much anticipated Benu by Corey Lee (previously at French Laundry by Thomas Keller) tonight lasts 3.5 hours. We order the chef’s 11 course tasting menu. What can I say? The food is good… but… being a 4-month old restaurant, there is definitely some growing and refining to do. I understand Chef Lee is trying to bring Asian flavors into a more upscale point of view, but some of it still seems/tastes scattered.

On the one hand, Lee offers dishes with clean flavors and classic techniques, while on the other, some dishes are deep fried and heavy. The deep fried abalone is reminiscent of Italian food. One general trouble I have with upscale Asian food is that, often times, the food lacks “Asian-ness”. I suppose this is part of upscaling Asian to a wider audience. I suppose using Asian ingredients is enough.

Some low points – The second course offering is oysters with apple ice and horseradish. The apple ice is a tad too cold such that I couldn’t taste the flavor of the oysters. Had the waiter not told me, I wouldn’t have dug down deep enough to taste the horseradish underneath.

Speaking of, the waiters do a great job of reciting the menu verbatim (a copy is kept at the table), but unless you ask about a particular dish or what an ingredient is, you have no idea. Luckily, I have an Asian background, but still, I have some questions. What is “chicken Cecilia”?

Chicken Cecilia is inspired by Cecilia Chang, owner of a small empire in SF Chinatown and also mother to the owner of PF Chang’s. Apparently, she saw the abundance of yellow chives this time of year and suggested to Chef Lee to incorporate them into a dish. The chicken is shaped into a roulade, but unfortunately doesn't taste much of yellow chive.

Some high points – Sesame tofu with marinated salmon roe is surprising. The tofu arrives in the shape of a tiny bbq pork bun. Once you cut it in half, the salmon roe is nestled inside, perfectly unharmed. The starter of thousand-year-old quail egg, and dessert of persimmon pudding and burnt acorn ice cream are great openers and finishers. I do very much enjoy dessert with fruit – light and happy ending.

One last thing to mention – all the dishware is specifically made for Benu by Korean porcelain manufacture KwangJuYo. I wonder what happens if Lee wants to make a dish that doesn’t fit his current plating designs…

At this point, I may or may not take pictures of the food because mine never come out as good as the printed press that has all the good lighting. So for this post, the pictures you see are copies of stuff I found on the web.

Our meal. It might seem like alot, but when you have this many courses,

many of the dishes are 1-2 bites. I left feeling just right, not too full.

I've learned not to order the dish-by-dish wine pairings because it can

be over the top for so many courses, and extremely filling.

Chef Corey Lee

unleavened bread with sesame seeds and fennel

sesame tofu with marinated salmon roe

eel, feuille de brick, creme fraiche

trio:

1) eel, feuille de brick, creme fraiche

2) caramelized anchovy, peanut, lily bulb (was hoping for more anchovy flavor)

3) mountain yam and shrimp souffle

monkfish liver torchon - ours was slightly different
with accompaniments of cucmber, turnip, salted plum.

not shown was the amaaaazing brioche - buttery goodness!

crispy cod milt, pickles, mustard

"shark's fin" soup, dungeness crab, Jinhua ham, black truffle custard

chicken Cecilia

chocolates

(check out the special container they're served in)

Just another sample of the special porcelain dishware.

The rectangular shaped handle is for coffee, while the other is for tea.