2014 Dinner at Benu in San Francisco
(10/8/2014)
2014 Dinner at Benu in San Francisco(10/8/2014)
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Our friend Vlad was very generous and gave Katherine and I a gift certificate to the San Francisco restaurant Benu. The restaurant only serves one meal all night - it is a 17 course meal where each course is TINY so at the end you are "full" but not stuffed. We had the wine pairings, and you really can't drive yourself home if you drink it all. :-) Here are the courses we had:
1) Thousand-year-old quail egg, potage, ginger - Wine Pairing:
Prager, Grüner
Veltliner, Hinter Der Burg, Wachau, Austria 2012
2) oyster, pork belly, kimchi
3) Fresh water eel, feuille de brick, crème fraîche
4) Sour palm with oyster leaf - Wine Pairing: Castro Martin, Albariño, Rías
Baixas, Spain 2012
5) Pine nut tofu
6) gingko nut with pine needle
7) anchovy, lily bulb, peanut - Wine Pairing:
Marcel Deiss, Engelgarten, Alsace,
France 2011
*** 7.5) bread and honeycomb butter, with
chrysanthemum honey - not listed as one of the courses.
8) lobster coral xiao long bao - Sour Beer Pairing:
Rodenbach, Flemish Red-Brown
Ale, Belgium 2011
9) Japanese spiny conch - Wine Pairing: Lyrarakis, Plyto, Crete, Greece, 2013
10) fish maw, potato, lemon-sesame, coriander - Sake Pairing: Matsuno Kotobuki,
Tochigi 14, Junmai, Tochigi, Japan
11) jellyfish-wrapped shrimp, caviar, horseradish
11.5) Somewhere around here they served "home made Soju" made at Benu - not
mentioned in wine list.
12) sablefish, wild bamboo fungi, cabbage, hot mustard - Wine Pairing:
Heitlinger, Auxerrois, Baden, Germany 2013
13) roast quail, pear, sunflower - Wine Pairing:
Onward, Pinot Noir, Hawkeye
Ranch, Redwood Valley, California 2012
14) beef rib, shiitake muchroom, burdock, charred scallion - Wine Pairing:
Copain, Syrah, Hawk's Butte, Yorkville Highlands, California 2006
15) "shark fin soup", dungeness crab, Jinhau ham custard
16) green apple sorbet with yuzu - Wine Pairing:
Blandy's, Verdelho, Madiera,
Portugal 1968
17) fresh and dried yuba, almond, white chocolate - Wine Pairing:
Valdespino,
Pedro Ximénez, El Candado, Sherry, Jerez, Spain
There was also an 18th "after dinner" course which was a chocolate truffle like thing.
In a flat list, here are the wine pairings:
A) Prager, Grüner
Veltliner, Hinter Der Burg, Wachau, Austria 2012
B) Castro Martin, Albariño, Rías Baixas, Spain 2012
C) Marcel Deiss, Engelgarten, Alsace, France 2011
D) Rodenbach, Flemish Red-Brown Ale, Belgium 2011
E) Lyrarakis, Plyto, Crete, Greece, 2013
F) Matsuno Kotobuki, Tochigi 14, Junmai, Tochigi, Japan
F.5) Home made Soju - made at Benu - not listed on "official" wine list
G) Heitlinger, Auxerrois, Baden, Germany 2013
H) Onward, Pinot Noir, Hawkeye Ranch, Redwood Valley, California 2012
I) Copain, Syrah, Hawk's Butte, Yorkville Highlands, California 2006
J) Blandy's, Verdelho, Madiera, Portugal 1968
K) Valdespino, Pedro Ximénez, El Candado, Sherry, Jerez, Spain
Click here for an interview with Chef Corey Lee.
Below is a picture of three of the courses, from left to right this is: 4) Sour palm with oyster leaf, 5) Pine nut tofu, and 6) gingko nut with pine needle
Below is a freshwater eel, battered and fried, then you dip it in a sauce.
A LOT OF WINE is served.
This is not my picture, but from the web of the "thousand year old quail egg, potage, ginger" which was the first course:
A picture of the bread and honeycomb butter with chrysanthemum honey (not my picture, off the web):
This is the chrysanthemum honey poured over the butter:
This was a "bun" with a filling of black truffle oil and duck breast or something. Picture not mine, it is from the web, we think this was served with the "bread course" pictured above.
Below is also not my picture, found on the web, which is the "Oyster Pork Belly with hard shell kimchi wrapper":
Another picture (not mine) which is the "lobster corral xiao long bao". The "dipping sauce" was like a vinegar, this was paired with the sour beer:
Another picture (not mine) from the internet, this is the "Spiny Conch, sesame, mayonnaise". The "conch" is the two little strips sitting on the shell, they just re-use the shell as a decorative serving platter:
Another picture (not mine) from the internet, this is the "Caramelized anchovy, lily bulb, peanut, pickles":
That's it!