Wednesday, December 8, 2010

BENU ***'

Ordered everything on the regular menu.

A few dishes that I remember:

Monkfish liver torchon cucumber, turnips, slated plum, brioche- smooth creamy perfectly executed cubes on top.


Matsutake Mushroom custard, crab and foie gras custard, ginko nut, green yuzu was a bowl of pure umami flavor, soy in it but well balanced - J&A felt it was a bowl of Japan.

 Abalone genobloise, cauliflower, caper, lemon, parsley - love the crunchy savory abalone with the bright genobloise.

Oak-acorn strozzapreti, iberico ham, miner's lettuce, grey truffle - loved this, familiar flavor of mook (Korean acorn jelly).  Loved the creative application of this to an Italian style of pasta.  My favorite dish of the evening: chewy nutty.  The grey truffle was so finely shaved we couldn't figure it out, but the whole thing worked well.

Risotto sea urchin, butternut squash, celery, black truffle - awesome savory, high quality sea urchin - rich and delicious.

Spanish Mackerel pain de mie, parsley root, carrot, preserved ramps - loved the pain de mie, though didn't notice the other elements

Sea bass, shrimp, beech mushroom, broccoli, lily bulb, eggplant, xo jiang - was o.k. not my favorite.

The dry-aged "pre sale" lamb was enjoyed by all - full of flavor, great texture.

Orange curd, pistachio ice cream, vanilla tapioca, tasmanian peppercorn - very good.

Chestnut custard, apples, cider, black truffle ice cream, arlette - I liked the chestnut custard, but was not a fan of the black truffle ice cream because it overwhelmed all the other flavors.

Soft chocolate ganache, feuille de brick, banana ice cream, Bourbon caramel, ginger - very good.

J loved the ceramics and the Korean and Japanese style of the place. We checked the designers later on and appreciated the attention to detail in every aspect of the restaurant and the use of KwangJuYo ceramics.

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