My has it been a long time since my last post. I have yet another from when Caroline visited last year. This is about our date in San Francisco, specifically our dinner at Michelin two star restaurant Benu.

Before dinner, we spent some time in the Exploratorium, including the Tactile Dome. Unfortunately, I was so captivated by the exhibits that I only took one picture while inside.

After some time in the museum, we drove to SoMA.

Since Caroline rarely drinks and I was driving, we started dinner with some Vignette Wine Country Soda. The soda is made from the same grapes that many popular local wines are made from. It was simple, light and refreshing. I highly recommend it as a non-alcoholic alternative to wine at a dinner party.

When we first sat down at our places, we noticed these black objects that were placed inside the folded napkins on the table. We wondered what they were until our first course came, when we found out that they are just rests for our utensils.

The Amuse-bouche: fresh made tofu with dashi shoyu.

As an appetizer, Caroline had the soft poached duck egg, sausage, smoked cracklings, alliums and black truffle bun.

I hade the abalone grenobloise with cauliflower. A sea snail prepared in a traditional French brown butter sauce.

Next came the starches. Caroline ordered the snail shell pasta made with fermented black bean, caramelized clam jus and cilantro. The flavor of the pasta was so clear and memorable that I can still clearly remember the taste and texture.

I had the matsutake mushroom porridge with pine nuts and sesame. The porridge really focused on the mushroom. It wasn’t overly seasoned, allowing us to fully experience the depth of flavor in the mushroom.

We both chose seafood for our protein. Caroline’s was the whole sea bass, sauerbrussels, salsify, chestnut, pomegranate and ginger.

Mine was the bigfin squid, sablefish, lion’s mane mushroom, broccoli, lily bulb, walnut and yuzu. I liked that every ingredient was placed separately on the dish. It allowed me to try different combinations while eating.

Dessert was perhaps the most fascinating course. We ordered the pear custard, chamomile, buttermilk and pound cake. Take a good look at it. You can probably spot little balls of asian pear, spots of buttermilk, the custard and the most startling ingredient: an almost flawless, clear square of sugar candy.

Lastly, our server arrived with a wooden block that split in half to reveal petits fours sitting atop platforms.

Our dinner could only be described as an experience. The ingredients and their preparation intrigued us while indulging our appetites. Benu certainly isn’t a traditional restaurant in any sense. The staff and patrons are all much younger than at other Michelin star restaurants I have been to. Even though the ingredients themselves may not have been that exotic, their preparations were far from classical. Eating at Benu made me realize the scale of everything I don’t yet understand about food.

I’d certainly recommend Benu, but only for those with more developed palates. If you go, prepare to be surprised.