Kristine had an evening free on a work trip to SF so we were so happy to be able to take her out for dinner and it was close enough to her birthday that it was a good excuse to also celebrate that. I was able to score a last minute reservation at Benu, a 3-Michelin star restaurant by Corey Lee. Andrea and I last ate here on February 21, 2020, right before the pandemic lockdown and had a fantastic experience then and were happy to revisit.

While we were waiting for Kristine to arrive, we were waiting in the entry area with the hostess. They have a turntable playing vinyl (I should have taken a picture. I didn’t catch the model of turntable, but could see it had an ortofon red cartridge on it), which we commented to the hostess how we also enjoy listening to vinyl. She asked what kind of music we listened to and I mentioned jazz. It was nice of her to later put on some jazz during our meal.

The menu had some fixed starters and desserts, but the 3 courses in the middle we chose from several options. Kristine and I both opted for the abalone course and the mulhwe. Andrea went for the charcoal noodles and the glazed turbot. For the third course, Andrea went with the grilled beef rib, I went with the pork belly, grilled pork cheek, and Kristine went with the barbecued quail. Preparation of every dish was incredibly meticulous and ingredients were interesting and tasty. A couple of our favorites were still the carryovers from when we last dined here – the mussel dish (visually stunning as well) and the oak 3-ways (acorn tortilla, truffle, and jamon) and I really enjoyed the pork cheek. Wine and sake pairings were all enjoyable and interesting (we each ordered something different for each course and shared them all) and service was exceptional.

The biggest miss was one of the desserts (I forgot to take a picture) because it was going for subtle, but was just bland.

But most importantly for the evening, we were able to share this experience with our dear friend Kristine (she was my best man at our wedding and I gave her away at hers). Safe travels back home and we can’t wait to see you again.