Chef Corey Lee, fresh off a stint as the chef de cuisine at Thomas Keller's highly acclaimed French Laundry restaurant, is the talent behind San Francisco’s exciting fine dining restaurant, Benu. Receiving a highly coveted James Beard Foundation award in 2010, Lee has created a diverse menu of sophisticated East Asian-inspired flavours, without falling prey to the shallow flashiness of molecular gastronomy. Benu’s à la carte menu, available Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays only, enables guests to craft their own personalised menu from a menu divided into Small Appetisers, Pasta & Rice, Fish & Shellfish, Meat & Poultry and Cheese & Dessert. Benu’s multi-course tasting menu, however, is the highlight of the Benu dining experience, described by the chef as, “a work continually in progress, reflecting seasonality, inspiration and evolution.” Expect highly inventive flavours such as chicken cooked sous vide in a pig's bladder, surprising yet earthy; a superb hundred-year quail egg; foie gras xiao long bao; oysters paired with kimchi and pork belly; and the whimsical abalone with abalone mushroom. Advance reservations essential.
