3* BENU:

My foodie friends and I met at Benu for dinner this past Friday night, my second time (in 3 years) and their first time dining here. Truly, this is about as good as it gets when it comes to Asian style fine dining outside of Asia.

Compared with my dinner 3 years ago, this dinner seemed even more refined and far more Asian in every way. Much less French influence than I recall, and the wine pairings in particular were more akin to those I've enjoyed while in Asia's top restaurants.

The dinner was absolutely sublime--and the wine pairings REALLY took it over the top. These were some of the most incredible wine pairings I've ever enjoyed. I daresay I even enjoyed dinner here a bit more than our dinner in July at Saison. There was an easy simplicity and flow to the overall dinner, despite there being so many intriguing and distinct flavor and texture combinations.

Service was flawless, and we enjoyed a few casual conversations and even joking around a bit with the sommelier and other members of the staff. They even invited us back to the kitchen to meet Chef Lee--who was most gracious and friendly and spent quite a few minutes catching up with us, surprisingly.

The dining room was, as I remembered, lovely in its clean simplicity--reflecting the menu quite well, in fact. We even ended up in conversation and trading information with a lovely couple seated next to us, not something that often happens in a 3 star restaurant!

My final bill was about $650. A very fair price for what was an incredibly enjoyable and very comfortable dining experience.

No question, Benu is one of the most exciting restaurants in the USA and clearly is among the best in the world. Easily deserving of its 3 Michelin stars and world ranking. I'd say it's now my favorite in SF.

1* MOURAD:

My friends and I decided to dine again at Mourad, even as I'd just been here (and had an incredible dinner with my husband) in July.

Dinner again was fantastic. Service was wonderful. The sommelier suggested a great wine to pair with all our dishes.

We were seated in the rear dining room on the second floor, which I didn't enjoy as much as the main dining room. That being said, it likely was a bit more quiet. So choose accordingly!

This also has become one of my favorites in San Francisco. That I dined the night before at amazing Benu and still loved Mourad says a lot, I think.