The Big Five O - 2/13/10

A celebration at Michael Mina

Michael Mina - San Francisco Course One Course Two Course three

Michael Mina is famous for his trio courses which is different renditions of the same theme, plus three sides to match, on custom Mina-designed modular china. That's six different preparations per dish or a total of 12 different flavors over the course of an evening, not including dessert.  It's a bit fussy for anyone who prefers to order a few things that sound good and eat lots of bites of them, but if the idea of sampling lots of styles and flavors appeals to you, this edible food-combination case study is likely to be a culinary wonder. To tell you the truth, I love the idea of sampling a bunch of different flavors.  The service here is also great.  An army of black-clad servers cruises the room and pay the utmost attention to their guests.

The Amuse bouche

This trio is compliment of the chef.  The waiter told us that the Amuse Bouche is inspired by the French cuisine.

Details below:

Brandade the morue with Aioli

Excellent unfortunately the portion was too small and the flavor was one with just one bite!

I can't remember what he said about this dish but it is basically poached shrimps with with vegetable and fish row.  It was very refreshing and good too.

Lobster bisque was excellent.  Again too bad the portion was very small. 

 

Course one

Hoa and Kevin selected the Wolfe Ranch Quail - Pistachio and Truffe.

Closer look of the dish below:

Herb roasted breast with Poached prune, sauce Perigourdine.

Excellent job!  Every thing was just perfectly balanced. 

Leg confit jambonette, pomegrate aioli, frisee salad.

This dish was also very good. 

Seared foie gras, persimmon coulis, pistachio butter.

The Foie gras was so good!  It was seared to perfection that the top layer was a bit crunchy and the inside just melted in your mouth.  The sauce was also so good.

I choose the Marinated Fish-Seaweed

Closer look at the dish below:

Kombu-cured Hirame (flat fish), Uni Aioli, Honshimeji Mushroom.

The first is so fresh and the Uni Aioli really enhanced the taste of the fish the fish roe added a bit of saltiness and pleasant flavor to the dish.  I love it!

Hon Hamachi (yellow tail), Hijiki (brown sea vegetable), Salted cherry blossom.

So fresh and the so delicious!

Sawara (Spanish Makerel in Chilli ginger vinaigrette and Mizuna salad with fried Calamari.

When I saw the Makerel I did not think it was going to be good but it turned to be a nice surprise.  The fish was so tasty and the chilli ginger vinaigrette sauce was perfect!

 

So you want to know how much I like these trio?  No explanation is needed, just look at the picture!

Next...Course Two

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