Somni - Beverly Hills

[NYCtoLA]

I’ve been meaning to post about Somni, and the revival of this thread has provided me with some motivation.

We really loved our meal there - I would say that it gets you pretty close to the *** Spanish molecular restaurants at which I’ve had the good fortune of dining though not quite there. There were a few meh courses, but there were so many wow moments. The experience felt special, intimate, and whimsical, but most importantly, it was freakin delicious.

Wife went with the non alcoholic pairing, and I went with the middle of the road wine pairing. You don’t get a lot of variety, as mentioned previously, but do get all you can drink. On the non alcoholic pairing, my palate couldn’t distinguish among the different flavor combinations they were describing as we progressed on the course. As a point of reference, I really enjoyed the non alcoholic pairing at Dialogue, which had the most impressive non alcoholic pairing I’ve personally experienced, with really unique combinations of flavors (eg fennel, pine in different drinks).

@hungryhungryhippos I went with the truffle course and enjoyed it and thought it was additive. My wife went without, and I don’t think she missed out. So the meal is immensely satisfying without, but the truffles are additive. Not sure you want to read any further if you want your meal to surprise you. My pics don’t leave much to the imagination

FROM HEREON IN, THERE BE SPOILERS
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You’ve been warned
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When you arrive, they seat you down in a lounge area to wait, but also serve you some sparkling wine and a few snacks.

Butterfly shaped potato chips

Almond Shell

The truffle display They Bring this out to display the truffles available for purchase That evening and mention you get x amount (in weight that I can’t recall) for y dollars (I want to say $80?)

At this point we are ushered into the main dining room to be seated. We end up at the leftmost end of the horseshoe. One of the chefs gives us a quick intro and then it’s on…

Guacamole ice cream on a pestle this of course is to remind you how guacamole is made from grinding avocados; extremely delicious - rich yet refreshing, with the flowers adding a nice fragrance to the bite

First wine pairing course, a Chardonnay from Willamette it had a nice old world mineral and slightly acidic profile

First non alcoholic pairing

Blueberry eucalyptus tart Burst of fruity and savory flavor

Trufflecini

Panelletts

The iconic Caviar served by hand

Next wine course

Next non-alcoholic beverage

Caviar and Truffle

The infamous Pizza Merengue No, it’s not satisfying like a slice of pizza, but I found it refreshing

Chicken Mille-Feuille chicken liver mousse - this dish was not my favorite

Next wine course

Santa Barbara Uni

Non alcoholic course

Wife got the Potato Croissant instead of the uni - finished it before I could try a bite

Shiso Tartare Outstanding!

Vegatarian version with what looked like bell peppers

The tartare

Eel Panini

Ensaimada with Truffle Supplement

Ensaimada without Truffle Supplement

A tease of the King Crab (basically in kobujime?) to come

Next Wine Pairing

Strawberry Negroni A burst of flavor and perfect at this point in the meal

Next Non Alcoholic Course

Beet Gazpacho

Explaining how they make the Strawberry Negroni

…and the Beet Gazpacho

Kohlrabi and Peas A really nice dish

The Truffle Supplement

Russian King Crab previously marinated in kelp This was off the charts! I definitely thought it was much much better than the crab we had at Noma and rivals the best we’ve tried in You-Know-Where Land. It was sweet, rich, juicy, and had a long amazing finish. Might have been the best dish of the night.

Next Wine Course

Non alcoholic Beverage

Tuna Katsu A really nice and primal way to eat tuna - the katsu crust was crisp but delicate, and the meat inside had just enough texture but was mostly rich and almost custard-like

Picked Veggies to accompany the tuna

some background on what we ate

Pigtail Curry Bun

Beef Emmolada Forgot the exact number of days, but this was aged a looong time (I want to say over 100 days), and I think I recall it was A4. Between the aging and the fatty content, this was awesome - a nice balance of fatty richness vs. bloody beef flavors; another highlight dish

The Goat

Dessert Drink Pairings

Frescas Con Nata

Vienetta

Tea

Petit Fours to eat there, and you get the rest to go. Yes, you get the entire box of petit fours (though not the box).

[J_L]

I like your ASAS (Advanced Spoiler Avoidance System). It’s thoughtful for those who haven’t yet been to Somni.

[moonboy403]

wth, your dinner looks so much better than mine and we got 0 petit fours!

[Hungrydrunk]

agreed! and i didn’t get detailed explanations on how things were made, maybe i should’ve asked them.

i know they change things up on their menu but i really wanted to try that potato croissant.

and thanks for the awesome pictures and review @NYCtoLA

[moonboy403]

@Hungrydrunk

didn’t get detailed explanations on how things were made

neither did i. perhaps somni’s ramping things up and shooting for the 3rd

[Hungrydrunk]

yup, i think so. upping their game! i wonder if the price has increased.

[moonboy403]

it’s $280 now and $265 when i went

[aaqjr]

I would def have a second glass of the Calon Segur. looks like some good wines poured at that level

[NYCtoLA]

@moonboy403

wth, your dinner looks so much better than mine and we got 0 petit fours!

I thought they were well worth the $15 extra!

@Hungrydrunk

agreed! and i didn’t get detailed explanations on how things were made, maybe i should’ve asked them

In some cases, it was SOP (e.g., the tuna). In one other case, I think another guest asked about it, and they saw our curious looks, so they came to explain to us as well.

[chrishei]

We need to go back

[Hungrydrunk]

You know I’m down but depends on when…lol

[tailbacku]

Man, I thought Somni was going to be a one and done for me (not because it wasn’t good), but your pics makes me want to go back. Like NOW.

[hungryhungryhippos]

Thank you for the thoughts and the spoiler warning!

It sounds like if anything our money would be best spent on truffles and just ordering ala carts drinks.

Can’t wait to revisit your post after my visit.

[Bagel]

@tailbacku If you follow the head chef on Instagram you can sometimes see experiments that he’s doing to develop new dishes and that just makes the FOMO even worse.

@moonboy403 While I love the presentation and variety on the chocolate box I have to admit that I personally preferred the desserts before the chocolate box came into being. But then again I’m not as into chocolate or desserts so could be me just being oblivious to the magic.

In general I love the non-alcoholic pairing here. My first one and I was really enjoying the contrast between the aroma and taste in the earlier ones. If Dialogue’s is eye-opening then I’ll definitely have to put that on my list.

What really surprises me at how a couple of the dishes have been tweaked and to me tasted even better than before. I actually enjoyed the visuals/thinking behind the pizza and beet gazpacho more than the flavors my first time but when I went again last month I caught myself thinking how I liked it more. Maybe they haven’t changed anything and it’s just me that’s changed and I appreciate it more but I think one of the chefs mentioned they were tweaking and trying to improve, perhaps as part of their drive to aim for 3.

I’m really sad that I seem to have missed the king crab dish. I know it was served before I went and after so not sure why I didn’t get it especially since it looks so good.

On the explanations, generally I find that the more you engage the staff the more they’ll tell you. Obviously not always easy if they’re moving on to prepping the next course but I’ve always been very happy with the interactions with the chefs and the knowledge they are happy to share. If you ask yourself a question out loud they might catch you and come over to answer it too!

[PorkyBelly]

Thanks for the review and great pics. When was this meal? And no after-dinner bang??

[NYCtoLA]

Thanks! This was during MLK weekend.

Wife was with me, so no sneaking out for a hamburger or slice of pizza

[Chowseeker1999]

@PorkyBelly

And no after-dinner bang??

Hi @PorkyBelly,

Does this mean that Somni’s tasting menus aren’t that filling? Or is this just @PorkyBelly legendary levels of eating? For example, after finishing our meals at Saison (when Chef Skenes was still there) and Californios, I’m so stuffed I can’t fathom eating anything else. Is Somni about the same amount of food, or less? Thanks.

[J_L]

@Chowseeker1999

Or is this just @PorkyBelly legendary levels of eating?

This.

He and I are in the “let’s finish off every grain of rice at Hayato and then dig into the employees’ meal too” Club.

[NYCtoLA]

@Chowseeker1999

Or is this just @PorkyBelly legendary levels of eating?

This.

He and I are in the “let’s finish off every grain of rice at Hayato and then dig into the employees’ meal too” Club.

+1 Kidding aside, I could not have done a bang bang after finishing that Somni meal. The same was true of my meal at Californios a while back.

[moonboy403]

@Chowseeker1999

aren’t that filling

it’s more filling than current saison but much less so than providence. you’ll feel satiated.