After almost 2 years of postponing our dinner at Kiln, we finally made it.

Kiln is a one Michelin starred restaurant in San Francisco where the Nordic inspired tasting menu highlights preservation techniques, like curing and fermentation, while integrating unique flavor combinations. You do prepay for your dinner in advance, a common practice at fine dining restaurants, and we were originally supposed to go for our anniversary in October 2023. However at that time, the tasting menu had several dishes with mushrooms on it and since I don’t eat mushrooms, we were able to save the reservation for another time. At most fine dining restaurants, they are able to accommodate dietary restrictions to an extent but at Kiln they are unable to accommodate requests to modify or substitute any of their dishes for food allergies, preferences, and dietary needs. Anytime we reached out to the team over the following year, the menu did contain several dishes with mushrooms. Finally we decided to go even though they still had one dish with mushrooms as I could easily give that dish to Tommaso.

The industrial interior exudes a contemporary sleek vibe with its minimal but thoughtful decor.

You don’t receive the actual menu until the end of the meal so we had no idea what and how many dishes were going to the served. Typically their tasting menu can have anywhere between 18-20 dishes.

The first bite with an airy crisp beef tendon, chicharron like, with sweet potato and a vinegar made out of roasted onion.

The next bite was crispy potato layers filled with Andante Dairy “Minuet”, soft ripened triple cream cheese made with goat’s milk and enriched with crème fraîche. Perigord black truffles were mixed in without being overpowering and it was finished with shaved lamb’s heart and malt vinegar. A surprising mix of flavors.

Beautiful!

Thinly sliced pieces of cured shima aji, also known as striped jack fish, was topped with daikon and spruce needles. The sauce was made from preserved green gooseberries and a pine infused oil. A very delicate dish.

This adorable seaweed tart was stuffed with sweet Dungeness crab meat dressed in dill pollen vinegar topped with Oscietra caviar. Very luxurious.

This was one of my favorite dishes of the night where the sliced scallops were gently warmed over the fire and served with a fermented pumpkin sauce finished with roasted seaweed and cypress seeds.

The oyster was lightly poached and was on top of a gelée of the oyster liquor and finished with aged beef fat and a vinaigrette made from linden flowers.

Local abalone was lightly braised and finished over the fire where the meat was tender but still had a slight bite. The abalone livers were made into a condiment and were underneath the abalone meat and the luscious sauce was made from vin jaune, a type of white wine, and fig leaves.

This halibut was poached in iberico ham fat and was topped with shingled pieces of shinko pear flavored with vanilla. The sauce was made from the fish bones, green cardamom, and sake lees.

The aged squab breast was smoked and then roasted with honey that created a lacquered finish. Underneath was a purée of somerset apples flavored with cognac and hazelnuts. This wasn’t my favorite dish as the squab was slightly rare for my personal preference so Tommaso finished my piece.

While I like the concept of utilizing all parts of an animal, this homemade venison salami fell short. The leg meat was made into a sausage and was seasoned with rum and warm spices and hung for 4 months in their cellar. We both felt like this was an unnecessary dish and it just lacked flavor. However, the pieces of salami were heart shaped which was a cute accident.

Who doesn’t love fresh warm bread and butter?! I liked their bread made from dark rye and buckwheat flour which resulted in an earthy flavor. The following dish was served along the bread course and this was the only dish with mushrooms in it. I did taste a small component of it and it was actually really delicious.  The fat cap of ribeye beef was cured, diced, and then rendered, and served with roasted sunchokes, fermented mushrooms, and topped off with a porcini mushroom sauce. This happened to be Tommaso’s favorite dish so he was happy to eat two portions.

 

This aged beef was slowly cooked over the fire and was extremely tender. Under the beef was a condiment made of black currants and its leaves with grilled endive dressed in beef fat and finished with a bone marrow yuzu sauce.

This tart was served with the beef course where the shell was made from grilled beets and topped with beef that’s been lightly seared and finished with a woodruff emulsion and nettles.

The last savory course featured another cheese from Andante Dairy, “Nocturne”, a cow’s milk cheese where it was inside the malted barley tart finished with truffle and buckwheat honey. I really enjoyed the mini tart with the savoriness of the cheese with the sweetness of the honey and slight earthy notes from the truffle. The broth of smoked ham hocks with koji was fine but I personally didn’t need it. They did recommend that as you eat the tart, you should sip on the broth in between bites.

This refreshing raw milk sorbet was served with several preparations of tangy rhubarb and finished with a meadowsweet oil.

This simple looking dessert packed quite the punch. The silky roasted chestnut ice cream was on top of a creamy crémeux made from chestnut skins and finished with a sauce made of 35% chocolate and dry vermouth.

Of course the petit fours didn’t disappoint either where we had pistachio and white chocolate elderflower bites; anise seed and salted butter toffees; 70% chocolates with bergamot; and rosehip pâte de fruits.

At the end of the meal they take a polaroid as a keepsake, a very nice touch.

It’s been awhile since we’ve dined at a fine dining restaurant so this was a treat. Service was friendly yet polished. What we both loved about Kiln was their exciting and unexpected pairings of ingredients that somehow worked together. Like I mentioned earlier, they focus on various preservation techniques from curing to drying to fermentation, and cooking over an open fire. The cookery of all proteins was also perfect. I think getting two Michelin stars could be in their future if they elevated their desserts as both contained a sorbet/ice cream component and not a baked dessert. The food at Kiln was something new and innovative so my overall rating is an 8.5/10.