Somni (*) – Los Angeles, CA

I didn’t get a chance to go to Somni 1.0 and was lucky enough to get a late reservation to dine at Chef Aitor Zabala’s Somni 2.0 last night. It was an incredibly long (3.5hrs) but enjoyable meal full of whimsical elements that I loved. Service was warm, refined, and very comfortable throughout the experience, which started in the patio garden with a Tokyo fizz and small bites before moving indoors to the chef’s table.

1. garden bites—fried almond, tarragon raspberry meringue, sardine on sardine cracker, trufflecini with matsutake and truffle, mussels “tigre” in edible shell, parmesan feather—best bites were the mussel and the mushroom
2. pizza margherita—texturally a little bit brain breaking due to the light, crunchy foam crust made of tomato water, flavorwise perfectly pizza-like
3. gazpacho “blanco”—absolutely delicious and refreshing with strong tomato flavor paired with the bright aromatics and I think ice plant; the plate had the vines of the tomatoes that we were told to rub with our hands for the scent
4. coco crab—crab meat and a super flavorful crab foam, with kohlrabi, fennel, cilantro, and coconut cream, one of my favorite courses
5. shiso puff tartare—beef tenderloin tartare on a fried shiso leaf covered in starflowers, visually gorgeous, couldn’t really taste the shiso but the tartare was very flavorful
6. mar y montaña (surf & turf)—golden kaluga caviar, tuna tartare with a chicken escabeche; the escabeche gave the dish an incredibly savory depth and very enjoyable, and there was a jelly at the bottom under everything but didn’t catch what it was
7. croissant—potato croissant (slice of potato rolled and fried) with truffle and egg yolk cream, like breakfast for dinner and very reminiscent of dipping hash brown or toast in a runny egg
8. mejillones—amazing dish, the mussel meat was insanely tender and briny, covered in a saffron sauce and pastis, anise, dashi, and tarragon foam
9. spanish turbot—dry-aged filet of turbot from galicia, sugar snap peas and squid ink caviar, pea sprouts, pressed apple balls in a consommé made from fish head and bones, and a generous shaving of alba white truffle; the perfect fish dish and everything was surprisingly complementary, my favorite of the night by far
10. engawa—turbot “wing” in teriyaki sauce with shiso flower and leaf, very fatty, gelatinous, similar in flavor to unagi
11. ensaimada—a savory version of the pillowy, buttery pastry filled with onion sofrito, burrata, and truffle
12. iberico pork—sadly my least favorite course because everything was heavy and salty (naturally from the jamón), but the jamón stuffed morel was delicious and the jamón jelly bean was fun
13. “cow and her milk”—crispy cow cracker with fresh cheese from burgundy (didn’t catch name), apples, and toasted hazelnuts; kind of a savory fruity cheese course rather than a dessert course
14. silenci d’hivern—I’m not actually sure what this was, sort of like a yuzu panna cotta with miso, kinako, and vanilla ice cream
15. sweet little things—starting with a golden kiwi bite, and an assortment of sweets: “donut” (chocolate shell filled with cream, maybe cookies and cream), arroz con leche mochi dumpling, passion fruit madeleine, berry gummies, and strawberries & cream

Hajime may have ruined NA pairings for me because while Somni’s was pretty good, it wasn’t as interesting as I’d hoped. Every drink had the same sweet/tart profile with different (good) flavors. They were, as described, more like mocktails than what Hajime did with their drinks. I particularly loved the sparkling pomegranate earl grey and the cacao nib pink peppercorn cola. I don’t have extensive drink pairing experience though so this is all personal preference.

Somni is by far the most expensive single meal I’ve had, even with the NA pairing and my husband’s “Arrels” pairing being the two cheapest options, without any additional alcohol, coming out to a whopping $2200 for two after tax and tip. A drink pairing is mandatory and included in the pp price. Price wise it’s similar to our meals at SÉZANNE and Hajime, minus the favorable exchange rate and Japan’s no tipping culture. I thought it was worth it given the overall experience and the amount of food (including Alba truffle and a lot of caviar) served.

Chef Zabala was very approachable and friendly and even asked us for food recs around the city, whether seriously or not, I thought was very nice of him. Special shoutout to MJ for answering all my questions beforehand, as well as the entire Somni team for their hospitality.

p.s. anyone know where I can find the little crab spoon/chopstick holder? 😋