Sweet & Savory

SF Dine About Town: Part I-B

This is a continuation on A's rather thorough introduction to our first SF Dine About Town experience, at the Ana Mandara.

The decor was lush, intimate, and sensual. Definitely a place to impress your date or hold little dinner parties. As the tables were situated very close to each other, A and I were privy to some sketchy alcohol-induced conversations. [Mental note to self: Never drink so much wine that you embarrass yourself by annoucing tidbits about your personal life and/or parts.]

I'm afraid I wasn't as impressed with the cuisine at Ana Mandara as A was. One of the things I like to check out at new restaurants is their fruity cocktails. Remembering my previously eavesdropped conversation from the next table, I limited myself to just one cocktail - the Ana Mandara signature cocktail. The cocktail was a soft yellow with swirls of tiny mint bits and one large random piece of orange peel. It tasted of orange (which I guess would explain the reasoning behind the floating orange peel) and mint seltzer water with very slight traces of alcohol. The menu said it contained lemongrass. But aside from the lemongrass shred turned impromptu swizzle stick, I could detect no lemongrass.

For my first course on the prix fixe menu, I picked the dungeoness crab sesame noodles. I'm not sure what the ingredients were but the flavor of the sauce was just too overwhelming and the noodles were undercooked. Different people have different preferences on how salty their food should be and how soft the noodle should. I guess this dish just wasn't for me.

For my second course, I had the "seared Mekong basa with scallion flowers and spicy lemon sauce". I was particularly excited as the waiter had highly recommended it (THREE times to the another table next to us), saying it was their signature dish. The Mekong basa turned out to be like lightly breaded cod in its firmness and texture. It came served on top of lightly sautéed tiny pea shoots with a pool of lemony fish sauce speckled with chili. I wasn't particularly inspired by it. It reminded me a little of lemon chicken, except replace the chicken with fish.

Lastly, the MOST exciting course of all. The dessert course!! I choose the pot de crème with vietnamese coffee. It came with a dallop of whipped cream dusted with cocoa powder and with a triangle sesame wafer stuck on top. This was definitely the highlight of the meal. It was creamy, light, and had a nice coffee flavor.

In all, the dishes I had at Ana Mandara were disappointing. I did get to sneak some bites off of A's plates and they were definitely better. So perhaps I picked the wrong dishes or it was an off day for them. Hearing and reading all the hype from friends and reviews makes me feel like I should go back and give it another try. Hm... Maybe I will, but at a much later time when I can start fresh again.