BUSHI-TEI, SAN FRANCISCO

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that most of my friends eventually move to SF. (Yes Leah, I'm waiting on you). The first one to move here has been Sue Min, she's here for at least 3 years for dental school, and it's really nice having a friend from the East Coast, who loves to eat as much as I do.

Unfortunately Sue Min is often quite busy with school, so we haven't been able to hang out as frequently, so when she called me up for brunch recently, I agreed to meet up with her. Sue Min now has a favorite brunch place, a restaurant called Bushi-Tei located in Japantown (one of the few places I know how to navigate in SF). It's a Japanese French restaurant that features a prix fixe brunch menu. Now, it's more than I would normally spend on brunch, but I rarely go into the city, so I didn't mind spending the money.

So here's the exterior of the restaurant

It's got this mix of modern and rustic - with some large wooden pieces inside. I liked this huge communal table they have running down the length of the restaurant made of some really cool wood. Sue min was a little late, but luckily, she'd chosen a restaurant next to one of my favorite stores in Japantown, Super 7. So I hopped over there and bought Tom a little key chain while I waited for her to arrive.

She did eventually show up and we sat at a table in the window. The restaurant was pretty empty (which is probably why they offer the prix fixe deal in the first place), but the waiter was helpful and pretty friendly (though a little pushy trying to up our bill with special lemonades and iced teas - we passed). So for the prix fixe, you're allowed to choose two courses from the menu. All of it is French-Japanese inspired food. After we ordered, we were given this lovely and adorable selection of breads and pastries.

They were all very fresh and quite yummy. Then my first course arrived I ordered a corn soup:

My soup was pretty yummy. It was kinda thin and not as corn flavored as my favorite corn soup served at Gotham, the restaurant that I used to work at in NY. But it was still very nice. Next up, Sue min and I both ordered the crab cake hollandaise:

I know. Truly decadent and a bit over the top, but they were really tasty. The hollandaise sauce wasn't too heavy and those crab cakes were basically all crab meat and very little filler. I enjoyed it quite a lot, but at this point, I had gotten quite full and only managed to finish one of them. I ended up taking the second crab cake home.

Lastly, I ordered dessert. I hadn't planned to, but Sue Min ordered dessert and I that encourage me to do so. I ordered something light - a trio of sorbets

There was a mango, green apple and pear. All were homemade and very light and delicious. The mango was my favorite.

Bushi-Tei was a lovely restaurant for brunch with a friend. Though I don't think I'll be going back any time soon (I ended up spend around $40, which is more than I'd spend at dinner for two normally), but it's a pleasant place to take someone like my mom (especially if she's paying.)