Aina

To celebrate MsFlamingo's new job, we wanted to try something new in SF. We'd heard from several friends about Aina and their modern take on Hawaiian cuisine. We booked the tasting menu where they do two seatings a night at the chef's counter.

Chef was awesome and personally told stories about his experience growing up in Hawaii and how each dish was inspired. It was also cool in addition to being typical farm to table, they even grow herbs at the restaurant with some being right behind him!

Kicking things off with the kanpachi was incredibly fresh, flavorful and light.

The tea smoked duck was one of the best things I've ever ate. The duck starts with being dry aged for 2-weeks, then seasoning and another week of curing. The bao was absolutely amazing with confit duck inside and even the sauce was made with duck fat. Absolutely amazing!

This dish was a huge burst of beefiness with a beef puff with pieces of wagyu layered and a bone marrow cream, and the whole thing had a nice citrus note to it as well to cut through the heaviness.

A lighter coarse and deviation from the menu with tuna poke. While I don't dislike poke, I never seek it out. However with this, I absolutely loved it. Chef had a nice light and fragrant tea to go with it.

The main course was luau pork which was amazing. The dish also had poi which I'd only had shitty luau mass-produced poi, but this being hand made was totally different with a sweeter and not as starchy texture. The whole dish came together and was satisfying and had incredible depth and umami.

Coconut pudding with strawberries was a nice, not too sweet end to the meal. While I like sweeter desserts, this paired perfectly with the meal and was a great way to end.

We absolutely loved our experience at Aina and look forward to returning soon. Would highly recommend for anyone looking for a fantastic dining experience.