The crown jewel of my restaurant wish list for our year-end trip in Los Angeles last month was Somni, a fine-dining restaurant from chef Aitor Zabala featuring dishes merging the chef’s heritage in Catalonia, Spain and California sensibilities. After opening in Beverly Hills in 2018, the restaurant shut down during the pandemic and re-emerged in West Hollywood and gained three Michelin stars right off the bat. For my birthday, I knew Somni would be my first choice to celebrate with my wife Jun and was lucky to get a dinner reservation (more on the reservation below). The restaurant was by no means cheap (in fact, it was one of the most expensive dinners I had paid for), but Jun and I found a lot to like about Somni’s exquisite tasting menu.  

We were first led to the garden outside the restaurant when we arrived. Along with a glass of champagne (more on the wine list later), we were treated with a number of different small bites starting with the playful “truffle” bump on top of a prosthetic hand. Among these small bites, some of my favorite included sardine cracker, trufflecini and mussels “tigre.” Afterwards, we were led to a long counter table facing the kitchen and the main tasting menu commenced. The opening dish made a deep impression, an ingenious re-interpretation of “pizza margherita” with tomato meringue, ricotta and black truffle that just melted in my mouth with awesome umami flavor. The next dish was one of Jun’s favorites, as she was very complimentary of the fresh tomato with frozen almond milk in the gazpacho “blanco.”

When it comes to plating, I don’t think many restaurants in America would match the technical prowess of Somni. The shiso puff tartare course, with tenderloin tartare on a fried shiso leaf tempura, was one fine piece of art that I was too pretty to eat at first. The next course with tuna tartare with roasted bone marrow and caviar was another standout dish of the night with stunning visuals. The kitchen showed some whimsical side, too, with dishes like potato croissant with a side of egg yolk and truffle cream to showcase what a typical breakfast would transform into at Somni. Mejillones, consisting with mussels, yuzu gelatin and mussel dashi, was another stellar highlight from our meal; the texture of the mussels along with the flavor combination with the rest of ingredients was nothing short of astounding. And how about that Spanish turbot? Grilled to perfection and working beautifully with peas, squid ink caviar and white truffle.

The savory section of the course ended with Iberico pork with caramelized onion puree and morel mushrooms. Compared to the other dishes that came before, this was surprisingly a little bit pedestrian, especially the pork’s texture which was a surprise given how much we enjoy Iberico pork. The dessert courses kicked off with another fun and playful dish of “cow and her milk” with cow cracker, cheese and apple to transition us nicely from the savory to the sweet. The main dessert called silenci d’hivern was a delightful combination of yuzu panna cotta and rice miso. We finished the meal with golden kiwi followed by a number of small snacks. The entire dinner took us over three and a half hours (starting at 7:30 p.m.) and by the time we departed for our hotel, it was close to 11:30 p.m.

As one of the hottest tables in LA at the moment, and also with a single table each night (the restaurant is open from Wednesday through Sunday), getting a reservation at Somni requires some work. First of all, sign up for the mailing list from the restaurant to get advance alerts for when the next reservation will open up, and when it does, you have to log into OpenTable as soon as humanly possible (after a couple of minutes after I finalized my reservation, I saw that the entire December tables were gone!). As I mentioned, Somni is not a cheap place to eat. The restaurant offers beverage pairings (three different types of wine pairings, one non-alcoholic beverage pairing and one mixed beverage pairing) as a default option and takes a deposit of $600 per person in advance. Save a dinner at Somni for a special occasion like birthday or anniversary. We chose the “Calafia” wine pairing option featuring high-end wines from all over the world, such as Krug champagne, Chateau d’Yquem’s still white wine, Jean Louis Chave’s white Hermitage and a mature Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Each wine was delicious on its own, but at times I wasn’t quite sure if the pairing with the food worked to perfection. The counter dining room was modern and sleek and the restaurant staffs were all very friendly and professional. At the end of our meal, Jun and I were able to chat with chef Aitor; he was easy to speak with and we were able to learn a bit more about his culinary perspectives that he shared with us with humility and appreciation. There is no question Somni is an excellent restaurant, with a focus on technical mastery, beautiful plating and high level of execution. I also wished I had encountered a few more dishes that really moved me with flavor, texture or something else that I had not encountered at other fine dining restaurants before. In any event, I’m eager to see how the restaurant evolves over time with new menus. I have no doubt that chef Aitor will be up to the task of maintaining the high standard at the restaurant.

KenScale: 8.75/10 (Jun’s Score: 8.75/10)

Address: 9045 Nemo St, West Hollywood, CA 90069

Website: https://www.somnirestaurant.com/

Reservation via OpenTable