San Francisco’s Marina neighborhood is home to the city’s newest culinary destination, Blue Whale, helmed by renowned Michelin-starred chef Ho Chee Boon. Following the success of historic Chinatown hotspot, Empress by Boon, Blue Whale opened in September offering guests a multifaceted dining experience featuring various dining areas, a VIP private dining lounge, and an unexpected tranquil backyard urban oasis, one of which is truly special for San Francisco given it’s spaciousness and design.
Blue Whale features an authentic seasonal menu with everything from noodles and rice dishes to salads, dumplings and more, allowing patrons to experience all that makes Asian cuisines so complex, memorable and delicious. Blue Whale is a must-try for both locals and visitors to savor drinks or dine in a laid-back, yet refined, atmosphere.
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At the heart of Blue Whale is Chef Boon’s global culinary expertise. Drawing inspiration from his Malaysian roots and international experiences, he seeks to create a dining experience that celebrates the rich diversity and culture of Asia. He brings over 30 years of experience at several of the world’s most renowned Asian restaurants, including Hakkasan Hanway Place in London, Turandot in Moscow, and Breeeze in Bangkok.
Together with a seasoned team including wine consultant Haley Moore and spirits specialist Brandon Clements, Chef Boon aims to curate a dining experience that transcends culinary boundaries. Blue Whale’s menu, offered in an a la carte format, promises a fusion of flavors, with highlights such as Crab Meat Xiao Long Bao, Wasabi Crispy Tiger Prawns, and Baked Lobster with Buttermilk and Chili.
We sat down with Chef Ho Chee Boon to talk about his new restaurant, menu inspiration, standout dishes and more. Here’s what he had to say.
Could you elaborate on the unique dining experience that Blue Whale aims to offer and how it plans to celebrate togetherness through its range of Asian cuisines?
Blue Whale was designed to bring the community together. To achieve that, we created a chic yet inviting space that offers both a sense of place and connectivity to Chef Boon’s Asian roots and his love for family-style meals where everyone talks over each other and plates are passed around the table.
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The spacious outdoor patio that offers a refreshing escape from the city hustle is popular with couples, while the main dining room exuding elegance and warmth is perfect for special occasions. The signature dishes reflect the sharing aspect while also referencing Chef Boon’s travels, such as iberico Ham Shanghai Xiao Long Bao; the exotic tanginess of the Crispy Duck Salad; and the fiery spices in the Thai-Style Crispy Chicken.
Chef Ho Chee Boon has worked in major cities around the world. How will his international culinary experiences influence the menu and overall concept of Blue Whale?
During his 35 years at the helm of some of the world’s most renowned Asian restaurants, including Hakkasan Globally, Turandot in Moscow, Breeze in Bangkok, East Ocean Hong Kong, Chef Boon has developed a signature style that reimagines familiar dishes through a multicultural lens. At Blue Whale, guests can try the Malaysian rojak salad, a colorful and crunchy street food from his hometown, the Hong Kong rice noodle roll, a classic and comforting dim sum delicacy, and other dishes that he discovered and perfected during his travels and brought to San Francisco for everyone to enjoy.
Talk about the elements of Blue Whale’s design and layout that contribute to the restaurant’s appeal (the corridor, courtyard, and the backyard patio)?
Guests are greeted by an intriguing and slightly mysterious corridor that leads to an open-air courtyard before entering the main restaurant space, which includes two bars, a private VIP lounge, comfortable booths for group dining, high-top tables, two-tops and bar seating. Behind the restaurant is the semi-private backyard patio where guests are transported to a lush garden oasis, a dining experience that is unique to the city. The patio, with tiered seating, is surrounded by vibrant greenery, perfect for leisurely sunny afternoons and warm summer evenings. A full outdoor bar serves cocktails, wine and beer will soon be open.
Can you provide more details about the menu items and the culinary techniques used to create these dishes? What are the standout dishes and dishes that diners shouldn’t miss out on?
Fresh fruits and vegetables in the signature Rojak Salad are tossed in a tangy secret sauce, while another signature dish, the Iberico Ham Shanghai Xiao Long Bao, are juicy dumplings filled with Iberico ham and pork broth. Other crowd favorites are Malaysian-style whole fish grilled on a palm leaf from our outdoor patio and served with a spicy sambal sauce, and thin noodles tossed with roasted duck, bean sprouts, and XO sauce.
What is the inspiration behind the food at Blue Whale? Why is it called Blue Whale?
He envisioned a restaurant that would showcase not only the best of Asian cuisine but also reflect the importance the ocean plays in many Asian traditions and beliefs. Whales are symbols of power, strength, wisdom, and abundance in many Asian cultures, where they are considered by local fishermen guardians of the ocean. By naming the restaurant after the largest and most majestic animal in the sea, Chef Boon hints at the abundant and diverse experience that awaits the guests inside.
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Talk about the beverage program.
Our cocktail program is as creative and diverse as our food menu, and we carefully craft each drink to complement and enhance the flavors of Chef Boon’s dishes. Brandon Clements, our talented spirits and cocktail specialist, created a beverage menu centered on drinks that are light, refreshing and balanced. His spins on the classics include the Highnoon Suntory Toki with yuzu, shiso, soda in a fun spin on a highball, the Bānjiū which is a Paloma with an Asian twist, and the Andaman Sour, which is similar to a Whiskey Sour.
Mr Gambhir talkedabout the city’s affordability by highlighting the lower cost of living in Bengaluru
If you are an active social media user, you must have come across several posts debating the merits and the demerits of Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. The three metropolitan cities each have a loyal fan base, and tweets discussing their livability often go viral. Recently, an Indian-origin entrepreneur took to X to draw parallels between Bengaluru and San Francisco. In a detailed thread, Hardeep Gambhir, founder of The Residency, shared several aspects of Bengaluru that matched with San Francisco.
Mr Gambhir noted that he returned to India after seven years of living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Upon landing at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport, he noticed the efficient ‘Uber Zone’ system that eliminated waiting time.
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”Instead of booking an Uber and finding it, you simply book an Uber and go to the first car in the queue of cars, tell your PIN to the driver and off you go to your destination. No waiting time,” he wrote.
Since I moved out of India 7 years ago, I thought I’d never live here again.
After spending a lot of time in the Bay, in May, I moved to Bangalore where I had never been to start @_TheResidency.
And it has been an immaculate SF-like experience in this city.
He was also surprised when an auto-rickshaw driver replied in English. ”I was expecting to speak a bit of Hindi here this summer and surprisingly when I first spoke Hindi to an Auto-rickshaw driver, I got replies from him in English. Turns out Bangalore is the city with English as the most spoken language in India. I was so surprised by this,” he added.
The entrepreneur highlighted Bengaluru’s vibrant startup ecosystem by comparing HSR Layout to San Francisco’s Hayes Valley. He also praised Bengaluru’s quick commerce services like Swiggy Instamart, which he likened to “Walmart delivery in 4 to 7 minutes, available 24×7.”
The entrepreneur then mentioned low carrier charges in India and the availability of mobility services like Yulu electric bikes, which he likened to San Francisco’s Lime, Veo and Baywheels bikes.
Mr Gambhir also talked about the city’s affordability by highlighting the significantly lower cost of living in Bengaluru compared to San Francisco. He further praised the city’s amazing weather, but mentioned the two things he didn’t like– ”mosquitoes and ridiculous security deposits for renting.”
I highly recommend for someone curious about another country’s startup ecosystem like SF to come visit here. Also, the e-visa should take 3-5 days to get fully remote. Oh, not to mention. Uber is shit cheap,” he concluded.
There’s a particular writer at the Athletic who isn’t a believer in the 2024 San Francisco 49ers.
After naming the 49ers an offseason loser because they lost Arik Armstead and Javon Kinlaw, and hired a new defensive coordinator, Mike Jones of the Athletic listed San Francisco among the overrated teams heading into this NFL season.
Again, Jones focuses heavily on the losses on the defensive line:
Kyle Shanahan always gives them a chance, and Brock Purdy again has a talented supporting cast, although Brandon Aiyuk faces an uncertain future. Questions loom over the defense, however, with first-year coordinator Nick Sorensen directing a unit that lost Arik Armstead and Javon Kinlaw to free agency and must deal with the extended absence of Dre Greenlaw, who is recovering from Achilles surgery. The 49ers hope to put another heartbreaking Super Bowl defeat in the past and make another run at a ring, but doing so could prove more challenging than many expect.
It’s worth noting the 49ers replaced Armstead and Kinlaw with Maliek Collins and Jordan Elliott. The fixation on Kinlaw is interesting given the defensive tackle’s general lack of effectiveness last season, but it wouldn’t be Earth-shattering if Elliott was a better rotational DT option for San Francisco this season. Whether Collins and others can replace Armstead in the aggregate remains to be seen and is certainly a sizable question mark for the 49ers to answer this year.
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The Greenlaw absence is also a pretty significant blow. San Francisco signed former All-Pro De’Vondre Campbell to replace him. Second-year LBs Dee Winters and Jalen Graham could also be in the mix to start at Will LB, but none of those three are liable to be as effective as Greenlaw is.
Alas, calling the 49ers ‘overrated’ when they were a couple plays from winning the Super Bowl last year seems like a stretch based on the reasoning listed. After all, both Pro Football Focus and ESPN agree San Francisco has the best roster in the NFL.
A better argument would focus more heavily on the 49ers’ offensive line which they made only marginal moves to improve this offseason. There’s a case to be made they could conceivably be worse on the offensive front which would certainly have an impact on Purdy. Last year in his first full season as a starter Purdy had pretty good turnover luck which could wind up coming back to bite him and the 49ers this season.
There are also some questions in the secondary with uncertainty about who will start in nickel packages with cornerbacks Deommodore Lenoir and Charvarius Ward. Strong safety Talanoa Hufanga is coming back from an ACL tear which leaves a question mark about whether he’ll return to All-Pro form, and second-year safety Ji’Ayir Brown is an unproven commodity who figures to start alongside Hufanga.
Those are a lot of hurdles for Sorensen to clear in his first season as a defensive coordinator, which are much bigger reasons to have concerns than just the losses of Armstead and Kinlaw.
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Injury luck was also, for the most part, on the 49ers’ side last season. They had the injuries to Hufanga in Week 11 and to Greenlaw during the Super Bowl, but outside of that they avoided major injuries and were relatively healthy going into the final game of the season. It wouldn’t be irrational if a person wanted to bet against injury luck for them again in 2024.
For now though on paper the 49ers figure to field one of the best teams in the NFL. Whether they can be just the second team since the turn of the century to return to the Super Bowl after losing it remains to be seen, but saying they’re ‘overrated’ for the reasons listed in the Athletic feels a tad off base.
The San Francisco Giants are in desperate need of pitching help.
They have been completely decimated by injuries, forcing them to use a plethora of different starting options and overwork their bullpen, something manager Bob Melvin has stated his concerns about.
Knowing they needed another option in their relief unit, they called up a top performer from their Triple-A affiliate to come in and give their current arms some much needed help.
The Giants are also hoping their injured starters can make their returns soon.
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Robbie Ray sounds like he is progressing well after putting together a good outing in his rehab stint. Blake Snell also was able to make an outing in the minors, although that didn’t go quite as expected when he was charged with two earned runs on three hits and three walks during 1.1 innings of work.
San Francisco brought in the reigning NL Cy Young winner to become the ace of their staff alongside Logan Webb. The idea was these two would be able to stabilize their rotation in front of some exciting backend starters before their players on the IL were ready to return.
That has not been the case.
The Giants desperately need Snell back and performing to an elite level.
But as the left-hander works his way back from his groin strain, it sounds like he’s not too pleased with how fast he is being pushed to getting back onto the Major League mound.
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“I haven’t felt like myself yet. It’s just, ‘We need you. We need you. We need you.’ It’s not like, ‘Let’s get him right,’ and I have to deal with it,” he said according to Shayna Rubin of The San Francisco Chronicle.
That is quite the explosive quote.
Snell had previously voiced his frustration about going on the injured list for the second time this season, but to seemingly take a shot at the organization for wanting back on the field is certainly eye-opening.
“I want to be healthy and 100% and I haven’t been. I’ve just been fighting to rush back. So that’s my take. I’m frustrated with that. And you don’t get the product of what I should be and it’s just frustrating. I want to go out there and dominate and pitch the way that I pitch but it’s more important that I’m out there,” he added.
When the veteran star has been on the field, it hasn’t quite gone smoothly.
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In six starts, he has posted an 0-3 record and 9.51 ERA.
At the beginning, his struggles were understood as he signed so late in the process that he wasn’t able to get a full ramp up period in Spring Training. Then, he got injured and started the cycle of trying to get back to health.
It’s understandable why Snell would be so frustrated. He was brought in to be a difference maker for his new team and he’s been anything but that.
These comments certainly won’t help anything, though.
It will be interesting to see what develops following this statement.
