A mythical dinner at 25 Lusk
I hate Facebook for many things, but I have to admit their ad algorithm is amazing. It actually exposes me to more ads for things I’m interested in than anything else I’ve seen. So it was through a Facebook ad that I learned about the Taste of Thrones’ Feast of the Dragon. I’ve been looking to get out more and I’m always in the hunt for new culinary experiences, and this one seemed perfect – particularly as Mike and I had just finished watching the latest season of House of the Dragon. I was late getting into Game of Thrones – or “Dragon Tales,” as I prefer to call it. I only started watching the main series after the finale, but I got into it with gusto. A Game of Thrones theme dinner seemed like a lot of fun.
Taste of Thrones’ Feast of the Dragon takes place at 25 Lusk, a restaurant/bar/event place in China Basin. 25 Lusk operates a restaurant on its top level, Rooftop 25, has a private event place in the mid-level and is currently running the Taste of Thrones dinner in its sub-basement. They developed the concept of a themed pop-up restaurant/dinner series in collaboration with Theme Dream production, who created the decorations and props. It originally ran in 2019, during the last season of Game of Thrones, and it was revived this year for a month long stint, which has now been pushed to a second month. It is presently scheduled to run until the end of August, though it could be extended if there is sufficient demand. They are now also trying the idea of an all-you-can-eat family brunch on weekends.
I didn’t find any reviews for this dinner before I bought the tickets for the event, which was a good thing as otherwise I probably would have skipped it. The two post-pandemic reviews I later found on Yelp were very negative – and completely opposite to my experience. We had a great time and were super impressed by the food and the atmosphere.
Finding parking near 25 Lusk that Saturday night in August was surprisingly easy – though the place is near public transportation if you prefer to go that route. Once inside the building, I was a bit confused as to where to go: turn to your right after you go in and descend through the short stairs (or take the elevator down).
The space has a large bar as well as a number of communal tables. For the Feast of the Dragon, the whole area is decorated in Game of Thrones theme. The big attraction is the opportunity to take photos sitting on the Iron Throne, riding a dragon or posing with a White Walker. They also have a painted table, but I didn’t look for it and didn’t see it. You can access all of these photo opportunities by getting a drink at the bar – no reservations necessary. But the meal is well worth it.
We were then promptly seated at one of the communal tables for twelve, and allowed to choose our place. There was another couple sitting at one corner and we chose the opposite one. As it turned out, the party of eight that was supposed to share our table never showed up, so we had plenty of space and extra food: the platters of food brought to the table are supposed to serve four people. I’m not sure if we’d been as satisfied with the experience if we’d had to share them – some of the complaints in Yelp were about there not being enough food.
Dinner is set to start at 6:30 PM, but they don’t actually start serving food until 6:45, so you have enough time to get a lay of the place, order drinks and take your photos with the props.
The dinner is described as being served family style with 3 courses – but as each variation of each course is served separately in these platters for four people, this is really best described as a 9-course meal.
Dinner started with “Northerner rustic breads & pretzels, Rat Catcher’s cheddar fondue, goat butter from the Reach.”This consisted of little bread buns and pretzel bites served with whipped goat butter and a tiny pot of cheddar fondue. Everything was served cold, which was a minus. The goat butter was unremarkable but the fondue was pretty good. I’m very glad we didn’t have to share the tiny amount among four people, though.
The second course was “Winterfell heirloom tomato & cucumber salad.” This was surprisingly good. I’m not a fan of cucumbers, but the tomatoes were very fresh and flavorful, and they had the right amount of dressing. Even though it was for four people, I managed to eat most of it myself – it was that tasty.
Our third course – officially the first appetizer of three appetizers – was Aegon’s Dream
(“coconut and spice chilled noodle salad
oakwood roasted summer squash, ginger, yuzu”). It was made to look like brains coming out of a skull. The effect was very, very cool. Flavor wise, I wasn’t sold. I’m not a fan of cold noodles and these had a very subtle flavor. Mike liked them better, though he didn’t eat very many. This was a dish we’d have happily shared with others.
The fourth course was The Crab Feeder (dungeness crab salad, octopus sausage, grilled summer peppers served on organic red quinoa Bloodstone sand), and I was predisposed to dislike it from the start. I don’t eat crab nor octopus, after all. I did give the grilled peppers a try, and was quite impressed by their flavor. I’m not a huge fan of peppers – I like them mixed with other things or cooked in sauces – but these ones were surprisingly tasty. The quinoa was not, but it did give the dish a weird, sandy, gritty texture which was fun. I’m morally opposed to eating octopus – given that they are intelligent creatures (and yes, I should be morally opposed to eating all animals, but I’m a hypocrite in this regard), but I did try the sausages and they weren’t bad. It reminded me of a citrusy, flaky tuna. Mike, in particular, liked them, but he ate one piece – he said he didn’t want to fill up, but I think it was for the same reason. Octopus definitely worked with the Games of Throne theme, however. The crab was mixed with rice and poppy seeds and served cold, which I didn’t like, but Mike enjoyed it.
Our third appetizer, and fifth course, was Sea Snake’s Catch of the Day (local catch, burning aromatics, tempura sunchokes, dal lentils, sherry shiso sauce), and while the picture does not do it justice, this was an appropriately terrifying dish – it looked very much like a monstrous sea snake – with balls. The flowers decorating it added, rather than substracted, from the horror. I was duly impressed.
The fish itself was also very tasty. The sherry shiso sauce was subtle, tasty and acidic. It also came with large pieces crispy seaweed, which Mike, who usually likes seaweed, wasn’t a big fan of. They tasted burnt. I don’t like sunchokes, but Mike really loved them, in particular the tempura aspect of it. I just wish we had taken a better photo.
The first entrée, and sixth course was An Eye for An Eye (mini cauliflower crème brulée, salted lychee, forest mushroom escabeche, tomato water, basil). I guess the dish is meant to look like an eye, thought I didn’t really get the effect. It was, however, a very interesting dish.
The creamed cauliflower only had the subtlest hint of cauliflower taste which was great, given that I don’t like cauliflower. The lychee was mildly sweet and sour and contrasted to the very savory mushroom escabeche. Blending all flavors together produced something new, that I hadn’t tasted before, and which worked. I wouldn’t call it delicious, but I found it strange and interesting: it managed to encapsulate Game of Thrones into a dish. I did wish it was warmer, but maybe that’s the point.
Our second entrée and seventh course was Rhaenyra’s Kill (all parts of the pig pressed under brick, chicharrónes, star anise game reduction, grilled organic pluots). I was also surprised at how much I liked this dish. It consisted of pieces of pork meat and bacon, covered with chicarrones and served along with grilled pluots on a star anise sauce.
The bacon, of course, was the best part, because bacon always is. Always. this was particularly good and flavorful bacon, maybe even home made pork belly, but a complete winner. The pork, which I imagined was stewed in some form, was flaky and flavorful and worked really well with the delicious star anise sauce which tasted exactly of that: like a star anise reduction.
I hadn’t tried chicharrones before, but I enjoyed them. I wouldn’t go out of my way to have them again, but they worked here. The only thing that failed were the pluots. They hadn’t been grilled enough so they were tough and not sweet enough to compliment the dish.
Our final entrée and eight course was Fire & Blood: Dragon Meat (black angus beef roast served on a Valyrian steel sword, toasted black peppercorn sauce, grilled bread). Once again, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The beef was tender and flavorful, with occasional bursts of charbroiled flavor. The peppercorn sauce was good, but the beef did not eat it. The grilled bread was just that, but it served as a good conduit for the tasty sauce. The presentation, of course, was marvelous and fitting. The only down was that it was a bit cold.
Dessert, our ninth and final course, was Dreamfyre’s Legacy (smoking dragon egg with dessert kebabs). The egg came with dry ice pebbles inside which produced that cool fog dried ice is known for. You could open it and add water to it for an even more dramatic effect.
The kebabs were small, but we were stuffed by then. They included two petit fours, a small brownie, a strawberry, a blackberry and a raspberry and two pieces of dried fruit. The presentation was great and the desserts were a nice dessert. I loved the brownie, which was very chocolaty and very chewy, while my daughter (who got the leftovers) loved the white cake petit four. It was also a beautiful dish.
Taste of Thrones offers a wine pairing, consisting of a glass of Chardonnay, one of Cab and one of Muscat, for $45. But we decided to try their cocktails instead.
Mike got Aegon’s Spirit (“bourbon, banana, benedictine, sweet vermouth, absinth mist” – $22) which came in a plastic aegon’s skull. He enjoyed it quite a bit and it was fun to drink from a skull. I should get some for Halloween. The drink was too strong for my taste – but I’m a very light drinker.
I ordered a Caraxes (rum, mango puree, lemon, afiero aperitif, perol,orange liqueur, angostura bitters – $13). This was a small, fun drink, sweet and not very alcoholic, and I enjoyed it. I also enjoyed the novelty of it coming in a plastic dragon egg. I do wish you got to keep them 🙂
Later on, Mike had a Meleys (tequila, lemon, pineapple juice – $13), another dragon egg drink. He enjoyed it, but I realize that tequila drinks are definitely too strong and bitter for my taste.
I also had a coke, which at $6 was painfully overpriced.
Service throughout the night was very attentive, cheerful and friendly. The servers are dressed in some medieval uniform, which definitely adds to the atmosphere.
The chef was also amazing – he is the one who poured the water into our dry ice – and doubled as a master of ceremonies of sort. He was also all dressed up and really into the theme of the meal. I would love if he would do other theme meals like this one.
It was a very expensive dinner, however. Dinner itself was $100 per person (including a $50 pp deposit, $45 of which is applied to your bill), to which you have to add drinks, a 6% “SF mandate” fee – a common, if hated, practice in SF – tax and the automatic 18% tip (it was called “event surcharge” in the bill, but our waitress explained it was a tip). The bill for two came out to $350, on top of which we tipped another $10 as service had been so solicitous. Still, the meal was phenomenal (at least, as we enjoyed it) and, as a very special occasion treat, it was well worth it.
In all, we had an amazing time and I would love if 25 Lusk would do another themed dinner there. I hope the owners organize one – I did hear they would like to do a Star Wars one.
Taste of Thrones' Feast of the Dragon
25 Lusk
25 Lusk St.
San Francisco, CA
415.495.5875
Dinner: Tu- Sa 6:30 - 8:30 PM
Bar: Tu - Sa 5 PM - close
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