Moon Rabbit by Kevin Tien — Restaurant in Washington

After a year of regretting never getting to visit Moon Rabbit while it was at The Wharf, I was ecstatic when I saw the news that they were reopening in downtown DC! I rushed over a few days after their grand (re)opening during Restaurant Week, and...well...while the food, service, and ambiance were all solid, it didn't quite live up to all the hype or their price point. However, I also want to give them the benefit of the doubt, given they had just opened and had a different menu for Restaurant Week.

The meal started with a duck fat brioche dinner roll for each guest, which was rich, yet fluffy, and had a great hit of flavor from the duck fat. It paired wonderfully with the whipped condensed milk butter, which was lightly sweet and had a great airy texture.

For the first course, I opted for their Soda Chanh Crudo, a delightful cured scallop dish topped with Meyer lemon kosho and shiso leaves. The scallops were nice and springy, and they paired wonderfully with the light, herby, citrusy sauce and crunchy sesame crackers. All in all, this was a fantastic start to the meal. My friend chose their Bo La Lot, which seemed like a fusion between the traditional Vietnamese dish and its Mediterranean friend, dolma. The star of the dish was the tender wagyu beef wrapped in perilla leaves, and then it was served with labne, fermented honey, and pickled shallots. It was a tasty dish with a creative fusion flair -- although be warned that the perilla leaf heavily dominates the dish.

For the second course, I went for the Ca Vien, which included a fillet of BBQ rockfish wrapped in collard greens and served with a coconut broth, mung beans, and okra. The rockfish was incredibly tender and flaky; if it weren't for the collard green wrap, it probably would have completely disintegrated the second my fork touched it. From that, I have a sneaking suspicion that the collard green's purpose was more functional than flavorful, as its lightly bitter undertones didn't pair particularly well with the other elements of the dish. The coconut broth, however, was fantastic -- it was rich and creamy, but not too overwhelming, and I loved the little pops of texture from the mung beans. My friend ordered their Ga Kho To, or soy caramel chicken with crispy chicken fat rice. She loved the rice, which lived up to its name with its perfectly crispy exterior and deep, chicken fat-infused flavor. However, she found the chicken a bit disappointing, as it was still uncomfortably pink in the center, and didn't quite have the soy caramel punch that she was looking for.

The real star of the meal was the dessert course; my friend and I ordered and split both of their options. The first, Ca Ri, was a green curry-infused sponge cake served with a rich, creamy avocado sorbet, fish sauce caramel, and lime. It sounds like an impossibly weird combination, but they did a fantastic job -- none of the flavors were overwhelming, and the dessert struck the perfect balance between savory and sweet. The sponge cake was light and airy, which went perfectly with its heavier accompaniments, like the sorbet, coconut cream, and caramel sauce. Their second dessert option was the Xoai, another unique-sounding dish with a rich, milk chocolate cremeux, fresh mango, bird's eye chili chamoy, toasted rice noodles, and perilla foam. Despite the exciting dish description, I found this to be the much "safer" and standard of the two desserts -- it honestly just tasted like a chocolate mousse with mango. The chamoy provided a great spicy kick, but there was only enough to add it to 1-2 bites, and the perilla foam, while beautiful, didn't provide a ton of perilla flavor. The toasted rice noodles also got a bit lost in the dish, which ended up making the entire bowl feel a bit one-note both flavor and texture-wise.

All in all, while I had a great experience at Moon Rabbit, it's hard to justify their price point when the dishes weren't anything to write home about. Even so, I hope to visit again once they've launched their full menu and...

While on a trip to D.C., we stumbled upon Moon Rabbit and were immediately intrigued by the dessert menu—it was so creative and unique, I simply couldn’t narrow it down. So, we did the only reasonable thing: ordered every single dessert and turned it into a full-on dessert tasting experience. Spoiler alert—it was phenomenal.

To begin, I had a spirit-free cocktail called Thỏ Ngọc (which I later learned refers to the Jade Rabbit of Vietnamese mythology). Made with soursop, osmanthus, lemon, and vegan foam, it was delicately floral, lightly tart, and perfectly balanced. A great palate primer. I then ordered a turmeric ginger tea, which was robust, warming, and refreshingly high quality—so rare to see such care taken with tea selections.

Now the desserts: CURRY – Green curry sponge, avocado sorbet, soursop mousse, fish sauce caramel, finger lime The avocado sorbet and soursop mousse provided a complementary contrast to the green curry spices in the sponge cake. The slight sourness of the soursop was also highlighted by the finger lime. I was most excited to try the fish sauce caramel in this dish and it did not disappoint! It wasn't overtly sweet like regular caramel but had a very nice depth of umami - fantastic!

TOFU – Tofu cheesecake, charred miso anglaise, Nardello pepper, squash, toasted rice, fermented soy This surprised me the most and ended up being my favorite. It had the texture of tiramisu—creamy, fluffy, but grounded and slightly earthy thanks to the tofu and squash. I adored the use of the nardello pepper as a layer of brightness to such a rich dish. It was indulgent yet light, earthy but elegant. Absolute masterpiece!

DURIAN – Durian mousse, passionfruit granita, white chocolate streusel, dill As a durian lover, this was fascinating. It arrived without the telltale smell, but the flavor hit like a tsunami once in the mouth. The mousse texture was exquisite - the top layer was a bit more congealed than the fluffy bottom - and the tangy passionfruit and herbal dill layered beautifully with the durian’s depth. A thoughtful way to make this polarizing fruit more accessible.

SEAWEED – Pandan panna cotta, coconut crème, coconut granita, chocolate streusel, seaweed A close second favorite! The striking balance of bitter chocolate, round creamy coconut, and the umami of the seaweed was such an unexpectedly pleasant combination. Not only did the flavors playfully build on each other, but the variety of textures and temperatures added a layer of complexity! I loved the use of the cold coconut granite layer on the top of the panna cotta - it added to the experience and pulled the seaweed flavor further into the bite. I was already excited by the interplay of the seaweed with the pandan but this exceeded my expectations!

BREAKFAST – Roasted corn mousse, gjetost cheese gelato, coffee granita, corn tuile, chicory, fennel This one was the most daring, and while not quite as balanced as the others, I deeply appreciated its ambition. The interplay of sweet corn, tangy cheese, and bitter coffee was rich and bold. I would have loved a stronger presence of fennel and a more refined granita texture, but it was still a fascinating bite and worth trying.

To finish, the chef sent out a complimentary mini dessert plate from the pre-fixe menu. Each bite was exquisite:

Rum & coconut marshmallow – Delicate balance and perfect texture

Cherry blossom jelly – Elegant and floral with a gorgeous thick jelly texture

Banana mango truffle – Mango reined in the banana beautifully, and the pop rocks coating was playful

Salted egg yolk pastry with pork floss – Savory and rich, with a satisfying puff pastry-like burst

Huge shoutout to Daniel M, who guided us through each course with care and excitement. His knowledge and energy made our evening extra special.

If you’re curious about how sweet, savory, and umami can coexist in desserts, run to Moon Rabbit. A culinary adventure I’ll be dreaming about for...

I came here yesterday before the Mardi Gras parade. I’ve heard so much about Moon Rabbit and it’s been on my list of restaurants to try for a while now. I also wanted to support Chef Kevin Tien because I am Vietnamese and there is not many upscale Vietnamese places around DC. This place is beautiful the decor is lovely and there so much natural light in here.

We arrived around 2:45pm and was told by the nice hostesses that there is only bar seating available due to the restaurant closing for the parade. Our bartender told us we had 15 minutes to order from the main menu then they will convert to the bar menu only (limited menu). That wasn’t a problem we ordered drinks, appetizers and our main dishes. Sparksfly (nice and refreshing non-alcoholic drink) Pineapple orange Mimosa (more juice than Prosecco) Cha tom (good amount of shrimp on it) Boudin egg roll (I would pass wasn’t my fav) Breakfast bowl (decent) Breakfast banh mi (amazing)

Drinks and appetizers came out within 10 minutes and it was tasty. We wait 20 minutes for our main course to come out….40 minutes go by. The parade (started late) started and finished and we still do not have our food and to top it off our bartender/server was no where to be found. I flag down another bartender and asked him to please check on our order as it has been over 40 minutes. He was shocked and asked the another bartender for help. They pull in a manager and told the kitchen. Our meals came out finally 65 minutes later. Everything came out hot I will give that to them. Our bartender is now back. We get semi apologies for the wait. At this point I’m upset and annoyed. I quickly ate and it took another 20 minutes to cash out. Our original bartender was more worried about restocking the bar and entertaining the wedding crew that just came in then to check on us, our food or cash us out. I went to the hostess stand and asked to speak to the manager. Sean came out and spoke to me. I told him about our horrible experience and the lack of concern/attention our bartender/server gave us and that she disappeared and our food took over an hour to come out. He apologized and askedj us to please come back so he can treat us and make things right. I told him I am not interested at the moment because I am still upset at the moment. We exchanged contact information and I told him I’ll think about it but I’m very turned off from today’s experience. I appreciate Sean taking some time to speak to me and letting me address my concerns. I told him had I not asked someone where our food was we would still be waiting right now. We spent $100 and still tipped the bar. I wanted to know what happened why did it take us that long to get our food when the main restaurant was closed, the bar was not busy when we got there, we ordered before they switched to their limited menu and no one cared to check up on us because our bartender left for more than 30 minutes. The least they could do was comp our meals or refund us.

I really really wanted to like this place. I even planned to come here for my birthday before all this. But now I don’t want to come back or even tell my circle to come here. Like I said I wanted to support the Vietnamese chef at this l fine dining establishment but after yesterday’s experience it was anything but “fine”. I’m disappointed and disheartened, I expected more...