Latest news with #MoonRabbit
Axios
05-03-2025
- Business
- Axios
Exclusive: Moon Rabbit team will open a Southeast Asian cocktail bar
Chef Kevin Tien and his team are hopping on a new project: Nhau by Moon Rabbit, a Southeast Asian cocktail bar opening south of Dupont Circle. Why it matters: Bar manager Thi Nguyen won local fans and Michelin honors for her creative cocktail program at the modern Vietnamese restaurant — and now she'll have a standalone bar to call her own. Zoom in: The team plans to embrace "nhau," a term in Vietnamese drinking culture for friends and family gathering. "It translates to 'drink and eat for no reason,' and it's a way to celebrate without waiting for a special occasion," Tien tells Axios. Born in Vietnam, Nguyen is currently traveling home for research and development. Her cocktails, which have landed on plenty of best lists, stand out for their creative use of Southeast Asian spirits and ingredients. Take a pho-inspired coupe with beef broth-washed Nikka Coffey vodka, pho seasoning, and culantro mist. Or the "Out of Dipping Sauce" with Japanese vodka, passionfruit liqueur, and fish sauce syrup. Spirit-free cocktails get equal attention, like a purple-shiso pomegranate spritz. All eyes are on the bar, but Tien will also serve Southeast Asian snacks — likely coming from an open-fire kitchen to replicate street flavors in Vietnam. The team hasn't yet set an opening date. What we're watching: Nhau isn't the only concept Moon Rabbit's team is planning. Tien tells Axios an Asian market near Chinatown is still in the works, which will include a pastry shop from chef Susan Bae.
Washington Post
10-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
The most daring pastry chef in D.C. hits her stride at Moon Rabbit
'Every single table orders at least one dessert,' says Susan Bae, arguably the most inventive pastry chef in the Washington restaurant scene right now. This makes sense. The savory offerings at Moon Rabbit are reason enough to visit the Vietnamese-inspired standout restaurant in the heart of Penn Quarter — but Bae's desserts are unmissable. All five choices on the dinner menu feature multiple sweet and savory flavors mingling intimately together, with several different textures. While they veer close to a much-too-muchness cliff, they never go off the edge.
