“Grape” is the simple name of the seasonal dessert on Moon Rabbit’s winter menu. But the story behind it is much more elaborate.
“During Tet, it is customary to prepare a five-fruit tray to honor your ancestors,” said Susan Bae, executive pastry chef and partner in Moon Rabbit. “Bananas represent protection; pomelos or oranges, wealth; pineapple, growth; apples, peace and harmony; and grapes, generational togetherness because they come in clusters. That’s how we bring in the new year.” This year, Tet falls on Feb. 17, also the start of Lunar New Year celebrated in many Asian countries.
The rest of the story
Chef-owner Kevin Tien describes Moon Rabbit as “reimagined Vietnamese,” and the upscale Washington, D.C. restaurant delivers on that promise through to the “Endings” section of the menu. The five current desserts are named by their main ingredient and include “Grape” along with “Durian,” “Seaweed,” “Curry” and “Corn.” Each is also given a Vietnamese name—in the case of Grape it’s “quả nho”—along with a detailed description of the components, all meticulously developed by Bae and her team.
But the five-fruit tray is only part of the story behind the creation of “Grape.”
“I grew up eating PB&J sandwiches as my go-to snack, and it’s very comforting for me,” said Bae. So she wanted to incorporate that comfort into the dessert, too. And in Vietnamese culture, grapes represent the Water element and are characterized as Yin, or feminine. “I wanted the dessert to reflect the feminine energy in our kitchen,” said Bae. “We have a five-woman pastry team.”
The other components in “Grape” include a Vietnamese yogurt mousse, Concord grape sorbet, sesame caramel, bergamot crispy crepe tuille, fennel and green grapes. Bae is a perfectionist, she said, and she was constantly adding layers and refining the dessert to achieve the perfect balance.
The path to perfection
“I first tried making the yogurt mousse with yogurt only, but it wasn’t rich enough,” she said. Vietnamese yogurt uses condensed milk, so she tried that. The result: it made the mousse richer, milkier and more to her liking.
The dessert also incorporates a sponge cake with sesame flavor. Bae started out by using white sesame but switched to black sesame for “earthiness” she said. Next, she wanted to intensify the peanut butter flavor. “The dessert was nutty but not peanut buttery enough,” she explained. So Bae added roasted soy to deepen the flavor.
Bae thought a tangy and creamy citrus curd would add a welcome contrast to the nutty components. “Instead of using lemons, I developed a bergamot curd, which imparts more floral flavor,” she said. Bergamot is an aromatic citrus fruit that gives Earl Grey tea its distinctive flavor.
For the sorbet, Bae chose Concord grapes “for their punchy grape flavor,” she said. These are also the grapes that go into the jelly most often paired with peanut butter in those childhood sandwiches.
Finally, fennel and shiso add herbal notes to the dessert. “Fresh herbs are an important part of Vietnamese cooking and I use a lot of them in my desserts,” said Bae.
The final version of “Grape” is now on Moon Rabbit’s menu and sells for $19. “Servers know the full back story and relay it to guests,” said Bae. It’s the way Moon Rabbit involves diners in the Tet celebration along with the pastry team.
What’s next?
The desserts the pastry team develops have to be meaningful to what Moon Rabbit represents and give meaning and depth to the menu, Bae explained. “Kevin [Chef Tien] has the last input and seems to always suggest the one thing that is missing,” she said with a laugh.
In between developing, preparing and plating the menu’s desserts, the pastry team is busy with private events and custom cake orders, the latter a part of the business that’s gaining traction.
And currently, Bae and her team are in R&D mode for the next dessert menu. “Persimmons are coming up and we’re looking at vegetables and savory flavors for Spring,” she said. Mugwort is popular in Korean culture and she’d like to experiment with that.
Olives are one ingredient that won’t make it back into the pastry kitchen. “I tried an olive dessert once and it was a failure,” said Bae.