TenPenh April 2009
Update: It has come to my attention that TenPenh has closed. :(
In late April, Art and I had the pleasure of eating at TenPenh in Washington, D.C. It’s a restaurant we’ve been wanting to eat at for some years and had just never gotten around to.
We were extremely pleased with the entire dining experience and left questioning why we had taken so long to eat at this amazing place!
It was a hot, humid, DC day - we’d visited the Sackler and Freer earlier in the day and walked across The Mall to get to the restaurant. We were feeling a bit wilted and the cool, damp towels brought to us after being seated were a refreshing way to start off our dining experience.
For appetizers we ordered Lamb Pot Stickers and Peking Style Duck Rolls. The lamb was perfectly rare and flavorful. Ingredients included pine nuts and they were served on a watercress red onion salad with sesame soy dipping sauce. The only down side was figuring out how to split the 5th pot sticker.
The duck rolls were wrapped in moo shu pancakes and served with hoisin sauce, cucumber, and scallion.
The next offering was an unexpected treat. We were each served an amuse-bouche of an Asian inspired gazpacho. The perfect way to further cool down after a hot day in the city. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures until mine was almost gone.
I am a fish lover who lives with someone who does not love fish, as a result I tend to order fish when eating out. I was not disappointed by the Peanut-Shallot Crusted Ahi Tuna which I ordered medium rare and was served with scallion lo mein, oven cured tomato, and a beurre blanc sauce. The composition and balance of the dish was perfect and my tuna was cooked exactly the way I wanted it.
Art ordered the Silk Road Spiced Cowboy Steak which was served with TenPenh chimichurri, saffron rice, tamarind hoisin broccoli. He was kind enough to give me bites to try. The rice was cooked perfectly, the broccoli had a fantastic sweetness and flavor, and the steak was wonderfully tender with a kick of spiciness due to the chimichurri.
To go with our entrees, we ordered two side dishes to share. Art’s choice was Szechuan Green Beans. These were nice and crisp and evenly coated in Szechuan sauce.
My choice was the Tempura Vegetables which were served with a traditional soy sauce based dipping sauce. There was one piece each of cauliflower, broccoli, sweet potato, potato, mushroom, zucchini, and yellow squash. My only complaint of the entire meal was that the pieces of vegetable were much too large and, as there was only one of each, we had to split each one in order to share the pieces fully. Still, the frying was great and the batter was nice and light.
Last, of course, we had desserts. It has only been recently in my life that I’ve ordered desserts in restaurants, but I suppose that I have seen the light and now know how delicious a well crafted dessert can be. We were not disappointed with what TenPenh had to offer. Art ordered a dessert he’d seen on the way into the restaurant - Dark Chocolate & Caramel Torte. This was served with sweet soy ice cream, five spice pecan caramel sauce. Sadly he damaged the wafer disk of chocolate before I was able to get a picture. He devoured the whole thing in short order but was kind enough to share a taste and a pecan with me. It was definitely a good choice of dessert for him.
I had almost settled on the Brulee on the dessert menu when I noticed donuts. Donuts? Coated with cinnamon and sugar and fresh made? How can someone pass that up? These were probably the best donuts I’ve had in my life. They came to the table almost too hot to eat and were served with a dark chocolate pudding for dipping or eating with a spoon. These were scrumptious, warm, and steamy. I’d go back to TenPenh just to eat donuts.
Overall, this was one of the best dining experiences I’ve yet to have in D.C. I am sorry that we waited so long to give this restaurant a try. The service was great, we never felt rushed during the entire meal and our drinks were kept full without having to ask. I never reached for my water glass to find it empty which is something I appreciate, especially on a hot day. The ambience and noise levels were both welcoming and allowed for easy conversation. I’m already looking forward to visiting TenPenh again in the future.
Total price, including tip: $148.25
TenPenh Restaurant
1001 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC