Hanumanh, the new Lao cocktail bar and restaurant from the Thip Khao/Padaek team, is temporarily closed in Shaw. Co-owner Bobby Pradachith says the Seventh Street space is undergoing maintenance issues (he declined to specify) and has been shuttered for over a week. He says they’re hoping for a speedy resolution, but in the meantime, the team will move to Destination Wedding on 14th Street for a Lao pop-up starting Friday.
“It was generous to get that opportunity,” says Pradachith, who runs the business with his mother, chef Seng Luangrath. “My main concern is that we’re not in business, and also my team—I want to retain them. Right now we’re focusing on making the transfer and training to a new environment while we’re trying to resolve the issue.”
The destination-wedding-theme bar will serve an abbreviated Hanumanh menu with dishes like their “blooming mushroom,” red curry with crab or tofu, tapioca dumplings, and vermicelli with fermented fish/pork sauce and pickled squash. A handful of cocktails will also make an appearance, such as the signature Hanumanh—a monkey-shaped glass filled with banana infused-Lao whiskey, brown-butter condensed milk, passionfruit, mango, and vanilla.
The length of the pop-up is undetermined and will depend on the Shaw location’s reopening. Doi Moi, which sits above Destination Wedding will continue serving its regular menu (including Restaurant Week).
Destination Laos: Hanumanh Takeover. 1800 14th St NW. Closed Tuesday; open at 5 PM otherwise.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
