Maketto: A Residency

I mean… I was really enjoying my first and only experience at Maketto this summer until I found a long strand of wavy black hair in my meal.

Justin and I were quite fortunate to have dinner at Maketto in the final week of the popup. Though temped to see what Erik was doing when he first took over Hanoi House, we waited a bit, a bit leery after the horrors of our Hanoi House meal months before. What a great decision to go on a special night while celebrating Justin’s 33^rd birthday!
The tasting menu came with seven courses with two additional courses available for $ 6 each. Naturally we opted to add both. All items were family style for the two of us.
We began with two Japanese dishes: the Okonomiyaki (a savory pancake) and Fresh Udon with Salted Egg (noodles with an egg and a separate dipping sauce). The Okonomiyaki was my favorite item of the night; so much flavor with a lot going on. The fish paired with pork belly and pickled greens was amazing. Next, our waiter warned us that pouring the sauce over the noodles/​egg would lead to an unappetizing texture which was a great note. The noodles were fresh and had a nice texture (thick and not too chewy).
Our journey then ventured to the cuisine of Cambodia with Prahok Kh’Tih (spiced ground meat with fresh veggies) and Samlah Machu Kroueng (chicken wing soup). The first dish had strong flavors that were nicely cut by the fresh veggies. The soup was perhaps my least favorite dish as the soup was grainy and the chunks of corn on the cob were awkward to eat.
The two optional courses were the Stir-​fry Bible Tripe with Crispy Rice Noodle and Pickled Box Choy and Green Curry Chicken Sausage. The sausage was my second favorite of the evening. The tripe was in a thick, rich sauce that had wonderful flavor. It was much too chewy for my preferences but elevated offal to a whole new level neither Justin nor I had ever seen. He ate most of the plate of it himself.
From the dim sum cart we got Fried Shrimp with Peanut Sauce and skewered Duck Hearts. The items were only $ 2 and if they were out of an item that you wanted they’d make a fresh one just for your table.
The last steps in our culinary travels for the evening were the Taiwanese versions of Mapo Tofu and Fried Chicken. This wasn’t the typical mapo tofu with Szechuan peppercorns and as such, Justin was a little disappointed (he likes that tingliness). By this point we were both pretty full and even though it’s a multi-​course meal, they don’t skimp on the sizes for two… this isn’t bite-​sized stuff!
We saved a bit of room for the dessert that highlighted our local Vigilante Coffee. The homemade donuts with Vigilante Coffee and «tofu air» sauce were awesome. I could have drank the sauce by itself. Actually, I think I did after I finished my share of the donut. It tasted like sweetened condensed milk with coffee turned into a foamy sauce. Who knew you could do something so unique with tofu.
The cocktails were just $ 10 each and we ordered the entire menu throughout the evening: Fresh Look (gin, cucumber, lemon, ginger ale), New Dynasty (red plum, lime, Thai basil, star anise vodka), Dau Phong (peanut rye, basil syrup, lime, siracha) and Silk Road (tea, ginger, vanilla, tamarind, coconut milk, aged rum). Each of them had enough of the Southeast Asian flavor in them to make it a bit special and fitting of the meal.

Came back for a second time, totally different menu. Enjoyed everything and had some interesting things that I haven’t had before. The only dish that wasn’t a stand out was the ma pa tofu. It definitely had more of that numb mouth feeling than normal though.

Really cool concept and execution. Love chatting with the knowledgable servers.
I didnt love every dish, but I appreciated the spirit of experimentation. Plus you’ll get 7 courses– so more than enough food to fill you up for the night.
My favorite dishes were their udon noodles with an AMAZING dipping sauce, corn dim sum and coffee foam dessert.
I’ll definitely be heading to Maketto when it opens up on H street!

$ 30 for a 7 course tasting is not bad in DC! The first and second course really should be one course (since you’re supposed to dip the udon noodles into the soup like thing they give you), but by course 4 I was so full so I’ll overlook that. I told the chef (I was sitting at the bar) I enjoy spicy food and boy did they not disappoint. One of the best mapo tofu I had! The dessert was a nice touch, with a nice foamy coffee flavored thing. Can’t wait for them to open!

For the price, this place was worth it but there were definitely hit and miss dishes. I’m giving them 2.5. Below are what i liked and didn’t like, overall though, nothing was memorable. I’ve had better Asian fusion food and better dim sum in other restaurants. i’m glad that I did the tasting menu for $ 35, if i ate this food a la carte i would probably send some dishes back and it would have ruined my experience entirely.
The hits list:
papaya salad-​super spicy and crunchy, loved the peanuts and the rice noodles to calm the heat, probably the spiciest dish of the night
sauteed green beans with fried garlic and fermented tofu – it was crispy and salty, the sauce reminded me of a black bean sauce
deconstructed dumpling, offered a la carte as a «dim sum» add-​on to the rest of the menu
honorable mentions:
seafood curry-​the fish was cooked perfectly and it was flaky I’ve had better curry with more personality, this sauce was just fine, i couldn’t tell what type of curry this was supposed to be – sweet, salty, red, yellow, etc. It was just a curry. just kind of hung out.
The misses:
Dessert – tofu soup with boiled peanuts – i don’t know where to begin, the tofu was curdling in this soup that tasted gingery, there was ice floating on the top and boiled peanuts. confusing and disgusting, not one of the 7 people i ate dinner with like it
charcuterie– seemed very out of place, like a european dish but all asian and done all wrong. Also it was served as our second to last dish (after main course) which didn’t seem right. We had hard sliced meat (like a salami) that was super salty and didn’t taste good on its own, there was a grey poupon mustard, also a duck mousse that was okay, and a few other things that i wasn’t sure what they were. This was all served with fried dough instead of bread, just weird combination,
sausage dish with poached egg and dill – again, a European dish but with asian flavors done all wrong. The meat and spice mixture in the sausage was off-​putting at best, also the texture was bad, it was soft in the middle and then with the runny egg I just wasn’t sure if what I was eating was even fully cooked. The sausage was served over crispy rice cake and sauteed veggies. I’ve never had a sausage/​brat over rice, also why is dill asian? it was gross.

4.50 stars. It has been said that if one doesn’t appreciate a great work of art such as the Mona Lisa, it states more about the subjective individual’s lack of taste and sophistication than it does about the artwork. Could the same principle be applied to those who fail to see the absolute splendor of Maketto, where Southeastern Asian cuisine gets a modern update and challenges not only your palate, but your artistic and cultural knowledge as well? Indeed, if Maketto didn’t inspire you, I can only think of two logical explanations: 1) you are unnecessarily attached to the idea of providing a counter-​point to popular opinion or 2) you are Jay-​Z. You are not Jay-​Z.
Maketto should exist on its own merits; entirely too many people are expecting the individuals who brought this concept to reality to simply regurgitate their already successful restaurants in almost identical form. Instead, Maketto provides something this city generally lacks (a reasonably priced tasting menu) in an aesthetically pleasing environment and couples it with great service.
It is paragraph 3 and I haven’t even reached the culinary aspects of Maketto. That is a mistake. The star of Maketto is the kitchen. The menu changes daily; in fact, the Cambodian lok lak I sampled at a pre-​Maketto cooking class did not show up on Friday’s menu. Still, traditional preparations of that country’s cooking were uncovered in other dishes meaning that DC finally has a restaurant that offers Cambodian cooking to the masses. There were other treats, including Japan’s okonomiyaki (think Japanese style «pizza» which I have previously only found at Maneki Neko in the DC area), the Schezuan province’s distinctive ma po tofu, and hell, even an Asian inspired take on cream-​style corn on the dim sum menu. There were items that could cause some less adventurous diners to pause (such as the dim sum duck hearts), but every dish was at least solid if not magnificent. The coup de grace was an absolutely perfect rendition of what appeared to be a tamarind-​flavored pork belly. These gorgeous squares of belly had a light citric flavor, a crisp exterior, and a lusciously soft interior. It very well may have been the best pork belly dish I have ever eaten.
While I’m quite curious to see Maketto’s space on H St, it is easy to see why many diners love the interior of Hanoi House. I’ve never really been a fan of red and black finishes, but it can be pulled off well when it is coupled with fantastic murals in a more open space.
Quite simply, DC needs more places and ideas like this one. Perhaps this is more Basquiat than Mona Lisa in that the charm of Maketto is delightfully modern and paradigm shattering. But if you can’t see the beauty, perhaps you are looking through a covered lens.

Finally made it to the Maketto residency. Our last reservation was cancelled because some issues in the kitchen this summer, so we were happy to return. We went on a Tuesday night, so the dining room was not packed.
Before I get to the food, I just want to give a shout-​out to our server, Helena. She was knowledgeable, attentive, and made every dish she described sound delicious even before we took a bite. I appreciated having her at our table.
If you’re reading this you probably know the deal. It’s a set menu of 7 courses. The menu changes once every 2 weeks, I believe. Helena did ask if we had any allergies, which my friend and I appreciated.
I started with a really yummy ginger and cucumber gin cocktail. It was refreshing, not too sweet, and made a good palette cleanser when I encountered spicier courses.
The 1^st course was a bowl of Udon noodles w/​a salted egg which you can stir in a beef broth complimented by a little bit of daikon radish purée. Really interesting presentation and great taste. I’m not a fan of radish, but I like what it added to the flavor of the broth.
Our «so good you’re gonna slap your mama» moment #1 came with the 2^nd course, a fish cake topped with exo (?) sauce, aioli, and this flaky garnish thing (I wasn’t completely listening to the explanation). There were so many levels of flavor and they were all delicious. This was the first time (but, not the last) of the night where we mourned coming to the end of the dish.
3^rd course was a fermented fish/​meat dip with veggies for dipping. While my foodie companion loved it and ended up taking it home, it wasn’t my cup of tea.
Instead, I bogarted the 4^th course, a Spicy Cambodian country stew with chunks of potatos, corn, chicken and a rich, and flavorful broth. It was served with white rice. This was «so good you’re gonna slap your mama» moment #2. Showcasing the simplest ingredients, this course was my favorite of the night. My gracious companion allowed me to take this dish home.
I had to go back and remember course #5, the mapo tofu. It was the only course we left on the plate and declined to take home. Not memorable at all.
6^th course was the five spice fried chicken with dipping sauce. Tons of flavors, lovely crust, and the second course where I mourned the last bite. Someone compared it to chic-​fil-​a nuggets. I endorse that comparison. It’s chic-​fil-​a, but with real chicken and no homophobia. Win-​win for all.
Desert was a beignet with vigilante coffee. Really lovely end of the great meal.
Pro-​tip: There’s no need to stuff yourself before the final course or leave tasty courses behind. The restaurant provides to-​go containers for the courses you don’t finish. My Cambodian stew was just as good the next day with some crusty bread. Yum, y’all!

I went to Maketto yesterday evening with some foodie friends of mine. I had no idea what to expect as I had read both great and bad reviews of the food. I can easily say we were all pleasantly surprised and very satisfied with the food.
What was touted as a 7 course meal amounted to an incredible amount of food for a prix fixe $ 30.00 Well worth the value for the price.
Okonomoiyaki — Japanese Pancake, consisted of some pork belly, shrimp and shaved mackerel. It was a delicious concoction.
Fresh Udon with Salted Egg, was just that. Udon noodles presented with two salty egg quarters along with a separate sauce for dipping. This was probably the least favorite dish, but I liked what Chef Yang was attempting with the flavors and textures.
Prahok Kh’Tih — This dish was served more as a dip and then eventually accompanied with rice. It was delicious, I’m just not sure the right vegetables were used for proper dipping,… and not so much the right vegetables as maybe more to the extent at which they were cut in size.
Samlah Machu Kroueng — A soup like stew with lemon grass, kaffir lime, tamarind, red bell pepper and chicken wing. Very tasty.
During the course of the entire meal, a dim sum cart appeared a couple of times. The dim sum is also very good, but a word of caution, you’re going to get a lot of food in the 7 course meal. Nevertheless our table split a steamed pork bun and the equivalent of steamed rice noodles with beef. Both done very well.
The next two dishes were Mapo Tofu and Taiwanese Fried Chicken.
Mapo Tofu — I like this dish almost everywhere I have eaten it, I am just not a fan of eggplant.
Taiwanese Fried Chicken — a little heavy on the batter, but the accompanying dipping sauce served well to balance it out.
For dessert, Vigilante Coffee — Not actually coffee, but in fact beignets served over warm coffee beans with a creamy/​tofu dipping sauce. If I wasn’t so completely full at this time I would have had more than one bite.
Suggestion: Avoid eating as much rice when it does come to the table as possible and maybe only try one dim sum. That way you can enjoy the entire meal as it is presented. We ended up taking ½ the Mapo Tofu and Taiwanese Chicken home, but this was our first time and we didn’t really know what to expect.
The wait staff is friendly and knowledgeable. Service can be spotty, but I think that is more of a factor of a residency than it is the kitchen or the service. The specialty drinks were an interesting sampling, although I do not recall the names of the two we tried. The beer and wine selections were also good as well, so it was difficult to go wrong.
Fortunately and unfortunately when you go you may or may not see any of these items, but that can be a wonderful thing as who doesn’t like surprises.

The menu at this pop up restaurant is as mercurial as my mother’s mood apparently. The dishes served had flavors bouncing off opposite ends of the spectrum and putting my taste buds on overdrive: crudités with a pungent fermented fish/​ground meat dip, fresh udon with salted eggs and less of a workout to your taste buds, ma po tofu (it was bland and not my favorite), and fried chicken with a sweet and sour chili dipping sauce which reminds me of chic-​fil-​la nuggets. Then there’s the a la carte ‘dim sum’… We ordered duck heart skewers and painfully regretted this because the preset menu is actually a whole truck load of food. We ended up wasting lots of food.
Switching to the drinks, my friend had a Dau Phong with peanut rye, Thai basil, lime, and sriracha. It was nasty. So nasty. I had the Silk Road with aged rum, tea, coconut milk and tamarind. It was delicious. So delicious.
Overall, the food was good, but not great. If you are from Southeast Asia however, this may turn out to be a treat as it takes you to a path down memory lane. For $ 30, it was well worth a try.
Ps. If you have a food allergy, expect to be treated as a pitiful handicapped diner. You will received lots and lots of extra attention.

I WAS SO EXCITED WHEN I HEARD THAT THE CHEF OF TOKI UDERGROUND was opening another restaurant. However, after my dinner experience there, I was highly disappointed. Toki is an amazing place because of the uniqueness of their broth and noodles. Maketto, however is not. Everything I tried at dinner was meh. Nothing exciting nor original. I felt like I could have went to an authentic Vietnamese or any Asian restaurants and it could have been a lot better. Some of the plates were either to salty, sour/​citrusy or bland. I was very dissatisfied with their menu.

I’m a sucker for a tasting menu, especially when it’s offered for $ 30. I love that it feels more like a dinner party than a restaurant experience, and I enjoy being able to discuss and share all of the dishes with my dining companions instead of trying to remember to pass around individual plates to make sure everyone gets to try everything.
The Maketto pop-​up was a nice experience, though the dishes were somewhat uneven. The first two rounds of courses– papaya salad, black sticky rice cake, coconut vegetable curry, and fermented tofu stir fry– were, in general, only OK. In terms of unique flavors, the fermented tofu was the most exciting dish, and the papaya salad had a nice deep flavor, though it may be too spicy for some. The third course, however– assorted charcuterie and sour & laap sausage– was excellent. The charcuterie plate was beautifully presented and perfectly diverse in its savory flavors and tart pickled garnishes. Also loved the twist of eating the meats– a liver mousse, duck rillettes, and an excellent terrine– alongside a chinese doughnut instead of the usual bread or crackers. And the sausages atop a tomato relish were a flavorful delight, topped with a perfectly cooked flash-​fried egg that melded all of the strong flavors together. Maybe a bit disappointing that these dishes were the least «asian» of the bunch, but hey: a delicious course is a delicious course.
The dim sum cart was also a mixed bag: we tried a cabbage roll filled with mushrooms that was a bit bland and lacking in textural interest, and a fried shrimp dish resting atop a small piece of sugar cane that was much more satisfying and held sufficient interest as a small plate.
Our dessert was a tofu «soup» with frozen tea ice and boiled peanuts– the boiled peanuts were perhaps overboiled, flavorless and a bit mealy and didn’t add much to the overall dish, but the flavors were otherwise very subtle and cooling and was a nice complement to the generally spicy meal heavy on bold flavors. Probably not something I’d ever order on its own, however. Altogether, a pleasant evening with friendly service, and I wish Maketto well! Excited to see the end product that manifests itself from this charming experiment.

I snagged a 9 pm reservation with 4 friends. We had to wait a while to get seated, and also couldn’t be seated with our other 4 friends, but hey, we knew that going in.
Our server was friendly and very knowledgeable, but often nowhere to be found. The courses came somewhat haphazardly — sometimes we’d get a rush of plates and struggle to deal with them all, sometimes we’d be waiting ages for them to take them. I wish they’d slowed down to tell us a little more about what was in each dish, I struggled to remember the names.
I like Southeast Asian flavors and foods, but I’m not an expert. However, I’ll try anything once! I had read other reviews and was expecting a really far-​out, stinky dinner, but it seemed pretty tame to me.
Our menu consisted of:
1. Ground duck version of something like larb gai/​mar hor — overall interesting and savory flavors, but dry. Served with cabbage wraps. This turned out to be my favorite of the evening. Evidently it has duck heart and other interesting things crumbled in which I didn’t know about, but hey, what you don’t know won’t hurt you!
2. Spicy papaya salad — spicy but not unbearable, the papaya flavor was sort of lost in the mix, but I overall liked it. Watch out for eating the tiny little red chili peppers — it’s dark in the resturant, and I ate one without realizing and whoa nellie– steam promptly started pouring out my ears.
3. Sour soup — A thin savory broth with a reasonable amount of just sour flavor, served room temp, with what I’m pretty sure was chicken, pork, pineapple, and enormous garlic pieces. I liked it, overall, but others found it only so-​so.
4. Enormous jumbo prawn — Served whole in a delicious sauce — I had some trouble with this guy, never really like the flavor of crustaceans and he came with lots of legs and his shell, but what I nibbled of this was very fresh tasting and the sauce was divine (not at all fishy tasting). The guys at the table sucked out the brains and later received a high five from our server. Boys.
5. Rockfish filet served atop sauteed greens (collard?) in a light coconut sauces — eh, I’ve had better. It lacked any sort of wow flavor in taste or plating.
6. A teeny tiny squid stuffed with sour sausage. This was, by far, the most contentious dish of the evening. We gals thought the squid was chewy and gross, and the pork filling unappetizing, while the guys thought this was the best course of the night. We still have fun arguing about it weeks later.
7. Shaved ice in a sort of chai-​reminenscent coconut milk with some fruits and tasty chewy glutinous rice (I think?) pieces. Our ice was a big chunk and hard to divide, and the dish overall could have benefited from more milk. I liked the slightly sweet chewy rice pieces, I hunted them down.
We also tried a couple of the dim sum. The pork bun was dry and only so-​so, the eggplant was tasty but the rest of my table seemed uninterested in it.
Cocktails: I had the fruity one, but it was not memorable. The Tom Collins with sriracha seemed more fun. One friend ordered a Gin Rickey and received an enormous pint glass of gin rickey! Now that’s value. :)
In sum, while everything was fine it wasn’t outstanding. In the end, I was more or less satiated, but not impressed or feeling like I’d had a super memorable dinner. I’ve enjoyed my dinners at Thai X-​ing more, and would probably go there before making the effort to schlep to Maketto whenever it opens on H.

Being one of the fortunate few to nab one of the rare reservations here, I felt it my Unilocal elite duty to write an honest review of this 3 month pop up.
To preface, I love Toki Underground and I love Little Serow so I was really looking forward to dining at what can only be described as their Pan Asian love child. 7 courses, no substitutions, and a steal at only $ 30.
Unfortunately I don’t remember the names of every dish but I do remember what I loved and what I felt completely lukewarm about. To start, our server brought us a large bowl of steaming white rice which would accompany our 6 courses (the 7^th being dessert).
The first course was the spiciest papaya salad I have ever put in my mouth, topped with a soft-​boiled egg. Our second course was a dish similar to larb gai, but made with duck. That dish was delicious and if I recall correctly, there were 3 different types of cooking styles applied to the duck in the salad. Third course was a very forgettable and bland rice porridge, accompanied with garnishes of sugar, lime, and chilies. It was such a disappointing course to receive after the previously mentioned highly flavorful dishes.
The fourth course was fried jumbo shrimp in a red chili and garlic sauce. This was by far my favorite course — as the shrimp was meant to be eaten whole (including the head). I love fried shrimp heads already but the sauce that the shrimp sat in was so delicious that my dining companion and I scooped it up and ate it on rice. Course five was chunks of rockfish in a red curry and coconut sauce, sitting on a bed of collard greens (I think). Very good, but paled in comparison to the fried fish. The sixth course was a sausage stuffed squid sitting in a slightly acidic sauce. Finally, our meal ended with shaved ice with sweetened coconut milk, sliced peaches, and berries. While I enjoyed it, it could have definitely used more coconut milk.
Also, throughout the meal someone would routinely walk by with a dim sum cart, offering small plates at $ 2 a piece. This method wasn’t executed very well, considering we ordered two plates and only received one.
Overall, it was a fine meal for $ 30 and I’m sure the restaurant will fare well when it moves to its permanent location on H St.

This was a good, fun meal.
Our favorite dish by far was the sausage stuffed squid. It was delicious and perfectly cooked. I hope they put this one on the menu and execute it as well as they did that night. We also liked the curry dish and the soup.
I swear though — when I went for a run the next day — my sweat smelled like fish sauce. No joke.

3.5 Stars for sure. The extra half star was for the excellent service. I gotta write this review before the burn wears-​off!!!
Struggling to make the bland kitchen of Hanoi House a hot bed for a new concept restaurant, Maketto brings South East Asian flavors to the 14^th Street corridor with mixed success. The old Blackbyrd digs are well suited for a dim but energy filled night of 7 courses. The dominating flavors of the night are staples to SE Asia cuisine, red chiles, fish sauce, lemon grass and other sour notes brought out by citrus like pineapples and sometimes a splash of coconut milk. When done right, like the crispy fried whole prawn in chilie sauce or the seared squid stuffed with sausage… we had some serious winners! When done wrong, like the sour soup or the overly fishy papaya salad, the only thing saving the dish was the spice (I LOVE spicy food)! Even some of the dim sum on the roaming cart fell flat, like the pork bun with not enough pork in it or flavor, wear as the fried calamari was spot-​on.
The cocktails were great, a take on Tom Collins with Sriracha that was a winner! The service was fast, friendly and even rattled off the names of the plates with authentic ease. For $ 30, the 7 course flight was well worth it, and I see success in the future for the eventual permanent home of Maketto. Like all «ethnic food» restaurants, find the gems on the menu, then eat the HELL out of them!
I gotta finish this review before the second burn sets in… if you know what I’m talking about!

I think I ranted and raved so much about Toki that people will suspect that I’m on the payroll, so let’s just say this was one of the great meals of my life all for 30 bucks — seven very distinct courses that you won’t come close to finishing housed in a bar with high ceilings and great atmosphere that you won’t want to leave. Do yourself a favor — go now. Stop reading — just go.

I had the wonderful opportunity to try Maketto’s preview menu this past Friday with the hubby, Lu. We are such big fans of Toki Underground and knew that although Chef Bruner Yang and his team were testing out dishes that we just had to reschedule commitments and attend. I am so glad we did.
Keith and Lu’s reviews below do a great job of describing the dishes. I will just say that if you want to try authentic Cambodian with hints of south east Asian flavors from neighboring nations, you will love this menu.
Each dish has such vibrant character with sharp flavors. I LOVED the sour pork sausage with squid and the tangy, sour, soup. This meal was a breath of fresh air.
Although the reservations are sold out, you can walk in and sit at the bar.
I can only imagine how amazing the restaurant’s menu will be after they have tested out their dishes and found their stride. Well done, team Maketto!

I’ll preface this review with two admissions: one– I am a huge fan of Chef Erik Bruner-​Yangs flagship restaurant Toki Underground, and two– I have never had Cambodian food before. I like many in the DC/​MD/​VA area have been anxiously awaiting his new endeavor, the Asian market themed Maketto to be renovated, hopefully for a fall opening. In the meanwhile, it was with great excitement that I found out he had taken over the Hanoi House off of U St for a long term residency/​pop up. A chance to get an early try of the delicacies that he will be serving up soon.
I attended this set dinner on the first night which was a treat:
So like Lu D mentioned the setting is very nice! A beautiful setting for a Cambodian themed meal:
The dinner is a $ 30 set meal and plenty of food to fill you up, IMHO– a steal for a meal of this quality.
Dinner started with several dim sum dishes: a meat ball, a dumpling and kim chee. They were all outstanding. And albeit I try not to say this in reviews but being Chinese American and a veteran of very good dim sum– hats off Erik!
They have also introduced a variety of cocktails and we tried several: sorry I dont have the names but they were all very tasty: two were summery type drinks, one was based on cucumber, so very refreshing. The other more like an Asian Mojito.
Dinner:
1. Bok Lahong: Papaya Salad– not your typical more Thai style… def some heat to this dish but was extremely flavorful, not sure how the other reviewer couldnt taste the papaya.
2. Trey Chien w/​Tamarind Sauce: Fried Smelt– typically not a fan of smelt and anchovies or similar. But this was very good, nice crunchiness and so very tasty!
3. Samlah Machou Youn: soup with pork loin and prawns. Couldnt get enough. the pork was so tender, prawns perfect and the broth was excellent.
4. Amok Trey: yellow curry with Black bass. My second favorite dish of the night. The curry sauce was divine! Such complex flavor. I would order a full size dish of this and be happy.
5. Loc Lac: marinated wagu beef brought out to be eaten lettuce wrap style. Very tasty! The beef nicely cooked and love the egg that it is served with to give it some richness.
6. Saich Kroak: Sausage stuffed Squid… ok here was the big winner of the night. Damn this was good! Outstanding and have never had squid stuffed before. The squid body super tender, not chewy at all and the stuffing… so good!
7. Dessert: was a shaved ice… I would say could have used a little more syrupy sweetness. But I’ll give Erik a pass, it was night one!
All in all, me any my 3 dinner companions and my friend and his party of 4 all completely enjoyed our meal. If you are used to poorly done chinese take out, or the usual Asian fare served in the area, then be ready for a different experience altogether. And the other reviewers mention of poor quality ingredients? Really!!! Knowing Chef Bruner-​Yangs attention to detail, the idea that he would source his ingredient poorly is completely without merit. If you have been waiting for Maketto to open and are curious as to the food, make a trip down to the former Hanoi House. And if you havent been waiting or have no idea what Maketto is, but want a fantastic and completely unique dining experience, also make a reservation for Maketto, then ENJOY!

4.5÷5 Stars
I’d like to provide context for my review. I am no food snob, and not even Unilocal ELITE. I know food though. I was raised in the kitchen of my father’s Vietnamese restaurant on M St. in Georgetown (30 years). It received 20 Washingtonian Best Restaurant awards. I grew up surrounded by aunts that were legitimately «boat people» from Vietnam that cooked aromatic south east Asian cuisine all morning and night in our home. The meals we shared nightly were the only remaining ties lost to a country they felt forcibly removed from. I say this because the reviewer’s comments below that she traveled to south east Asia qualifying her as understanding the cuisine is dangerous (with all due respect).
The wife and I eagerly anticipated Maketto’s residency at Hanoi House. This was Chef Erik Bruner Yang’s encore to Toki Underground, DC’s beloved ramen shop on H St. This new project is stacked with serious talent; Chef Bruner Yang, Chef James Wozniuk as Chef de Cuisine, formerly from Clarendon’s Lyon Hall, and heard from the grapevine, a chef that was formerly of Jose Andres’ Minibar.
If you have walked through the open markets and roads of south east Asia, you will find comfort in these dishes. If you’re from any of the surrounding countries from above, you may experience a blast-​to-​the-​past– transportation back to your childhood, surrounded by obnoxiously loud relatives, passing dishes back and forth with frenzy, pungent aromas wafting around you; I felt… at home.
The Hanoi House décor where Maketto’s residency is taking place is gorgeous. Heavy on the ornamental French colonial décor, you’re immediately removed from the hustle and bustle of DC.
The dishes are served family style. If you have experienced Chef Johnny Monis’ Little Serrow, Maketto’s layout will be familiar. Portions are accommodated based on the number of diner’s in your party.
Onto the dishes:
1. Bok Lahong: this dish is a green papaya salad heightened with dried shrimp, fish, diced tomatoes, and chilies and topped with crushed peanuts; amazingly delicious and the spiciness on-​point. If my Cambodian or Thai friends had enjoyed this dish, there only reservation would be that perhaps more spiciness would be required, but I found it just right.
2. Trey Chien: Fried smelt with an amazing tamarind sauce. More, please.
3. Amok trey: I wanted to bathe in this dish of black bass, coconut crème and yellow curry. It tastes as amazing as it reads. The hints and notes of this dish are just perfect.
4. Loc Lac: Marinated wagu beef with a south east Asian lemon/​lime dipping sauce with crushed black pepper accompanied by lettuce (for wrapping), rice noodle, and boiled egg.
5. Saich Kroak: A sour sausage with stuffed squid, garlic chili, herbs, and a spicy fish sauce. The hit of the night for the table.
6. Samlah Machou Youn: A soup consisting of pork loin, tomatoes, prawns, diced pineapple, dill, tamarind and fried garlic. I actually elbowed out my wife for a 3^rd bowl of this.
The dim sum cart were just plain fun: pork buns, vegetarian shitake mushroom fried egg-​rolls, pork meatballs. the list continues. Have fun and try one or two.
The meal above was accompanied by a large communal bowl of rice for the table. Imbibe, but don’t indulge the white starch too much too soon. The portions throughout the dinner are generous.
THE LOWDOWN: If you’re non-​south East Asian, I need to let you know that this food is adventurous. Dare I say more adventurous than Little Serrow (Chef Monis, if you’re reading this, Little Serrow is always 10 stars in our hearts). Why make such a bold statement? When is the last time you’ve had Cambodian food? You probably had Thai food once or twice in the past month, yes? But not Cambodian. Chef Bruner Yang is bringing new, bold, spicy flavors to DC. And God only knows we need this (please​.no more burger joints…). That being said, you’re taste buds will be tested. You may find certain dishes salty. some «stinky».God bless fermentation, but this is the real-​deal. It’s unadulterated food from a region that has been too commercialized and marketed only between Vietnam and Thailand.
The day afterwards, I began developing that strong craving one has for… say sushi, but instead, it was for the salty, spicy, bitter, and everything in between goodness of our experience from dinner at Maketto’s preview. We need to push the boundaries in DC and this stellar team is doing it. Come along for the ride, I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Price: $ 30 for 6 – 8 dishes (dim sum is a la carte) is a steal.