This review is specifically for Rabbit Hole at Henley, a one per night only four-person tasting menu experience. I give it 4 stars for food, but I wish I could give it an extra half a star for the excitement of the environment and service. You walk in and are seated at the bar first, before following your personal waitress for the night (who by the way, is super friendly and sweet) to what seems like a normal wall. Shockingly, she then pushes the wall open to reveal the kitchen and a small, beautifully decorated table: The Rabbit Hole. All night, you are seated by yourself where you can watch the kitchen at work, and the executive chef is concentrated only on you and your food for 2+ hours. We were first given a bit of fortified wine before being briefed on the 13 courses to come.
**BE AWARE: if you go down the Rabbit Hole only as 2 people, you WILL likely be seated with 2 strangers. Just be prepared for that. And enjoy meeting new people. :) We went as a group of 4 friends and that was super awesome and personal too.**
I won't walk you through every single course, simply because they change every week so that wouldn't be helpful. However, I'll give you a general overview and some standouts. The dishes were unique, but because of the recent changing of executive chefs, I believe the emphasis has shifted from wild, gastronomic antics to just really well executed dishes. However, we still found a good bit of creativity. Some standouts were a 3 piece starter of various crisped up ingredients with umami flavors, a carrot soup with a pico de gallo and tempura crisp, one of the most well cooked trouts I've ever had, mexican fudge cake with passionfruit meringue, and basil ice cream. I'll say again, what really stood out to me was how well executed everything was, not necessarily any mindblowing pairings or presentations. One of the dishes that remains almost always on the menu is an iberico pork with a sort of corn sauce and whole green peppercorns. As a pepper lover, this was insane, since I've never had non-dehydrated peppercorns. A party in the mouth! Some of the dishes I liked less were a melon and avocado salad (boring), a sort of fried squash (again, less interesting), and the little treats at the end. But overall, it was a very enjoyable experience, and I LOVED how intimate it was and how kind and silly the staff were.
**Also, I reccommend just being in the moment for the initial "opening of the rabbit hole," and then, if you want to take a video for your instagram or friends, just ask the waitress to go back through after. read more