The Main Line has a new underground cocktail bar
The Wayne speakeasy is only open two nights a week for now.
In East Asian folklore, the Jade Rabbit is a celestial figure known for compassion and hospitality. When a hungry goddess tested the kindness of animals, the rabbit offered itself as food. Moved by this selfless act, she granted it immortality, sending it to live on the moon.
There, the Jade Rabbit eternally mixes the elixirs of life for the gods — a symbol of generosity, sacrifice, and eternal service.
At Jade Rabbit, the cocktail bar that opened this week beneath Maison Lotus in Wayne, siblings Pearl and Paul Somboonsong are mixing their own elixirs — if not for the gods, then for, well, Main Liners.
In March, the Somboonsongs opened Maison Lotus, an upscale Vietnamese restaurant and all-day cafe at 175 Lancaster Ave., the former site of Margaret Kuo.
As they planned the two-story restaurant, they decided that the basement would be an ideal spot for a speakeasy-style bar as a passion project, alongside a banquet room where they’d host private events and mah-jongg games.
Pearl Somboonsong grew up on the Main Line, where her parents, Win and Sudita Somboonsong, created a string of restaurants, including Mikado Thai Pepper, Teikoku, Azie, and Blue Elephant.
After college, she lived in New York and Chicago, “and there was always a speakeasy scene,” she said. Philadelphia has one, too. But not so much on the Main Line, as she discovered when she moved back to join her brother in Win Hospitality, the family business.
There are stylish bars, she said, but “I was asking, ‘Why is there not really a place where I can have that same experience where the cocktails are really the focus?”
Of course, Jade Rabbit is licensed, unlike a true speakeasy. But it has the characteristic unmarked door leading down from Maison Lotus as well as a low-lit, low-key vibe for its eight bar seats plus 18 more at tables. Opening night was fully booked, and there are 30 on the waiting list for tonight, Pearl Somboonsong said. It’s only open Thursday and Friday for now; more days may be added if there is demand.
Bartender Curtis Daulerio and Win Hospitality beverage director Katrin Kanikkeberg set up the bar, whose cocktail menu is Vietnamese-inspired. For a drink called the Circle Jawn, they use a Porthole Infuser, a circular contraption invented for the Aviary, a seminal speakeasy-style bar in Chicago.
The Circle Jawn is meant to resemble a bowl of pho, so Daulerio loads the infuser with vermicelli, roasted carrots, basil, and spices such as star anise, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and coriander seeds. Then he pours Diplomatico rum, Pedro Ximenez sherry, and black walnut bitters into the porthole. The drink ($39 for two), which is poured atop a large ice cube, picks up new flavors and colors as it steeps.
Like many new bars, Jade Rabbit also has a FlavourBlaster, the device that creates oversize bubbles and smoke on top of a drink. “Of course, we play with fire and smoke and stuff, but I didn’t want it all to be gimmicky,” Pearl Somboonsong said. “At the end of the day, it has to be about class. The goal is an amazing, well-balanced cocktail.”
Jade Rabbit offers three options for reservations: There’s a $30 per-person deposit for a bar seat; the customer orders à la carte drinks and food, and the deposit is applied to the final bill. In the dining seats, there’s a $145 five-course food and cocktail pairing menu with hamachi, flower dumplings, Chilean sea bass, A5 Wagyu steak, and crystal dumplings filled with guava and strawberries — all unique to the lounge. The third option is a three-course cocktail progression, which covers any three cocktails for $65.
À la carte food includes bites such as Bangkok toast (brown sugar butter and bourbon creme anglaise atop milk bread), umami popcorn, and Japanese street corn, plus larger plates including the steak and sea bass.
Jade Rabbit, beneath Maison Lotus, 175 Lancaster Ave., Wayne, maison-lotus.com/jaderabbit. Hours from 5:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday. Reservations suggested, though walk-ins are allowed.