My wife Jun and I have long been fans of Middle Eastern food, and any given day we would absolutely enjoy dipping on hummus and taking a bite out of lamb kebabs. One DC restaurant that had been on my radar since a co-worker recommended to me was Rumi’s Kitchen in Mount Vernon Square. Named after Jalaluddin Rumi, a Persian poet from the 13th century, Rumi’s Kitchen (the restaurant also has a few branches in Georgia) offers classic Persian dishes brought by chef Iran-born chef Ali Meseghali. On our recent visit, we had a lot of fun exploring the region’s delicious food.

The menu at Rumi’s Kitchen looks fairly standard, starting with starters under “Taste” section and larger dishes under “Feast” section. I do recommend that you start your meal here with a few starters, including some hummus (we tried the one with roasted cremini and oyster mushroom that was quite solid). Are you an eggplant fan? Then, you would absolutely love the kashk badenjoon featuring fried eggplant with crispy onion and cream of whey. Of course we had to try some kabob dishes, and the lamb sirloin at Rumi’s Kitchen was superb, showing lovely texture with no hint of gamey flavor. Aside from the lamb kabob, we also tried ghormeh sabzi, a stew of scallion and beef along with red kidney bean. The stew was quite memorable with its distinctly addictive flavor that quite aptly captured the soulful and hearty character of Persian cuisine. Compared to all the delicious savory dishes, the dessert of ice cream sandwich was a slight letdown (a bit too much saffron flavor), but nonetheless we walked out the restaurant quite happy (and extremely stuffed).

We were pleasantly surprised to find the restaurant almost packed with diners from all kinds of background when we arrived for early dinner. If you are looking for a prime-time reservation, booking in advance is highly recommended. There is full bar with cocktails cleverly incorporating ingredients from the region. The service was somewhat uneven but it was understandable given how busy the restaurant was accommodating everyone inside a fairly spacious dining room. Jun and I would be happy to come back to Rumi’s Kitchen, preferably with other people so we can try as many other dishes as possible (it certainly was a struggle to choose from the menu since there were so many dishes that sounded amazing).

Address: 640 L Street NW, Washington, DC 20001

KenScale: 8.0/10 (Jun’s Score: 7.75/10)

Website: https://www.rumiskitchen.com/

Reservation via OpenTable