Manna from heaven may, according to Bible history, have come down from God to save his chosen people at their darkest hours of wandering the barren desert. But head down to Hook and anyone can sample it. Chef Jonathan Seningen is chopping it finely and sprinkling it over his dish of Wahoo with Juniper, Cilantro Oil and Grapefruit.

Manna, like truffles, is up there in the high-priced ingredients stakes. Yet Seningren's dish is a mere $11. "I want to be extremely fair. It doesn't serve any purpose to get these things in house and make them too expensive," he says.

So what is manna, anyway? Seningen was introduced to this gravel-looking resin that comes primarily from Iran where it's known as Shirkhesht, by a friend who had been sous chef at Yannick Cam's Le Paradou. "I was familiar with a lot of different Bible stories. I remembered that one about free bread to the leaders and manna for the children. It's the original sustainable product," was how he viewed it. "It kept people alive. We have to use it!" he decided.

Beyond curiosity in it as an intriguing ingredient, manna has value as a complex addition to a dish. A resin primarily from the tamarisk tree, it's extremely sweet. But behind its sugariness, it has a layering of flavors that run from the piney-ness you'd perhaps expect from a resin to a bizarre, almost anaethestising mintiness that leaves your mouth feeling a cool breeze has passed through it, with a finish that's a little bitter. Then there's its texture: as chewy as a gum arabic - another ingredient from the same part of the world.

So far, Seningren is only using it with his wahoo, but thinks it has applications that would marry with another fatty fish, tuna. At around $125 for 4 ounces, he hasn't been playing too wildly with it yet. But he expects to find other ways to expand its possibilities across the menu.

Hook is located at 3241 M St NW, 202 625 4488.