Good Asian restaurants recommendations (Annandale, Centreville: house, neighborhood, DMV)

[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by slim04

In Alexandria, I like Red Mei on King Street for fast food. It is cheap and very good.

In Falls Church, try Hong Kong Palace: Rolling With the Chang-es: When the ghost of Szechwan past sits down at the table, call in an exorcist and continue eating. - Washington City Paper

Seems like several people recommended the Homg Kong Palace in Falls Church. I'll pencil it in as a "must try" then.

Also good to know there are decent asian places in Alexandria so we don't need to drive far in a pinch

[weezycom]

Originally Posted by tongyang

Annandale has many Korean restaurants I like... Specifically Lighthouse Tofu and Izakaya Honey Pig.

XO Taste, Miu Kee, Full Kiee - pretty interchangable Hong Kong style restaurants
Heebeen - Korean BBQ
Tanpopo - Ramen
Blue Ocean - Japanese
Hot Spot - hot pots!

For dim sum I'd drive to Silver Spring MD (Silver Fountain or Oriental East)

The sushi at Tanpopo is excellent.

For northern style Chinese, A&J Noodles on Markham Street in Annandale (very close to Tanpopo) -- they make their own noodles.

There's a good Thai/Cajun place down in Lorton Station (can't recall the name of it right now). Elephant Jumps Thai at the intersection of Rte 50 and Gallows Road in Merrifield is excellent Thai as well.

Korean fried chicken: Bon Chon (many locations thru area) McChi on Little River Turnpike near Braddock Road intersection, and Cheojip off Evergreen Drive in Annandale.

[ACWhite]

Peking Gourmet is always crowded with people of all types of (apparent) ethnicities, including Chinese. This is true despite its not being in the most desirable location, and décor that doesn't seem to have been changed in 30 or so years. I don't know that this says anything about the *authenticity* of the food, but it does suggest that a lot of people like it. Portions are huge, so plan to go straight home after dinner and put leftovers in your refrigerator.

I like Minh (Vietnamese) in Clarendon.

Have only been to Duangrat's once, but was disappointed, FWIW.

[slim04]

Originally Posted by ACWhite

Peking Gourmet is always crowded with people of all types of (apparent) ethnicities, including Chinese. This is true despite its not being in the most desirable location, and décor that doesn't seem to have been changed in 30 or so years. I don't know that this says anything about the *authenticity* of the food, but it does suggest that a lot of people like it. Portions are huge, so plan to go straight home after dinner and put leftovers in your refrigerator.

I like Minh (Vietnamese) in Clarendon.

Have only been to Duangrat's once, but was disappointed, FWIW.

Yeah, I don't know. I used to work in Bailey's and a lot of people recommended Peking Gourmet to me, but most folks I know that have eaten there since have told me it was just OK. I honestly don't know a single person from California or New York City where good Chinese food is plentiful that liked that place. When I lived in Chicago, hole in the wall take out places served up the same quality food as the Peking Gourmet. It was nothing special to me and certainly not that much different from Charlie Chiangs or PF Chang, chain restuarants. Though it is 1000% better than Tony Cheng's in Chinatown in DC, another Chinese restaurant that people recommend but that place is truly terrible.

I like Duangrats because they actually own a Thai grocery store next door, so the ingredients are more authentic. You actually get Chinese broccoli instead of regular broccoli in their dishes. Rabieng is their low key version of Dungrats and slightly cheaper prices. They serve higher quality beef as well, as many hole in the wall Thai places use low quality beef.

Bangkok 54 in Arlington is a big favorite of mine. My Thai friends love that place. It is less kitsch and a cooler place to have a drink.

[farplaner]

The Peking duck at Peking Gourmet was good, but the other food was just okay. It was also a bit pricey for us.

Also the Korean fried chicken places above are great!

[PK12]

Originally Posted by tongyang

The Peking duck at Peking Gourmet was good, but the other food was just okay. It was also a bit pricey for us.

Also the Korean fried chicken places above are great!

Agreed, rest of the food is very plain and avg Americanized Chinese food. Salt and pepper shrimp is alright I guess.


Myanmar in Falls Church, down from Dunn Lorring off of Lee Hwy, is amazing amazing Burmese food!!

Service kind of sucks and the food can take a while to prepare, but is completely worth the wait and putting up with aloof service. Oh man, the way the flavors of their dishes burst in your mouth!!

[PK12]

For Thai, my top picks are Sugar Palm in Alexandria, Thai Ghaang Waan in Springfield and Bangkok 54 in Arlington.

[sequon]

Variety of Asian foods! That is one (or many) reason(s) I would not want to leave this area. When we lived in CO, I once said "life is too short to explore the great mountains enough" Now I say "life is too short to enjoy all the Asian cuisines in the area." Maybe not healthy???

Anyway, what's really happening is, we get to go to Korean restaurants too often. So we don't seem to enjoy the variety as much as we should. When we lived in areas with only a few Korean places, we used to be pretty balanced about different kinds of Asian cuisines. But not any more. Just a few picks here---Disclaimer: THIS IS FROM SOMEONE WITH A STRONG BIAS AND PECULIAR TASTE.

• Lighthouse Tofu house---thumbs up to Koreans and non-Koreans alike. Can ask for the degree of spiciness to your likings. I prefer Annandale one to Centreville one (I'm still mad at them since they charged a couple of bucks for extra bowl of rice. I never give good reviews to any Asian restaurant sparing the rice).

• Choong Hwa Won--Excellent. This is a Korean-Chinese restaurant. Highly "Koreanized" Chinese food. i.e., You can't get this kind of food in China. I'm surprised to see Chinese customers there. The food must have been foreign to them, but somehow they develop the taste. Amazing.

• To Sok Jip--Excellent. Be warned--this is not a friendly place whether you are Korean or non-Korean. It's just their style. They never smile to customers, and very often rude. Want decent service? Do not go. Want very authentic home-style Korean flavor? Go, but don't complain.

• H-Mart food court. Fairfax one is the best. Annandale and Centreville follow. Great variety to choose from. Almost too many. Anything I've tried has been good. I have some other Koreans complaining about some menu items. Ignore them. My favorite: Sashimi rice bowl (Heo-dup-bab) for $10. Hmmm, yummy.

• Todai---somewhat pricy, so we don't go as often as we want. In fact we only go there with 10%-off coupons available from free Korean newspapers in H-mart or other Korean restaurants. But whenever we go there, we never regret.

But considering all the factors price/taster/quality/convenience together, this place is hard to beat--Hunan Tasty. This is a small mom-and-pop Chinese carryout place in our neighborhood. First, it's dirt cheap. Second, they are fast--I just cannot understand how they can possibly prepare $50 worth of foods in 10 min. Third, taste is good (actually it kind of fluctuates, sometimes it's so great, other days, so-so. It seems to depend on the mood of the chef). What I'm saying is---I'm pretty sure in the neighborhood you live in around the corner, the chances are there's one. Usually they are good. See I told you--I am highly biased.

Originally Posted by slim04

This place isn't anything special. It is famous because George H.W. Bush really liked it back in the 1970's and 80's when there were hardly any Chinese restaurants in Northern Virginia. As he got more famous, he and his family still kept on eating there. When he was a big time player and VP and later president, other big wigs started joining him and a lot of other famous Republicans started eating there as well. They have big pictures of these pols all over the walls. His son George W Bush was known to eat there on occassion as well, even after he became president too.

It's probably what an older person from Texas and Maine thinks what good Chinese food is. To me it is just blah, Americanized versions of Chinese food. Stuff like Kung Pao chicken that chains like Charlie Chiangs or PF Changs do better. The Thai place in the same strip mall is pretty good though, but not as good as Duangrats and Rabiang a few blocks away.

In Alexandria, I like Red Mei on King Street for fast food. It is cheap and very good.

In Falls Church, try Hong Kong Palace: Rolling With the Chang-es: When the ghost of Szechwan past sits down at the table, call in an exorcist and continue eating. - Washington City Paper

Thank you for the info. Now I'm taking that place off our list of restaurants to explore.

[kieplangdu]

Originally Posted by sequon

• Todai---somewhat pricy, so we don't go as often as we want. In fact we only go there with 10%-off coupons available from free Korean newspapers in H-mart or other Korean restaurants. But whenever we go there, we never regret.

Todai? Seriously? Todai? I couldn't think of a worse restaurants in all of America.

[slduvall]

Originally Posted by gomason

What part of Alexandria? Alexandria/Springfield basically has every cuisine in the world.

Kingstowne has a really good Chinese restaurant off of Hayfield Road in the Giant shopping center. On Manchester Boulevard in Kingstowne there is Genghis Grill which is a good Mongolian place. Next to the Noodles and Company and Sandwich Republic in Springfield is a good Teriyaki place called Toki Teriyaki. If you want kabob, Springfield has 3 billion places for that.

I don't venture into old town that often, especially not for asian food, but there are a ton down there too. Use Yelp if you don't already: Asian food Alexandria, VA.

I have to politely disagree on some of this. That particular Chinese place (House of Dynasty)has turned mediocre at best, and has so much sodium in your food you swell right away! Genghis Grill is American food with some soy sauce. Can be fun and cheap but is not Asian.

Better places in Kingstowne ...though there are better elsewhere... would be Thai - Rice and Spice on Beulah, Mixed Asian - Kumo's at Manchester Lakes. In the same shopping center as above mentioned Chinese place is a decent Japanese place Katana.