Good Asian restaurants recommendations (Annandale, Centreville: prices, vs, shop)

[PK12]

To be honest, pho is one of those special items where once you develop a taste for the broth of a particular eatery, it is hard to appreciate it at other places.

For me Pho Viet Flare (Alexandria, Van Dorn/Edsall) does it the best. Pho Sate (Falls Church)comes second in my list of favorites.

The famed Pho 75 of Arlington does not quite cut it for me , for some reason.

[PK12]

Originally Posted by spencgr

Can anyone tell me if they've ever come across "Exploding Egg" Pad Krapao? It's a Thai noodle dish with a runny fried egg on top. I can't find it anywhere, although, admittedly, it hasn't been a real search....

I am guessing that Thai Ghaang Waan or Bangkok Noodle (springfield) might have it on their "Thai-only" menu.

Both are very authentic, have a lot of entrees even on their English menu that you do not find at most Thai restaurants

[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by smithy77

I like the BBQ at Hee Been----each table has a grill and you choose your own meats from the buffet. There are a couple of branches of Honey Pig that I know of---one is in Koreatown (Annandale), and the other in Centreville.

Thank you. It's worth a try for us then.

[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by gomason

Admittedly, I'm not really an Asian cuisine conoissuer. I would never go out of my way for a good asian meal and usually just eat it out of convenience (aka cheap carryout). I hate sushi and I have to be in the right mood for Thai.

Unfortunately, you are missing a great source of oral satisfaction !

I do admit that the acquired taste comes faster if you have more knowledgeable friends to introduce you to the fine art of asian food. But there are things you just can not get used to, for me; it is spicy food. I love them but my tongue & my stomach do not ! My wife, on the other hand, loves spicy Thai & Indonesian food.

Sushi is so "americanized" these days, it is really hard to find a "great" sushi place. Most places just slab a piece of raw fish on top of vinegar rice with a swab of wasabi in between. Then there are ramen places and for what it is worth; not all noodles are made the same. It all depends who made them, how they are cooked, and what broth to put in, etc. I have to admit I have yet to master the fine art of noodles.

[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by PK12

To be honest, pho is one of those special items where once you develop a taste for the broth of a particular eatery, it is hard to appreciate it at other places.

For me Pho Viet Flare (Alexandria, Van Dorn/Edsall) does it the best. Pho Sate (Falls Church)comes second in my list of favorites.

The famed Pho 75 of Arlington does not quite cut it for me , for some reason.

Totally agreed.

Having tasted the best of pho from Little Saigon, I've developed a high standard for pho. The key is in its broth.

I'll have to try Pho Viet Flare based on your recommendation.

[sequon]

Pho 75 deserves better reviews. Haven't been to one in Arlington but one in Falls Church (Rt50) is one of my best in the US (I have tried Pho's in pretty much every major city in the US except in the South). But I do have to say the flavor of soup base of Pho's depends a lot on the timing---they constantly boil the broth day and night. The "exact" flavor CAN fluctuate depending on how long the broth was boiled with all the varying percentages of ingredients. Usually good restaurants do a good job of keeping the quality up regardless of the time, but there can be always exceptions. Sometimes you could get a so-so broth in a restaurant known for the best in town; or the opposite may be true too (although less frequently).

The only downside of pho75---the atmosphere AND cash only. Some people might not like these kind of things, but I don't really care very much about the atmosphere. I don't care if servers don't smile at us, don't speak English very well (I speak back to them with my "broken" English), servers have nose hair, or servers the broth surface touch their thumbs when they put the bowls on the table---Seriously that's what happened the other day. I was OK but my wife was not. Women...

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by sequon

Pho 75 deserves better reviews.

Love me some Pho 75 in Herndon! No fluff, no pretentiousness; just some mighty good soup.

[slim04]

Originally Posted by slim04

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

Well, I went to Red Mei for the first time in a while and found out that the owners sold it to new people and it is now terrible.

Sucks because Red Mei was founded by these brothers that were chefs in fine dining asian restaurants and wanted to start a pan-asian fast food chain that would put a different spin on traditional asian dishes, but using techniques of the best restaurants and using fresh and higher quality ingredients. I think the restaurants was a concept test to see if it could be franchised like Big Bowl.

They had these amazing dishes for $7 and a huge perk of living in Old Town for me. Wonder what they are up to now. Big bummer.

[slim04]

Originally Posted by smithy77

Tony Chung's (in DC's Chinatown): I like their Mongolian.

If you mean Tony Cheng's on 7th and H, it has gone downhill. They don't use fresh meat or seafood anymore. It is all frozen. I was surprised that they even had frozen slices of meat at that the BBQ and put it directly on the grill without thawing it.

[vademo]

My wife and I love Asian food and we know 2 amazing restaurants in Falls Church.
1. Hong Kong Palace in Falls Church. This is one of the best Chinese restaurant in the state. They are always packed so we usually get carry out from them. You have to try their spicy eggplants and lamb. They also have amazing salt and pepper shrimps.
2. Peking Gourmet Inn in Falls Church is also pretty amazing. During the Thanksgiving, we usually get a full Peking duck from them and it always taste amazing.