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MSPB3434

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jumbo shrimp

jumbo shrimp (16/123)

  1. MSPB3434
    Are those kaffir lime leaves? They seem to have the shape of kaffir lime leaves, though maybe not the texture.
  2. MSPB3434
    My wife and I had a really enjoyable meal here the other night. The food and the drinks were delicious, and the service pleasant. We got there right as it opened at 5 on a Friday, and were the only table seated. Within 15 minutes, it was mostly full. They don't take reservations, but it looks like if you still get there early enough, you can grab a table easily. The menu is divided into sushi, cold plated, and hot plates. We got a tuna roll from the sushi section, which was fine, and the rest were from the hot plates section. The stand out dishes were the agedashi tofu and the karaage. The sauce for the tofu was spectacular; we followed Sietsema's lead and asked for a bowl of rice to finish it off after eating the tofu. The karaage is covered in gochujang, a combination I'm kicking my self for not trying at home. With a bit of Kewpie mayonnaise and a pickle, this made for a great bite. It's also a sizable portion, possibly making for a meal for one. We were also happy with the 5-spice pork belly and navy beans, and the grilled vegetables and poached egg in a light mix of soy sauce, mirin, and rice wine vinegar. Equally impressive were the cocktails. My first cocktail mixed bourbon with burnt honey, and had a very light smokiness from holding the glass over smoke. I'm usually not a big fan of that technique, as I think it makes the drink too smoky. But here, it was just a hint of smoke. The second mixed japanese whiskey and cold-brew coffee. The only complaint I had of the entire meal was that the cocktails, while delicious, are a bit small for the price (generally between $13-$15). While the price will prohibit us from coming back often, I look forward to my next visit.
  3. MSPB3434
    I hate to come on here and bash a restaurant that others have enjoyed, but I found this place very disappointing. My wife and I went the other night before a movie at the Uptown. They told us that the restaurant was booked up with reservations, but said that if a table for 2 did not show up in the next 5 minutes, we could have it. The couple with the reservation didn't show, so we got the table. Honestly, after eating the food, I wish they had turned us away. The avocado golgappa was just avocado (whose flavor was washed out and added no texture) covered in chaat toppings stuffed in the fried puri disk. The essential element of a golgappa is the spiced water, which was in no way reflected in this dish. The kathi roll was oily, and the spinach and paneer stuffed naan was essentially an undersalted naan hot pocket with subpar spinach and (oddly) melty paneer in it. I think we had another dish or two, but don't really remember. In the end, we decided to get a bag of popcorn at the movies rather than order any more dishes.
  4. MSPB3434
    Is that true? I couldn't imagine our waiter doing this, since he asked about food allergies as a sort of afterthought after we already placed our order. But if so, that is a great service. I certainly hear your point about being upfront about restrictions, and while it's true that the waiter asked if we had any food allergies, I don't typically interpret allergies to mean religious or cultural objections. I will do so from now on. But my point was more about the quality of service at a restaurant that has been lauded for its service. Had we not asked specifically about the dish, and it just showed up with veal, I would have solely blamed us for not inquiring.
  5. MSPB3434
    My wife and I had our first experience at Rose's Luxury yesterday, and it taught me to better keep up with DonRockwell. I was expecting impeccable service from all the early reports, but received something more mechanical, and even borderline poor. Our waiter did not exude warmth or offer any additional commentary than the bare minimum to respond to our requests/questions, we had to ask for bread, and it took quite some time before I could get his attention to order a second cocktail. But worst of all, when we asked him to describe the Rigatoni "Sausage and Peppers," he failed to mention that the sausage was veal, which is HUGE deal for two Hindu diners. It may have just been our waiter, as it seemed tables with other waiters near us got much better service and the people bringing out the food, clearing the table, and refilling water were all very good. As for the food, we really enjoyed the pork and lychee salad and the Vietnamese pate. I thought the pate in particular was standout, and it made for some of the best little banh mi's I've had. I liked the grilled avocado a lot, but my wife found it too salty. The pasta dishes we got were disappointing. The rigatoni was decent, though a bit too sweet, and it was hard to forgive it for unexpectedly coming with veal sausage. We also got the fettucine with pea shoots, which neither of us thought was any good. The flavors were flat and dull. Lastly, I wouldn't order either of the 2 rye based cocktails I got again. Since we ended on the pasta dishes, we left feeling disappointed. Had we stopped after our first 3 dishes, we probably would have thought the food was good, the service decent, but overall not worth the hour and 15 minute wait to get a table. But after the pasta dishes, the best we could say is that we were glad we went once, but never again.
  6. MSPB3434
    I find deangold's experience really interesting. I went Saturday night, and thought it was the worst of my visits here. I'm generally a big fan, and the food was simply amazing my last visit. But many of our dishes just seemed a bit off this night. I found the noodles in the Shanxi handmade noodles dish deangold describes above (my favorite dish here) were overdone, and the sauce was more watered down than usual. The hot and spicy wontons were sweeter than previous visits. One of the less adventurous eaters at our table ordered the steamed dumplings, which were literally the worst dumplings I've ever had in my life. By no means do I mean the dinner was bad (except the dumplings), but just not as good as previous visits. We went on the late side, and generally in the past have gone earlier, so I wonder if the food is stronger earlier in the evening than the end of the night. The comparison of deangold's experience with mine seems to suggest this may be the case.
  7. MSPB3434
    My wife and I tried Bawarchi today. It was buffet only for lunch, which had we known before hand, we wouldn't have bothered. I'm not typically one to judge an Indian restaurant solely only a buffet, but this one was pretty bad. We came to try the Chettinad dishes, and there weren't many in the buffet, so again, maybe not fair to judge on the buffet alone. But nothing we ate made us want to rush back to try those dishes off the menu. We also tried Punjabi by Nature in the Lotte Plaza next door. We only tried a couple of things, but liked them. They have a bunch of traditional Punjabi dishes here. So for those of us Punjabis out there, this place may satisfy some cravings that most Indian restaurants can't.
  8. MSPB3434
    Had this dish off the specials menu at Nava Thai last night. I'm not too familiar with it, so can't compare it to other local versions or judge its authenticity. But I liked it a lot. Reminded me of laksa.
  9. MSPB3434
    So will the new place have the double secret Lao menu? If there's no grilled pork neck, what's the point?
  10. MSPB3434
    Went here the other night for the first time and was less than impressed. To be completely fair to the restaurant, neither my wife nor I were particularly hungry, so we only got one dish each. She got the hand cut spaghetti, which was fine. Nothing earth shattering, but certainly not bad by any means. I had the night's pizza special, which had bacon, broccoli rabe, a soft egg, and white cheddar. It had a surprising smoky flavor, and was rather salty. The soft egg added a richness, but didn't impart much egg flavor. Also not a bad dish, but not particularly compelling. The décor of the place was kind of odd. It seems to lean a bit more upscale, but was playing a punk rock soundtrack. Not that I'm complaining about the punk rock, but it didn't really fit the place or the clientele. I know there are a lot more dishes to explore on the menu. I just don't see myself making much of an effort to come back to try them.
  11. MSPB3434
    My wife and I ate here yesterday, and we rather enjoyed it. We arrived just before 1PM, and were offered either breakfast or lunch. Since both were on the same menu, I wasn't quite sure if that meant we were only allowed to choose one, or if we could get a mix of breakfast and lunch items. But the breakfast items sounded more intriguing, so we opted for those. I don't remember the names of the dishes we ordered, but the first one mixed pieces of flat bread with dates and honey. It was essentially a cross between Ethiopian chechebsa and Indian halwa. It was very good, but very sweet, so if that's not your thing, you may not enjoy it beyond a few bites. The second dish (qualaba, maybe?) was diced lamb and vegetables stir-fried and served with a fair amount of oil, meant to be eaten with flat bread. The flavors of this dish were very good. The one knock is essentially the same complaint I have for most restaurants, and particularly Middle Eastern ones, in the area - the lamb was not particularly good quality. This dish would have been a knock out with some better quality lamb, but is still very solid as is. We both also had milk teas, which were essentially masala chais sweetened with condensed milk. These were rich and heavy on the cardamom, which I love. The prices here aren't cheap by any means, but moderate. And the portions are rather large. We have enough of the bread, dates, honey dish leftover to serve as breakfast for another 2-3 days. The people working here were all very nice, but the service could be a bit more attentive. Even for this type of "ethnic" restaurant in a suburban strip mall, the service lacked. I would be weary of coming here if I was in a hurry. Overall, we enjoyed our experience enough that we look forward to going back soon.
  12. MSPB3434
    I wanted to add a positive review for this place because I hope it'll get the italics in the dining guide it deserves. My wife and I went a couple of Saturdays ago, and were very impressed. We had the vadai (savory, lentil donuts), which had great flavor and was served with a wonderful chutney. The idiyappam (string hoppers) were quite good. I really enjoyed the potato curry it was served with, and the coconut sambal had a good kick. Our favorite dish was the kotthu roti, which we had with lamb. This was a dish neither of us were very familiar with, but absolutely loved. We were disappointed that such a good place was as empty as it was. There was only a couple of other tables of customers the entire time we were there. As far as quality food, I think this place was on par with many of the oft-praised restaurants serving various Asian cuisines I've been to in NOVA. I hope it starts to get the same amount of attention as those.
  13. MSPB3434
    I think I need a lesson on how to properly eat at this place. I went last night with my wife, and it was pretty awful. So bad, we essentially walked out on our entrees. The dan dan noodles were fine, but nothing special. There are far better versions around. I thought the noodles themselves were bland and a bit overdone, and the sauce wasn't quite numbing enough. The zhong dumplings were good. Then the meal went off the rails. We had the Chengdu chicken and the smoked duck. Both were on the specialties section of the menu. The flavors of the Chengdu chicken were good, but the chicken was so overdone it was almost inedible. The smoked duck was just plain bad. Too smoky for my taste. I admit that we may have just ordered the wrong things, and I see people in this thread raving about dishes we didn't get. But I think I'd have a hard time convincing myself to go back to try again, especially with so many options nearby.
  14. MSPB3434
    I did try the flat white at Filter some time ago. I didn't like it much. Unfortunately, I can't remember now what I didn't like about it, but I just remember not being impressed.
  15. MSPB3434
    They do a decent flat white. Best I've found in DC so far.
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