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Padaek (Formerly Bangkok Golden), Chef Seng Luangrath's Lao and Thai in Seven Corners Plaza


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www.bangkokgolden7corners.com
6395 Seven Corners Center
Falls Church, VA 22044

Tom Sietsema did a piece on this small Thai place back in November ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/18/AR2010111805045.html ). I am happy to report that the secret menu is secret no more. When we entered the small place this afternoon, we were handed two menus, one Thai and one Laotian. I never had Laotian food before, it was like Thai, but more rustic. Like other southeast Asian cuisine, Laotians make heavy usage of fresh vegetables and herbs as evident by the numbers of salads on the menu. We ordered the Laotian sausage, orm beef, crispy rice salad, and an order of chicken satay for the kiddo. My favorite dish was the crispy rice salad, consisted of herbs (probably cilantro and lime leaves), coconut, onions, scallions, julienne pork skin, ham, peanuts, and crispy rice in a refreshing spicy lime dressing with large lettuce leaves served on the side. You are suppose to eat it like a bulgogi by wrapping the salad inside the lettuce leaves. It was a prefect balance of savory, sour, and spicy, with bites of crispy rice and peanut for textural contrast. The flavor was incredibly complex and words do not do justice in describing this dish.

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www.bangkokgolden7corners.com

Same strip as Hong Kong Palace, btw. Thank you very much for starting this thread. :)

Regarding the third picture: is anyone as SICK as I am of raw, red onion or unmitigated garlic in dishes? Sometimes, it seems that there's nowhere to turn for healthy food that doesn't permeate through your pores eight hours later.

Does anyone know the relationship of the Seven Corners Bangkok Golden with the Fairfax and Fort Washington locations? The carryout menu lists all three (so obviously there is a connection), but when you go to the main website, you find a link to a second website for the Seven Corners location, which seems to be the only one with a Laotian menu.

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Same strip as Hong Kong Palace, btw. Thank you very much for starting this thread. :)

Regarding the third picture: is anyone as SICK as I am of raw, red onion or unmitigated garlic in dishes? Sometimes, it seems that there's nowhere to turn for healthy food that doesn't permeate through your pores eight hours later.

Does anyone know the relationship of the Seven Corners Bangkok Golden with the Fairfax and Fort Washington locations? The carryout menu lists all three (so obviously there is a connection), but when you go to the main website, you find a link to a second website for the Seven Corners location, which seems to be the only one with a Laotian menu.

The problem:

A bottle of expensive, way-too-young, way-too-old, way-too-tannic, way-too-prematurely-bricking (purchased from MacArthur several years ago) 1996 Oddero Barolo which was something not unlike drinking a metallic Band-Aid with the faintest hint of black cherry.

The solution:

Orm Pork.

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You should try the Laotian menu at Bangkok Golden. Hottest damned food I can recall eating (and liking), with the possible exception of the vidaloo at Haandi.

Chef and I along with Adam and Justin and a couple of others literally tried the entire Laotian menu last week - most of it excellent and spicy. The next day even spicier.

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We ate here the last time I was in town. The bamboo salad, ordered "Lao hot," was in fact, insanely hot. We orderd the Orm Lao hot, too, after being assured by our server that the heat is tamed in the Orm. True. The Orm was spicy, but in a warming kind of way, not in a burning kind of way. We also had tilapia - it seemed to be steamed under a lot of herbs. Very mild, but the piece of fish itself was huge and fresh. The Lao sausage on the appetizer menu were tasty. I liked it a lot, but given our general lack of wheels, it's not likely to be a regular thing for us.

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Ouch...!

The real "ouch" is picturing the facial contortions, the beads of sweat welling up on the forehead, the huffing and puffing from having sprinted up the stairs, and the inevitable, liberating, primal moans of relief resulting from the climactic discharge, heard several houses down the street, as if a wounded elephant, shot in the testicle by a British colonial hunter using a dum-dum bullet, had trumpeted out a G-major octave study through his angrily engorged trunk.

And this is *before* he needed to use the restroom. You really need to stop watching porn so early in the day, Mark.

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Had lunch there by myself today. It was quite busy - but most people were chowing down on the buffet. I tried a couple of things that looked good on the Lao menu that we didn't try last week, namely:

CHUNH NOK/CRISPY QUAIL $7.95 Quail marinated with lemongrass, ginger & black pepper

TOMP PHO $8.95 Lao style pho noodle soup, Beef, tripe, meatball, topped with tomato & fried garlic.

The quail was definitely deep fried. The skin was crispy, while the meat wasn't moist, it definitely wasn't dry and tough. The flavor was pleasant but could be more aggressive. A pretty good dish if you don't mind dealing with small bones.

The pho was similar to the floating market noodle soup. I didn't see any tripe, but there were beef and meatballs, serve with a spicy and sour broth. For those that had the chitlin soup last week, this soup wasn't quite as intense - not nearly as sour or salty, but definitely more spicy (but not as spicy as floating market noodle soup at Nava Thai). Again, pretty good, certainly a good substitute for those who don't want to drive to Wheaton.

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Went for lunch and it was excellent!!!

Started off with the Tum Marg Huong/Papaya Salad, which was spicy.....then came Ping Moo/Grilled Pork and Orm Chicken. Both dishes were wonderful, much more flavorful than usual Thai restaurants. They were accompanied with Stick Rice - a great meal for excellent price. I highly recommend for a cheap eat in Falls Church.

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Had out 4th meal there. After a slow start with meal #1, this has been superb. One large lunch with a lot of folk and too many dishes to remember.

Then we did the fermented pork belly and the pounded fish with the innards soup and all were great. The soup was most notable for the broth which was really dank and earthy. The pounded fish was a larb like dish in texture with the fish being seasoned, cook, dried and pounded {who knows which order}. It was addictive, especially when we ordered up more veggies to scoop it up. The fermented pork belly was very flavorful and intense, with lots of red chiles and garlic. It is usually made with shoulder or neck, but the use of belly was great.

Last night we had the mango salad {think Som Tum with a slightly sweeter and softer unripe mango filling in for the usually green papaya}, lao sausage {house made, earthy and served with peanuts, ginger slices, cilantro and a pounded chile paste that had sneaky heat} followed by a stwe of beef which was great. Filled with lots of chopped black beans, the liquid was like a light gravy with mostly onions, soft, almost melted, bits of eggplant and chewy beef. We made little balls of the sticky rice to drop in the spoon full of stew. Beer Lao accompanied. Great dinner with three beers, a 25% tip and $50. We were sent a free sticky rice dessert with taro root, beans, some sort of black grain like short wild rice and coconut milk topping.

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Ate dinner here last night. Using my knowledge from the get together, we emphasized that while we don't want to the food "Lao hot," we want the foot pretty hot. Last time when we requested it medium hot, it wasn't really hot. The waitress said "Thai hot"? That turned out to be hot enough to make me sweat buckets and yet remain very much edible. I suggest anyone who goes there to really emphasize how much heat he/she wants. We asked for the hot sauce tray just in case but didn't need to use it.

We ordered:

Sai Oua - Lao Spicy Sausage - pork sausage stuffed with lemongrass, herbs and fresh dill. Notwithstanding its name, the sausage isn't hot but nonetheless delicious.

Tum Marg Huong- Papaya Salad - julienne green papaya, tomato, lime juice in a savory Lao style spicy sauce. The sauce distinguishes this from a Vietnamese papaya salad - it was fiery hot, one of the hottest dishes of the night.

Kaing Keuang Nai - beef tripe, chitlin, & beef broth. Love this non-spicy soup. The predominant flavor is sourness but there are many components to this soup. I believe they make this soup to order, which results in this soup being one of the last dishes to arrive. While the organs were clean and tasty, they could've used more cooking time. A big vat of this simmering all day would've been even more awesome but I don't think enough people order it to justify such treatment.

Larb Seen (Beef) - we asked for it raw. Minced beef seasoned in spicy sauce, Kaffir lime leaves, rice power, shallows, garlic, green onion, cilantro, and mint. They did not bring an extra basket of lettuce, so if you want it, you must ask. This dish was also very spicy but fabulous. I'm not a fan of eating raw beef (such as kibbee nayee, beef tartare, Kitfo, etc.) but this is such a classic Lao dish everyone who wants to eat Lao should try it.

Moak Normai - steamed bamboo, pork, Lao style curry with coconut milk. Not spicy but one of my favorite dishes here.

Moak Pha - steamed fish with lemon grass and dill - not sure what kind of fish they used this time, probably tilapia. The kitchen had forgotten about this dish so it came out last and we were already full. I tried a couple of bites - found the fish a little fishy. The dish was not spicy.

Orm Chicken - Lao curry with chili paste, lemongrass, galangal, eggplant, dill, and sliced chicken breast. Unfortunately many Asian restaurants use sliced chicken breast because of American demand. The result is tough flavorless chicken. I would not order the Orm with chicken again. The dish was slightly spicy.

The place was packed on Friday evening, with many diners opting for the buffet though. Next door, at Hong Kong Palace, there were also people waiting to be seated. We washed our dinner down with Beerlao - which comes in light or dark, but both are lagers. The dark is a very smooth lager.

4 people, 3 beers each, $29 per person with tax but not tip.

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Damn the food here is good. My first experience with Bangkok Golden was through a large takeout order last weekend. Early on a Sunday night this place was only about 25 minutes from DC and was mostly empty. Easy peasy. Most of our dishes were ordered "Thai hot" following advice above, and that was just about right for us. One day I'll have to experience exactly what Lao hot tastes like but none of us were bold enough to try.

Standouts for me were the Lao pork sausage (which is not really hot as advertised but is very herbal and very good), the shrimp cakes, which unlike so many versions in Thai restaurants around here were not rubbery, but had a very tender texture, which, for me at least, allowed me to appreciate the flavor of the seafood and spices, duck and beef larb (in hindsight I would have ordered only one since the flavor profile is the same), both of which differed from standard local Thai restaurant versions by being not just spicier, but more herbal (more pronounced lemon grass and mint coming through) and including minced rather than ground meat.

The only things I don't think I would order again are the Moak - steamed fish - which wasn't that flavorful except for dill, and the crispy honey wings, though that may have just been a bad choice for take out.

I love how enthusiastic and proud they are about serving good Lao food, and I tried to convince the guy I spoke with while waiting for my order to join donrockwell.com and post about their restaurant. One thing he told me to do on future visits was to always ask about specials (that night they had an interesting sounding jackfruit curry I would have tried had I not already put my order in based on the website menu).

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I had read about a top secret Lao menu. When I asked for the Lao menu, I got the normal one. So I asked for specials - nothing. So we ordered the Lao Spicy Sausage, Koi Pah (mediurm rare fish) Thai hot, Ping Seen (grilled beef), and Mieng Viengchanh (flounder fillet - self wrapped with lettuce, steamed noodle, ginger, galangal root, tomato, fresh lemongrass and bean sprout serve with house tamarind sauce).

The sausage here is pretty good, so is the Koi Pah. Thai hot is enough to make me sweat profusely. The Ping Seen had good flavor but it's tough. The Mieng Viengchanh is interesting. If the fish was grilled at all, it was then wrapped and steamed. It came out looking like a Moak, except we also received a plate of lettuce, peanuts, steamed noodle, ginger, Thai eggplant, fresh lemongrass, and some other stuff (but not exactly the same stuff on the menu described above). The fish was mild, not fishy. The texture is tender. Throw everything into a lettuce wrap and it's pretty tasty.

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That sounds delicious. I had lunch at Thai Ghang Waan, in Springfield recently & after hearing about the special Thai menu, really wanted to try the yum Pla dook foo ( crispy catfish), but it wasn't available at lunch, so I had to settle for gai pad krapow & larb gai, both were good, but I guess if you want to sample the special dishes, you have to come out at night.

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I had read about a top secret Lao menu. When I asked for the Lao menu, I got the normal one. So I asked for specials - nothing. So we ordered the Lao Spicy Sausage, Koi Pah (mediurm rare fish) Thai hot, Ping Seen (grilled beef), and Mieng Viengchanh (flounder fillet - self wrapped with lettuce, steamed noodle, ginger, galangal root, tomato, fresh lemongrass and bean sprout serve with house tamarind sauce).

The sausage here is pretty good, so is the Koi Pah. Thai hot is enough to make me sweat profusely. The Ping Seen had good flavor but it's tough. The Mieng Viengchanh is interesting. If the fish was grilled at all, it was then wrapped and steamed. It came out looking like a Moak, except we also received a plate of lettuce, peanuts, steamed noodle, ginger, Thai eggplant, fresh lemongrass, and some other stuff (but not exactly the same stuff on the menu described above). The fish was mild, not fishy. The texture is tender. Throw everything into a lettuce wrap and it's pretty tasty.

It's not a Laotian menu so much as a Laotian section (they have a different website than the other Bangkok Goldens, and the menu is here (note the Moak, Orm, etc.)).

JC Gibbs works closely with this restaurant, and she's an awesome cook (albeit a vegan) :P - she can definitely steer you in the right direction. (JC can you chime in?)

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Strange. I've only been twice, but both times, when I asked for specials, they rattled off 4-6 things that weren't on the menu.

They have a board out front. Maybe she meant those are all the specials....I was hoping she'd whip out the the TOP SECRET LAO MENU. She wasn't a particularly good waitress - I went over the order several times to make sure she got it right. Maybe it's not even her fault. I can't pronounce Lao dishes properly and her English wasn't very good.

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www.bangkokgolden7corners.com

6395 Seven Corners Center

Falls Church, VA 22044

Tom Sietsema did a piece on this small Thai place back in November ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/18/AR2010111805045.html ). I am happy to report that the secret menu is secret no more. When we entered the small place this afternoon, we were handed two menus, one Thai and one Laotian. I never had Laotian food before, it was like Thai, but more rustic. Like other southeast Asian cuisine, Laotians make heavy usage of fresh vegetables and herbs as evident by the numbers of salads on the menu. We ordered the Laotian sausage, orm beef, crispy rice salad, and an order of chicken satay for the kiddo. My favorite dish was the crispy rice salad, consisted of herbs (probably cilantro and lime leaves), coconut, onions, scallions, julienne pork skin, ham, peanuts, and crispy rice in a refreshing spicy lime dressing with large lettuce leaves served on the side. You are suppose to eat it like a bulgogi by wrapping the salad inside the lettuce leaves. It was a prefect balance of savory, sour, and spicy, with bites of crispy rice and peanut for textural contrast. The flavor was incredibly complex and words do not do justice in describing this dish.

I missed this thread entirely, but intrigued by the mention in the mystery restaurant thread, we went here for dinner last night. As it happens, we ordered almost exactly what ema did: the sausage, crispy rice and grilled skewered chicken. And Lao dark beer. We enjoyed all of the dishes, and our favorite was the crispy rice salad, for just the reasons above.

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Had lunch here today. Really great and the waitress was so sweet when I ordered everything "Lao Spicy".

"Are you sure?" she asked. And then she checked back on me a few times to make sure I was happy.

They had a fermented Lao sausage appetizer special, which was outstanding, served with a dipping paste of fire roasted chilis ground with lime juice and fish sauce. Really good.

A salad of bamboo shoots, cilantro, lime, chilis, etc was just fabulous. Very spicy and cooling in the same bite. Loved this.

Orm Pork - a hearty portion with a spice component that builds. The broth was delicious and this stew really hit the spot on a chilly, windy day.

Larb Pork - My favorite dish of the afternoon, very spicy and really bright flavors. I didn't ask for extra lettuce as I was more than happy to utilize my sticky rice as the delivery vehicle.

A delicious lunch, and enough leftovers for dinner too (and probably lunch tomorrow)!

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Having been to both restaurants several times, I don't understand the comparison - Little Serow is serving a seven-course tasting menu based on northern Thai cuisine, and has a fantastic beverage program with stellar service; Bangkok Golden is a typical app-entree suburban strip mall mom-n-pop, most interesting for its Laotian cuisine, and probably does a substantial carryout business. One is a play with multiple acts; the other is a nostalgic folk song.

You said all seven courses at Little Serow tasted good (which is no small feat) - and at $6.50 per course, I don't know how much more you could ask for.

Bangkok Golden isn't a "typical" strip mall restaurant. Having just eaten there last night and having eaten there many times...it makes food every bit as delicious as one of the very best restaurants in this country.

To my knowledge you can't walk into any random strip mall and get a dish as good as the Lao style Larb or Crispy rice salad. And the Thai menu, which I have been exploring lately too, is also delicious.

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Bangkok Golden isn't a "typical" strip mall restaurant. Having just eaten there last night and having eaten there many times...it makes food every bit as delicious as one of the very best restaurants in this country.

To my knowledge you can't walk into any random strip mall and get a dish as good as the Lao style Larb or Crispy rice salad. And the Thai menu, which I have been exploring lately too, is also delicious.

In *format* it most certainly is a typical strip-mall restaurant. I have Bangkok Golden in Italic in the Dining Guide, so if you're looking for a detractor, look elsewhere. That said, you won't find me comparing it to the "very best restaurants in this country," that's for sure.

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I will say this - it is my favorite place to eat Thai (and Tai Lao/Lao Isan) food in the city - by far - at least among restaurants where I'm permitted to choose my own dishes ;-) In fact, I have preferred my meals there to those I have eaten at the standard bearer of Thai/Tai Lao cuisine in the USA - Pok Pok. So I dont think it is going out too far on a limb to say it is among the country's best at these cuisines. If you accept that, I don't think Jonathan's evaluation is implausible. I am convinced that 2 Amys is one of the "very best restaurants in the country" but I suspect that evaluation would be scoffed at by the JBF. In my interview with Todd Kliman last month regarding the opening of Doi Moi, I talked about the bias faced by Asian restaurants. Here is what I said and I will throw it out to the group for discussion:

"I think in the past there has been an economic bias against regional Asian cuisine—not only in DC and but in the country as a whole. It was fine to spend $30 on a bowl of noodles and shrimp at an Italian restaurant, but an Asian restaurant should offer strip-mall pricing on a comparable dish. Yes, there were Asian “ fusion” restaurants that attempted to elude this strip-mall mentality, but without the foundation of authenticity their success was generally hard to sustain. With the recent commercial and critical success enjoyed by restaurants like the Slanted Door, Fatty Crab, Pok Pok, Little Serow, and several others, restaurants serving authentic regional Asian cuisine are starting to level the economic playing field with other mainstream ethnic cuisines. " [Continuation of discussion here]

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I had read about a top secret Lao menu. When I asked for the Lao menu, I got the normal one. So I asked for specials - nothing.

Here is Bangkok Golden's "top secret" menu:

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This week, the special they're featuring is a (warm) entree of Pickled Pork Belly.

Enjoy (and make sure to try the pork neck),

Rocks

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I am very curious: what is the purpose of these `special menus`? Why not still serve it when somebody asks for the `special menu`

It's so baffling that this menu is so hard to get -- even when you know to ask for it!

Here is Bangkok Golden's "top secret" menu:

attachicon.gifBangkok Golden Thai Menu.jpg

This week, the special they're featuring is a (warm) entree of Pickled Pork Belly.

Enjoy (and make sure to try the pork neck),

Rocks

Thanks, Don!

I am very curious: what is the purpose of these `special menus`? Why not still serve it when somebody asks for the `special menu`

So baffling that they make it so hard to get this menu, even when you know they have it and try to ask for it!

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these posts remind me that it's been far too long since i've had a meal here. i've loved the vegetarian larb and crispy rice salad. does anyone who goes there more frequently have a reccomendation for other vegetarian dishes i should try?

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these posts remind me that it's been far too long since i've had a meal here. i've loved the vegetarian larb and crispy rice salad. does anyone who goes there more frequently have a reccomendation for other vegetarian dishes i should try?

#46 Mieng Muang Luang (I got mine with fried pork rinds, but you don't have to) :)

I'm hoping a native speaker will be able to translate this menu pretty much as fast as they can type. Using Google, it's easy to translate regardless (Google "Tom Zaap" for example).

If you really want to know ... I'm friends with someone who used to work for them, and asked her on FB what to order. She told me, and the staff seemed sufficiently impressed with a very insider-y order (I knew to ask for the pork rinds with my Mieng Muang Luang (an unusual dish to begin with), and asked if they had the Pork Neck which is not on the regular menu). I struck up a brief conversation with the very kind manager, and asked *politely* <--- (key word, there) for the separate menu. There are only several copies, and she told me it will go onto their website the next time they update it, but that she'd go ahead and give me one. That's when she urged me to come back and try the Pickled Pork Belly. She was extremely nice, but she thought twice before giving this menu out - not because she didn't want to (she'll love the business from this), but because there are limited copies, and they don't always have everything on it <--- (this alone should quell any discontent). I suspect she knows nothing about this website, and I didn't mention it because it would have been awkward, but I figure if they're eventually going to put it on their own website (presumably after translating it), then this isn't exactly a state secret.

One other thing: it makes a big difference if Chef Seng is in the kitchen. Also, my friend (who somehow knew that Chef Seng was working last night) told me the Chef refuses to use MSG, so take that, dare I say, with a grain of ... salt? I raised Bangkok Golden several notches, right behind Rice Paper (for now) in the Dining Guide. Comparing those two restaurants gives me the shivers because it seems almost pointless.

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I'm hoping a native speaker will be able to translate this menu pretty much as fast as they can type. Using Google, it's easy to translate regardless (Google "Tom Zaap" for example).

Som Tum Lao "“ green papaya salad with raw pickled crabs and

pickled fresh water fish

Som Tum Thai "“ green papaya salad with peanuts, palm sugar

and dried shrimp

Tum Teng "“ som tum made with cucumber

Tum Sua- Som tum made with thin fresh rice noodles

Som Tum Kai Kem "“ som tum with salted duck eggs

Tum Mama Talay "“ seafood noodle salad (mama brand instant ramen)

Tum pho tohu pla "“ fish tofu rice noodle (pho noodles) salad

Peek Gai tord/yang "“ chicken wings fried/grilled

Kor Mu Yang "“ grilled pork neck

Mu Yang "“ grilled pork skewers

Nam Tok Kor Mu Yang "“ grilled pork neck salad

Sai Oua -  sausage

Gaeng Om Gai "“ herbal chicken curry/stew

Gaeng Om Si Krong Mu "“ herbal pork rib curry/stew

Gaeng Om Krueng Nai "“ herbal curry/stew with innards

Gaeng Om Pla kot "“ herbal cod fish curry/stew

Tom Sap Si Krong Mu "“ hot and sour pork rib stew/soup

Tom Sap Tilapia "“ hot and sour Tilapia fish stew/soup

Tom Sap Pla Kot "“ hot and sour cod fish stew/soup

Tom Sap Flounder "“ hot and sour flounder stew/soup

Tom Sap talay "“ hot and sour mixed seafood stew/soup

Laap Mu Krueng Nai "“ chopped pork and pork innards salad

Laap Nua Krueng Nai "“ chopped beef and beef innards salad

Laap Gai Krueng Nai "“ chopped chicken and chicken innards

salad

Laap Pla Krob - crispy cod fish laap

Kao Soi Kai "“ chicken curry noodle soup (Northern Thai)

Keap Mu + Nam Prik Noom "“ pork rinds with roasted green

chili sauce (Northern Thai)

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Given that I've been eating at BG3 daily since Sunday, I am somewhat familiar with their "open" Lao menu. It seems like there are some repetition between their open and secret menu? For example, sai oua (sausage) appears on both menus. Most larb appear on both menus. Most curry stew (orm) appear on both menus. I assume they are in fact the same dishes, or are they somehow different?

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Given that I've been eating at BG3 daily since Sunday, I am somewhat familiar with their "open" Lao menu. It seems like there are some repeition between their open and secret menu? For example, sai oua (sausage) appears on both menus. Most larb appear on both menus. Most curry stew (orm) appear on both menus. I assume they are in fact the same dishes, or are they somehow different?

I've seen a lot of repetition on "secret" menus, and not only repetition, but "common" dishes as well. I think that Gaeng Om Gai, for example, is just plain old Green Chicken Curry - I had it the other night at Sweet Rice (they call it Gang Gai there, but I'm pretty sure it's the same thing).

As for Gaeng Om Style, you'll have to ask Psy. :)

My hypothesis about these "secret" menus is that they're inclusive, not exclusive. I wonder if they're written mostly for older natives who want only the dishes they'll find at home, and don't even want to bother seeing the westernized stuff. That would explain the redundancy, though wouldn't explain why some dishes aren't on the regular menus. It would be an interesting article for City Paper to write, going around and asking ... "Why?" In fact, I'm going to write Jessica Sidman right now.

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Looking for a few good men (or women) who want to join Steve and me for lunch here on Fri 3/29 at 11:30 a.m. If interested, just PM me and I'll look for you on Fri.

Interested yes, but sadly it's a bit impossible for me to get there from NASA Goddard (Greenbelt) for lunch. Maybe I can borrow a rocket?

That said, please let us know what you have as maybe I"ll go there on the weekend to try out some dish I haven't had yet solo!

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Interested yes, but sadly it's a bit impossible for me to get there from NASA Goddard (Greenbelt) for lunch. Maybe I can borrow a rocket?

Maybe you will catch a cold tonight.

Today I brought my own secret menu. When they brought me the regular Lao menu, I told them to piss off. I ordered the Tom Sap Flounder – a large bowl of hot and sour flounder soup, with mushrooms and some other goodies. There's quite a bit of fish but neither the fish nor the soup was fishy. The soups here, as well as at Little Serow, tend to be very salty. I also had the crispy cod laarb. I think the fish was dried before being fried and tossed with herbs This dish actually didn't have alot of sauce and lacked the spiciness of other larbs I've had at BG3. Looking forward to going back tomorrow (let me know if you want to join).

post-4391-0-89391300-1364521813_thumb.jp

post-4391-0-26976300-1364521823_thumb.jp

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My mouth was on fire from (i) the papaya salad with raw crab and fish, although we didn't see any crabs in the dish. We also got some (ii) pork rinds, steamed broccoli and 3 dips, (iii) a free dish of fried river weeds, (iv) sausage, (v) grilled chicken wings, (vi) larb of beef innards (mostly tripe), (vii) orm of beef innards (tripe, intestine, etc.), (viii) sour cod soup, (ix) grilled pork neck, and (x) pork belly (mostly fat). I think that's all. With beer and tip, it was $30 for each of the 5 of us. I really like the beef innards orm, as the offal absorbs the flavor of the stew. The grilled pork neck is fairly sweet, reminding me of Korean BBQ. I feel like I need a nap but this may become a regular outing (given the size of the dishes, 5 or 6 people allowed us to sample lots of different food and yet being able to have more than 1 bite of each dish).

P.S. Thanks to Fishinnards for showing up and ordering all the food in Thai. Without him, we wouldn't have received all the dips and the free dish of fried river weeds, which tasted very good. It's very much like kelp.

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It was a delicious lunch, I thought I didn't like offal, but liked the beef laap, so maybe I like it if it's not recognizable. My absolute favorite was the soup-big chunks of fish, enoki mushrooms, nicely sour & not sweet (which is sometimes a problem w/ the Vietnamese version of this soup). The seaweed was also delicious, much better than my kale chips, & although the place was packed, I thought the servers did a great job of keeping our drinks topped off & removing plates (we needed every inch of table space, we each had pots of sticky rice).

I am also recovering nicely from being the bonehead who touched too closely to her eye w/ a capsaicin-loaded finger (flushed it w/ water, & will remember in the future not to get careless around peppers). It was great seeing everyone & I'll definitely try to make any future outings.

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Speaking of which, don't *ever* buy the CVS brand of "Disinfecting Lens Care Solution" (the one with the platinum disk). The disks don't work - yesterday morning, I was hopping around the house and screaming obscenities with boric acid in my eye.

Well, I'm an old-school hard contact lense person (rigid gas permeable), I had a doctor tell me once, 'you guys have nerves of steel, you'll touch anything to your eye', at lunch I just felt a little silly, w/ my left eye almost swollen shut...I ate almost everything we ordered, I abstained from the orm (not a dill fan), the pork belly (just fat, I'm getting flashbacks from pulling 30 lbs. of pork), & the wings, but I did eat a lot of the veggies (cukes, cabbage, & carrot spirals)-they may be used as a garnish, but interspersed w/ spicy meats & dips, & the som tum lao, they enable me to keep eating....

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I had the cod fish orm today. There's a lot of dill in the orm, which makes the dish pretty unique. The only other Asian dish with dill that I recall is the cha ca thang long (Vietnamese fish dish with turmeric and dill). Unfortunately I don't know what other seasoning goes into these wonderful stews. The fish in this preparation, as in others, are tender and not fishy. I also tried the tofu larb. I'm finding "Thai" hot not so spicy these days, but Lao hot was too hot. I wonder if I can convince them to find another level in between.

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I believe all the larbs use the same seasoning. In the case of tofu larb, they use chopped up fried tofu. It's served at room temperature, and I find it a good substitute to the meat larbs.

No fish sauce (nam pla) or Lao fish sauce (pa dek/pla rah) in veggie laap, she uses soy sauce instead, so it will taste a little different, but still good. Here's a pic.

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P.S. Thanks to Fishinnards for showing up and ordering all the food in Thai. Without him, we wouldn't have received all the dips and the free dish of fried river weeds, which tasted very good. It's very much like kelp.

I just learned that this seaweed is called Kaipen a specialty of Luang Prabang. The Wikipedia link was in this article about Jeaw Bong , the Lao chilli paste dipping sauce, which was linked from this article about fermented seafood products used in Thai and Lao cooking.

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I just learned that this seaweed is called Kaipen a specialty of Luang Prabang. The Wikipedia link was in this article about Jeaw Bong , the Lao chilli paste dipping sauce, which was linked from this article about fermented seafood products used in Thai and Lao cooking.

FYI I was just checking the latest Little Serow menu and the first thing is Jaew with Kaipen.

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Now that I've had several meals at Bangkok Golden 3, the flavors of Little Serow have become familiar rather than unique. ... All of the dishes tasted good; however, LS is not serving better food than Bangkok Golden 3 (but at several times the price).

Som Tum Lao – green papaya salad with raw pickled crabs and

pickled fresh water fish

Tom Sap Pla Kot – hot and sour cod fish stew/soup

As time goes by, I have more and more respect for what was a genuinely gutsy comment about the food at Bangkok Golden being just as good as it is at Little Serow. This is by no means a knock on Little Serow which is one of my absolute favorite restaurants in DC.

If you're sick and tired of fattening, butter- and cream-based European cooking, or cowboy-fried <whatever>, ordering the above two items (which are in front of me as I type) is your perfect antidote.

Unless you're a certified masochist, make *sure* to order the Som Tum Lao "medium." Even medium (which is what I have) facilitates post-nasal drip, and has you looking around for something - anything - to extinguish the fire. This is the cruelest of all cuisines.

There was a table of 25 people there tonight!

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