Roti Canai

[Joshua Grinnell]

My wife is craving the southeast asian banana pancakes and it's resisting easy googling. Does anyone recall finding them served in Northern Virginia? They're on Soi 38's menu as Kluay Roti, but downtown DC is a little too far away at the moment (two small kids in tow, sparse date nights to be had).

This is the closest description I can find: Roti Canai

However, the specific one that you get in major cities/tourist centers in Thailand is roti with egg and bananas mixed in, topped with sweetened condensed milk.

[DonRocks]

My wife is craving the southeast asian banana pancakes and it's resisting easy googling. Does anyone recall finding them served in Northern Virginia? They're on Soi 38's menu as Kluay Roti, but downtown DC is a little too far away at the moment (two small kids in tow, sparse date nights to be had).

This is the closest description I can find: Roti Canai

However, the specific one that you get in major cities/tourist centers in Thailand is roti with egg and bananas mixed in, topped with sweetened condensed milk.

I think you might be in luck.

Is your dish savory or sweet?

Just last week, I had dinner at Aladdin (same shopping center on Lee Hwy as Caribbean Grill et al) which is Bangladeshi. One of the things I ordered was called Moghlai Porota ($7), and it sounds (and looks) a *lot* like some of what is described on Wikipedia (no bananas or sweetened, condensed milk, however - this was savory all the way).

Porota is, I believe, a spelling variation of Paratha, and this was an absolutely wonderful folded-over version stuffed with several things including cooked onion, egg, maybe some paneer (and worth every penny of the seven dollars I paid for it - it's a large order cut into 6-8 pieces). Why it's listed three separate times on their menu, I do not know, but I'm pretty sure you're going to like it - it could almost be a meal by itself, but I would get it as a side to split between two people. It is most certainly *not* a "typical" order of bread you get in an Indian restaurant - it's much more substantial, and I've never had anything quite like it before.

I ordered mine "just a little spicy," and I can warn you in advance that there might be a language barrier, so if you call your order in, be prepared.

This is the one thing I ordered that I would absolutely order again next time. You're welcome.

You may have also noticed that I raised Aladdin to the top of the "North Arlington" section of the Dining Guide. Let me be clear and say that I looked at its competition, and saw nothing that stood out to me as "great," so I decided to give Aladdin its due even though it is essentially Sysco food prepared Bangladeshi style. I change the Dining Guide around quite often, and putting Aladdin on top - even temporarily - is only marginally defensible. That said, I have a sinking feeling that it might not be around forever, and I'm trying to give them a little nudge. Don't get me wrong - it's justifiable, but so would be any of ten other restaurants - there is no clear stand-out here that I've seen. Who would think that North Arlington would be a cluster of good to very good, deeply ethnic restaurants? Of course, the way I have North Arlington defined, it's essentially only the corridors between Rosslyn (Lee Highway) / Ballston (Washington Blvd.) and East Falls Church.

[Joshua Grinnell]

I think you might be in luck.

Is your dish savory or sweet?

Ah nuts, she's looking for the sweet kind. But you're not far off -- the more complex Malay/Southern Thai stalls had savory versions; for example, sweetened poached chicken with nuts and cinnamon or paneer, potato, and caramelized onions. On the touristy islands there would be ham and swiss, even. The sunburned euros could pretend it was a crepe.

So based on your finding (and I'm glad it was delicious) I may expand my googling to South Asian places.

In this video, I don't know what the red things that get tossed in are (cherries?) but here's a master at work:

[cheezepowder]

This isn't so helpful because Thip Khao is even farther away from Northern Virginia than Soi 38, but Thip Khao's brunch menu has "Roti (V) Lao Crepe, Indian-style flatbread, condensed milk, banana, jackfruit, lychee."

[Joshua Grinnell]

"Roti (V) Lao Crepe, Indian-style flatbread, condensed milk, banana, jackfruit, lychee."

Oooooo even canned jackfruit and lychee are good if you've got condensed milk in the equation. Basically this fits into one of the foods that are just too hard to do at home for me because of technique -- look at how thin that roti gets.

[sandynva]

if you pass a south asian or asian grocery store, it may be worth a quick stop to get some of the frozen parathas (i think the ones you want, with lots and lots of layers, are often referred to as malaysian style or something like that). i've never had roti canai, but these breads are delicious, almost like soft puff pastry, and i can't imagine that a dish made of them condensed or coconut milk and carmelized bananas could be a bad thing.

[goodeats]

Any chance you want to make it?

[Mark Slater]

Without my glasses on I read Root Canal.

[goodeats]

Okay--have just searched for "banana roti" and found something similar at Urban Thai in Crystal City area.