Rabieng
5892 Leesburg Pike
Falls Church, VA 22041
703-671-4222
Neighborhood: Falls Church
Cuisines: Thai
Opening Hours:
Open Sunday through Thursday 11:30 to 10, Friday and Saturday 11 to 10:30.
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Price Range: Inexpensive
Dress: Informal
Noise Level: Intimate
Reservations: Not Needed
Website: http://www.duangrats.com/rabieng.html
Best Dishes:
Lychee "dumplings"; chicken soup with galangal; shrimp-and-pork dumplings; fried catfish salad with chili and lime; roast pork in red curry; grilled half chicken with lemongrass; coconut-tapioca pudding.
Special Features: Wheelchair Accessible, Kid Friendly
Country Thai cooking gets its due in this casually rustic dining room. The place minds the details: There are intricate hand-painted pillars, a beer roster that includes Fat Tire Amber Ale and Beerlao Dark, and a menu marrying the familiar with the lesser known.
Go for the unexpected with plates such as “tidbit,” a crispy rice cake to swipe in warm coconut-and-pork dip. Country beef jerky is at once tender and chewy—it’s been marinated, sun-dried, and flash-fried. Lychee dumplings contrast cool fruit with the crunch of minced pork, peanuts, and shallots. Among the larger plates, whole flounder is redolent of ginger and tamarind, and red-curry pork delivers a double whammy of five-spice powder and red chilies.
Also good: Lemongrass quail; pad Thai; nam kao tolay, a pork-filled deep-fried rice ball that’s smashed and dressed with lime juice, peanuts, and chilies; coconut custard; mango with coconut sticky rice.