Why go: To experience the crossroads of Indian, Thai, and Chinese food in a spalike dining room complete with warm hand towels on arrival, sunshine-colored walls, Burmese artwork, and sequined pillows.
What to get: Fermented-tea-leaf salad, an irresistible marriage of flavor and texture; triple-layer pork with a mélange of vegetables; ohnno kaukswe, a sweet and thick chicken-coconut-and-noodle soup; farluda, a layering of ice cream, custard, and noodles that looks like something Hello Kitty would order for dessert.
Best for: Anyone in the mood for bright and lively Asian flavors but bored with the usual Thai; couples looking for a romantic oasis in a strip-mall desert.
Insider tip: The kitchen is very accommodating, allowing substitutions and honoring requests that fat be trimmed from the triple-layer pork or that peanuts be left off a dish.
Open daily for lunch and dinner.
See all Cheap Eats 2008 restaurants
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
