Fairfax Inn Restaurant: A Rare Filipino Gem Within the Beltway

Hidden Menu Series

Every month for our Hidden Menu series, our writer and resident foodie Daphne Domingo explores area Asian American restaurants and recommends dishes that may not be on the menu but are certainly worth the try.

By Daphne Domingo

Tucked into the ground floor of 7 Corners Medical Arts Building in Falls Church is an old-fashioned looking diner called the Fairfax Inn Restaurant. Passersby likely assume it would simply serve decent omelets and burgers with fries. It does, just not simply.

What most of them don’t realize is that the Fairfax Inn is also the location of one of the only Filipino restaurants within the Beltway, and even rarer, that it isn’t turo-turo style (translated as point-point) where items sit in large batches of steaming chaffing dishes and customers “point and point” to their desired selections. Instead, dishes are made to order, varying from the traditional American diner fare as well as Filipino favorites including adobo (pork or chicken stewed in vinegar and soy sauce), sinigang (Filipino version of sweet & sour soup with chicken or shrimp) and pansit (rice noodles with chicken, shrimp and vegetables).

Owner, Solita Adler welcomes guests into the as if in her own home, which means they’d better show up hungry. While most customers are usually greeted with the American menu containing an extensive selection of sandwiches, subs and burgers, the Filipino menu is also available for the asking — or sometimes she will ask the customer. Either way, they can’t go wrong. Both styles of food are executed with a homey, yet efficient flare and they equal amounts of pride in their chopped sirloin burgers and real milkshakes as they do with their native cuisine.

The show-stoppers, however, are their breakfast specials. While the American version has 2 eggs, choice of meat, pancakes or French toast, home fries and toast, the Filipino breakfasts offer a variety of exotic options including rellenong talong (eggplant pork omelet), tinapang bangus (smoked, boneless milkfish) and tosilog (a thicker and sweet version of bacon), all of which come with garlic fried rice and two eggs.

Fairfax Inn Restaurant is located at 2946 Sleepy Hollow Road, Falls Church, VA. It is well worth the visit for breakfast, lunch or an early weekday dinner (closes at 6pm).