Hidden Menu: Bangkok Golden

By Daphne Domingo

One wouldn’t think of eating Laotian food at a Thai restaurant, but that is exactly what diners in the know are ordering when they dine at Bangkok Golden in Falls Church, VA. Previously only known for its Thai buffet, Bangkok Golden served Laotian food upon request, and thanks to word of mouth and several favorable write-ups, the Lao dishes became so popular as some of the best “cheap eats” food in the DC area that the restaurant launched an official Lao menu in addition to offering special tasting menus on certain nights of the week.

The restaurant serves two official menus, Thai and Lao, although the Thai menu is usually first presented to customers who can then request the Laotian, which seems almost as popular as the buffet. Hardcore Laotian food fans can also request an even more authentic Laotian menu written mostly in Thai with mere phonetic spellings of dishes in English and minimal descriptions of dishes.

Luckily one of my fellow diners, Chaya Pooput of Washington, DC is a Thai native and helped translate the dishes which included various larbs, one of the most popular types of Laotian dishes consisting of minced meat seasoned in spicy sauce with Kaffir lime leaves, fragrant toasted rice powder, shallots, garlic, green onion, cilantro, mint and country-style stews consisting of curry with chili paste, lemongrass, galangal (type of ginger), Asian eggplant, fresh dill (considered more country-style because of the lack of coconut milk). The regular Lao menu utilizes more traditional meats like chicken, pork and beef while the special menu includes more exotic items like pork neck, salted fish and tripe.

We started our dinner with Tum Lao kapi numpoo plans, a papaya salad with fermented fish. While papaya salad is popular in Thai cuisine, the addition of fermented fish makes it distinctly Laotian. Since Laos is a land-locked country, creative ways to preserve fish, especially from its freshwater sources, have become a necessity. Justin Harrison of Arlington, Va., whose palate veered towards the more traditional meat and potatoes, took a whiff of the dish and immediately regretted it. However, he was still interested in expanding his culinary experience so in true sportsmanlike fashion, he tasted the dish and found he surprisingly liked it. He could detect a hint of the pungent fish flavor, but he found it more fascinating in taste than he did in aroma.

Next came Moo Yang, roasted pork on skewers, marinated in Laotian spices with both Thai (sweet) and Lao (hot) dipping sauces. Pooput found it essentially the same as Northern Thai skewers, with the meat gorgeously flavorful, and it was difficult to determine which sauce was the favorite.

Our third and final Laotian dish was larb pla krob, literally translated as crispy fish, which we believed to have been tilapia. The fish was perfectly fried to a light crunchiness on the outside with a lightly chewy, almost jerky-like consistency on the inside. Had it not been so incredibly spicy, I might have finished the entire plate to keep experiencing the unique feel of the dish.

Yes, the spiciness. It goes without saying that while both Thai and Laotian food focus on bold and spicy flavors, Laotian food takes the heat to a whole new level. At first, the heat crept in with Harrison who began sweating at the table almost immediately after his initial bites of the Tum Lao. The tanginess of the dishes actually emphasized the spiciness and after a while of tasting both dishes, I not only felt the heat, I began burning up. It didn’t take much longer for Pooput to also share in the pain after accidentally biting into a tomato imposter that was actually a hot pepper. There couldn’t be enough sticky rice and Singha Beer on the table to offer relief and only the cucumber and carrot garnishes could offer additional assistance. Despite the heat, the dishes were so delicious and flavorful that we pressed on as much as possible.

The experience reminded me of dinner at famed Little Serow, in Dupont Circle, which is technically Thai, but from a region adjacent to Laos. The set menu contains dishes both as flavorful as they are spicy thus creating an experience of both culinary delight and torture for me.

At Bangkok Golden, we decided to forego tasting more of the Laotian menu, and settled for a more something more relieving and familiar like Pad See Ew. The sweetness of the thick soy on the thick, wide noodles added both comfort and reward for what we had endured. It is good to know that Bangkok Golden not only serves amazing Laotian dishes, but good Thai as well.

For dessert, we didn’t see any Laotian dishes that we could have experimented with, so we ordered the Thai traditional mango and black sticky rice. It was Harrison’s first time trying the subtly sweet and cooling dessert and has requested that for our next meal together, we get three of them.

Bangkok Golden is located at 6395 Seven Corners Center, Falls Church, VA 22044. You can visit their website at http://www.bangkokgolden7corners.com/.

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