Baan Mae in DC - Report

My first time here eating at Chef Seng’s coziest venture. The regular menu sports unique dishes that are not available at Thip Khao or Padaek. On Sundays there is a special noodle soup menu (the 555 Noodle Shop) in addition to the regular offerings. They squeezed us in on a Sunday afternoon, though it might have been better to reserve.

We wound up ordering only one noodle soup and two expensive seafood dishes. I probably would have liked to try all noodle soups, but members of my family had other ideas.

The noodle soup we tried was a smashing success. Tom Yum Chicken Noodle Soup had great firm texture to the thin rice noodles and a lot of sophistication to the flavors:

The first seafood dish was Crab Gaeng Phed, a thick bowl of gravy with a huge amount of crab. As a crab lover, I was delighted. Despite the many competing flavors in this dish, the crab still managed to shine through:

Lastly Kimin Paa is a whole branzino. It was quite good, though not as satisfying. It is announced as Southern style on the menu, and I expected more heat to this. I must admit I’ve had better whole fish preparations:

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They all look interesting but the Crab Gaeng Phed looks outstanding. The Tom Yum looks well worth trying as well. I miss the wide selection of great restaurants in the NoVA area.

If you have to just stay in one place and eat, this is a good area. I’ve learned where to get specific dishes that are rewarding.

Still, there is no substitution for ‘pride of place’ and I understand how amazing the choices can be at the place of origin. I am crossing my fingers that after my wife recovers from her knee surgery, we can travel to some of the places you’ve been.

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