Six of us gathered for lunch at Sari in Annadale, prompted by a notice in Washingtonian Magazine that their kare kare brisket was one of their top ten dishes of 2023. I also see they got a very good write-up from Tom Sietsema posted in the restaurant. It was a pleasant and fun meal.
We ordered seven dishes:
Chicharones
Sisig (variety of chopped pig parts)
Longganisa (sweet sausage)
Lechon Kawali (fried pork belly strips)
Kare Kare Brisket (peanut sauce)
Sari Fried Chicken
Bangus with Laing (Marinated Milkfish with kale stewed in coconut milk)
This is a counter service place featuring mostly meals in a bowl using jasmine rice as the base.
Overall, I’d say you could probably find better versions of each of these dishes elsewhere. Plus, the cumulative effect was not impressive.
But it is possible to eat well here, with my favorites being the sisig, bangus, and the fried chicken. The kale with coconut milk was a bonus for the fish. The fried chicken was not batter dipped, but the skin was nicely crunchy and rich.
Still, the sisig was drier than most, and the pork belly also lacked the succulence I would normally expect.
As far as the vaunted kare kare brisket, I found the smokey brisket to be too salty and a bit too dry, and the sauce insipid. So no, not a top ten anything.
