Category Archives: 2 out of 5

Café Asia

Posted on by Hungry in DC

Location: Downtown

Price: $$$

Rating: 2 out of 5

Summary: A disappointing entrée selection paired with an above-average sushi menu does not make for a winning combination

When walking into Café Asia, we felt like we stumbled into a really boring night club. Large open spaces and an assortment of colored lights shining on the walls, we weren’t sure what impression the interior was trying to leave us with beyond being thankful we didn’t have to pay for a cover to get in the door. The club like atmosphere brought us to expect modern techniques to classic dishes, new interpretations to our favorite sushi rolls and an interesting drink menu.  Instead, what Café Asia ended up serving was a disappointing experience that made us wish we hadn’t ordered beyond our appetizers.

As with most sushi-related restaurants, we wanted to start with a rice wine. The sake menu is not the most extensive, but was better than the average Asian bistro. We decided on the Shirakabegura “The White Label” Tokubetsu Junmai, which describes being a delicate balance between traditional hand-crafted sake and advanced sake brewing technology. It was a cool, clean finish with a banana after taste. It was a good start to the meal and made me eager to get to our first course.

Our first order was the Spider Roll, soft shell crab tempura with tobiko and lettuce wrapped in rice and sea weed. A classic specialty roll found in any sushi dive, we were first disappointed by the minimal five pieces, but the amount of crab tempura jammed into each piece made it well worth the amount. Great seaweed and high quality rice brings the roll together. A California roll also offered great crab while a Cucumber roll showed off the fantastic rice. Most items on the offered sushi list didn’t stand out as especially exceptional or thought provoking, but the quality of the ingredients used did impress.

If only our review stopped here. Unfortunately we ordered sushi only as appetizers, relying on the entrée selection for our main dishes. This turned out to be a poor decision.

Our first entrée was Drunken Noodles, a common flat rice noodle dish made with Thai brown sauce, minced chicken, bean sprouts, peppers and fresh basil.  We would usually say we have never met a drunken noodle dish that we didn’t like. Café Asia turned out to be the exception. The noodles were barely tossed in the sauce, providing for an overly bland and almost rubbery rice noodle. The minced chicken was a different interpretation on the usually sliced chicken we would normally find with this dish. We sincerely hope to never find the chicken minced again, both the size and the preparation of the meat left almost no flavor for the diner.

The second entrée is Nasi Uduk, an Indonesian style coconut rice platter with spicy beef, crispy anchovies, pickled veggies, emping (acorn chips), chicken satay, gado-gado and spicy prawn sauce. With a lot on the plate, we had hoped to sample as much as we could of Café Asia’s culinary style and traditional-inspired cuisine. Yet, it turns out we should have focused on quality over quantity. The peanut sauce that covered most of the pieces of meat on the plate was a surprisingly bland for the large amount of finely chopped peanuts swimming in the mixture; this left a very uncomfortable consistency in the mouth. The chicken and beef by themselves were not terribly cooked, but the overbearing sauce made any real flavor fall flat. The combination of emping and gado-gado was a lot like straw and beans on chips, making me sincerely reconsider the idea of ever having Indonesian cuisine again. The pickled vegetables were a nice addition to the plate, if only for the vinegar dressing neutralizing the haunting taste of the emping and gado-gado. Half way through this poorly imagined assortment of woe, we did consider ordering a new entrée all together, but decided to just stick it out and quickly ask for the check.

While we have never advised anyone to visit a restaurant and avoid their entrée list, Café Asia is an unfortunate example. We enjoyed our selections from the specialty and regular roll menu, but were disappointed by what was presented to us for our main course. While the sake and sushi are worth a visit, there are other, better places to visit in DC for a sushi-focused experience. If you work in the Farragut Square area or have an online coupon for the restaurant (we used a LivingSocial coupon when we visited), then Café Asia might be worth a visit. Otherwise, save yourself the trouble and lingering regret.

Rasoi Indian Kitchen

Posted on by Hungry in DC

Location: Downtown

Price: $$$

Rating: 2 out of 5

Summary: If Rasoi is hindi for “kitchen”, it begs to question what the hindi for “terrible service” is

Rasoi Indian Kitchen was recommended to us by a colleague at work, remarking that it was one of the better Indian restaurants not only in downtown DC, but in the district as a whole. It turns out that he was half right. Although the food was great, the service that we received at Rasoi was some of the worst we’ve seen, a perfect example for how the atmosphere and discipline of a staff is as much of a comment on the restaurant as the food itself.

When entering the restaurant, we were promptly greeted and seated by the hostess. However, further acknowledgement from our designated server, who seemed to have been dragooned into the task from his usual busboy routine, was painfully difficult. We eventually managed to make our order, one of the last interactions we had with the Rasoi staff.

We ordered two appetizers. Our first was Palak Chatt, crispy spinach laid on a bed of sweet yogurt and topped with corn and tamarind chutney.  The spinach was well cooked and the chutney had nice flavor, but the chuntey’s flavor (and quantity) drowned out any real flavor from the spinach. The addition of corn brought an odd inconsistency to the dish and did little for flavor. Tasting this simply reminded me how difficult it is to keep the flavors and feel of this kind of dish as balanced and light as they should be (Rasika).

Our second appetizer was Aloo Tikki Chatt, spiced potato cakes topped with masala channa served with tamarind sauce. The potatoes were soft and spiced well, containing the right amount of heat with equally delicate chick peas. A squeeze of the provided lemon cools off some of the spice while still keeping the integrity of the dish.

This momentary, zen-like feeling we had after finishing our starters rapidly disappeared as we were again forced to waste away at our table, absent of any attention from the restaurant staff. This kind of behavior could possibly be weighed against the night’s crowd size and pace of a dinner rush, but is inexcusable when you are one of three occupied tables in the whole restaurant. Our experience wasn’t improved when a waitress loudly complained about a table producing a Living Social coupon to help pay for their meal, making us wonder whether the same fate awaited us when we brought forth our own.

The first choice for a main dish was Kesar Ajwani Lamb, morsels of lamb simmered in oregano and saffron curry with sliced onions and peppers. The lamb morsels were tender, well-sized pieces of meat that’s flavor was ultimately lost in the surrounding curry. Luckily, the curry was delicately blended, the flavors of saffron and oregano ringing true to the dish’s description.

Our final plate of the night was Murgh Masala, boneless chicken tossed in a curry with onions, capsicum & ground spices. The curry was better than the average tikka masala sauce, solid in flavor, but nothing surprising. The chicken was the real star of the dish, cooked bone-in and then served with out. Besides it tenderness, the flavor of the poultry still came out in harmony with the curry.

Rasoi proves that a restaurant depends not just on the food served, but how it’s brought to your table. Presentation notwithstanding, the staff of any restaurant are as crucial to bringing to together a great experience as what they’re carrying on their trays. The best food in the world doesn’t matter if it’s served to you by someone who pops you a middle finger afterwards. While no server I know has gone that far (I was one myself and close to it a few times), the experience we had at Rasoi Indian Kitchen still sticks out as one of the worst so far in DC. Absent minded at best and intentionally overlooked at worst, this service is a real shame since the food we had was some of the better Indian in the city.

Molly Malone’s

Posted on by Hungry in DC

Location: Barracks Row/Eastern Market

Price: $$

Rating: 2 out of 5

Summary: Authentically Irish in all the wrong ways

Many of my ancestors made the tiresome journey from Ireland to search for a better life in America. When I finally had the chance to go back to the country of my roots, I was excited. Unfortunately, the romanticism of Ireland was lost on me the moment I stepped into county Cork and realized why my ancestors had left in the first place. Almost every meal I ate was undeservingly overpriced and made me really regret putting any faith into Celtic cuisine. My experience at Molly Malone’s was roughly the same.

When entering the restaurant, we were seated without a word by a passing busboy. To be fair, it was 1pm on a Saturday and most of the restaurant seemed to filled with stragglers from lunch. The emptiness of the pub did give me the chance to enjoy the great look and feel of the place without having to push through a crowd only to have a Guinness or Harp being poured on me (Kelly’s Irish Times).

Unlike many of the other places in DC that bill themselves as Irish pubs, this one seemed to have made the most effort to create an authentic atmosphere. The wooden rafters, the high oak tables and engraved bar bring back memories of Galway and Blarney.  The spaced lamped lighting added to the pub decor of beer posters and plaques in the wall. After being seated, our waitress immediately appeared and took our drink orders. Deciding that the hour called for a Bushmills Coffee, I was pleasantly surprised when it was brought with a health shot of whiskey in it, as the taste of the coffee itself served little purpose beyond an excuse to drink booze that early in the day.

Although Molly Malone’s had the typical Irish brews on tap or in the bottle, they were not priced cheaply. Their Happy Hour list also gave me pause to reconsider if I stumbled into the wrong place as the only beer specials worth considering were pitchers of Miller Lite or Yuengling. Their advertisement as the “Home of the $6 Jameson shot” wasn’t very encouraging either.

I decided to remain on the bright side and simply see the place as more of a restaurant and not a place to  head out to for drinks. Without a cheap drink menu, their food HAS to be outstanding.

Deciding to pick the most token item on the menu, I ordered a Reuben Sandwich with a side of Sweet Potato Tots. My girlfriend opposite to me ordered a Bacon Burger with Pub Fries. It had been a while since I had enjoyed a quality Corn Beef sandwich (Againn) and I was looking forward to having my St. Patrick’s Day regular again.

It turns out Molly Malone’s really is authentically Irish, just in all the wrong ways.

The Sweet Potato Tots genuinely tasted like sweet potatoes, lacking the usual sugary or cinnamon other restaurant’s Sweet Potato Fries often come with. This allowed them to be a real sandwich side without the potential of becoming a desert or a overly sweet distraction. They were a good addition to the meal that I would probably would choose again, especially considering the other side options were a salad and McDonald-esq “pub fries”.

The quantity of corn beer on the Reuben sandwich was generous, possibly as an apology for the mediocre quality of the meat itself. Strangely, the remnants of Swiss cheese were grilled on to the top of the corn beef, possibly meant to both prevent the meat from falling apart and add a crisp twist to the sandwich. Unfortunately, it also prevented me from tasting any of the cheese’s flavor. The lack of Swiss eliminated the need to call it a Reuben, despite the modest amount of thousand island dressing. The resulting crisp texture of meat was welcomed, but it significantly dampened the flavor of the meat and dried it out the corn beef. After a closer look, the shredded cabbage on the sandwich seemed to be homemade, alluding to an effort made by the kitchen that was lost in the overall dish. The $12 price tag didn’t help my overall opinion either.

My girlfriend’s Bacon Burger followed the same trend. The handmade burger was bland despite a good amount of caramelized onions. The accompanied “pub fries” could have been taken from a long abandoned McDonald’s table, cold and pedestrian. Only a few drinks from my overpriced pint of Harp allowed me to move on from this second disappointment.

Although there was a glimmer of promise in Molly Malone’s, it does fall short of fulfilling what the atmosphere and “pub” expectation demands. A pub would have a far better drink menu and a restaurant would have a better execution in its dishes. The atmosphere, service and lack of a competing Irish bar in the area saved this place from being an irritating afterthought. Much like Ireland itself, returning is a maybe, if only to prove myself wrong and find a dish worthy of what I had hoped this pub would be.