Happy Diwali!

Diwali is a Hindu festival that celebrates the new year. It is also known as the "festival of lights" because lamps and candles are lit to represent good over evil. It is the time of year where I feel the most homesick because I always spend several days with my family - praying and feasting together. 

My adorable roommate is aware of how I feel during Diwali so she decided to boost my spirits by taking me out to dinner to an elegant Indian restaurant called, The Bombay Club, located on 815 Connecticut Ave NW. 

The way I imagined India to have looked like when the British rule is how I would describe the interior of this restaurant. There was a classical yet colonial vibe that distinguished it from all the Indian restaurants I've been to in DC.

There were western decorations fused with Indian fabrics, designs and patterns. For example, there was a long gold railing on the side of the dark wood bar top which had golden elephant heads carved on it. 

The food was superb -  authentic while using high quality ingredients. We started off with the crispy arugula-spinach chaat ($9). It was amazing. My roommate who finds the taste of vegetables to be putrid enjoyed this dish as well... which truly says something! The dish consisted of crispy, fried shreds of arugula, spinach and tomatoes with a date-tamarind chutney and yogurt sauce drizzled on top that added a sweet and bitter tinge to it.  

For our main course we shared the dal makhni  ($10.95) - a high fiber dish made mostly from lentils. It has a thick and creamy texture with multiple different flavors. Each bite is different - one was sweet from the tomato paste, the other was fiery from the masalas.  I thought it was delicious, except just a tad bit too spicy for me!  

In fact, I kept on having to stuff my face with garlic naan ($3.50) in between each bite to soak up all the spice and help soothe my tongue!

We also ordered the dahi ka baingan ($12.95) which is charcoal roasted eggplant mixed with spices and yogurt. It was comforting and reminded me of home because when I was a kid, my mom used to find different ways to get me to eat my vegetables and making it in pureed style always worked! She used to alter the recipe to use other vegetables, which taste equally as good. 

Because Indian food is extremely rich we found one appetizer and two main dishes enough for the both of us. I really enjoyed my experience at this restaurant, but find it a bit too expensive for the portions that are served. Each dish is served in a small bowl or plate and is not accompanied with rice or bread. Everything is a la carte so we had to order two portions of garlic naan ($3.50 each) and one portion of rice ($3). So...if you plan to go here, make sure sure your parents are in town!

Cafe Bonaparte

I was in a very “blah” mood on Thursday. I felt trapped and needed to get away from Foggy Bottom and the bustling college lifestyle. Whenever I feel this way, I decide to detach myself from everyone (including my phone) and spend the day at a quiet café or bistro somewhere in the District to relax and get some work done. Today, I decided to head to Georgetown since I hadn’t been there in a while.  After walking around for a little bit, I couldn’t decide on a place to go as every restaurant and café was busy and had a fast-pace “on the go” type of ambiance. I then remembered this French, cozy and quaint bistro that is nestled away deep down 1522 Wisconsin Ave, NW called Café Bonaparte.

I immediately made my way up there and was seated at a delightful table beside the massive floor-to-ceiling high window overlooking several cafes and shops. The whole mood of the place was delightful – everyone seemed relaxed and looked as if they were taking the day off from work. The décor of the place has a very Parisian feel to it – warm and charming colors, small coffee tables with a luxurious yet vintage feel.

Photo from: http://citybuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/bonaparte.jpg

The ceilings looked as if they were made out of aluminum and gave the entire place a subtle shine.  

The Ceiling

This place is known for their crepes. They have a wonderful selection of both sweet and savory crepes with a variety of fillings such as smoked salmon, roasted vegetables, ham, goat cheese, fruits, chocolate, etc.

I decided to have the lunch special, which consists of ½ crepe or sandwich and ½ a soup or salad ($9.99). I went with the Mirabeau crepe (sauteed shrimp, cilantro, citrus ricotta cheese) and the Roquette salad (arugula, red grapes, goat cheese, roasted hazelnuts in a lemon-olive oil emulsion). I sat there gazing out the window while leisurely eating my meal.   The crepe was drizzled with an extremely flavorful creamy, saffron sauce that I think added the perfect bang to the dish. The salad used hazelnuts, which was what intrigued me to select that option (aside from the obvious goat cheese which I can never get enough of). I am a huge fan of nuts in my salads. Usually, walnuts, almonds or pine nuts are used, never have I ever had hazelnuts! It was a scrumptious surprise.

After my satisfying meal, I just sat there, people-watched and did some reading for one of my classes. It was crucial for me to get away from everyone and everything and simply recharge my batteries. 
Note: Cafe Bonaparte does not take reservations, so make sure to be willing to wait around 15 minutes for a table! 

Find Me a Burger

I think that living in the US for over 2 years now has taught me how to love and crave burgers. Growing up in Asia, I never really ate burgers as the main staple is rice and not bread. Moreover, as a Hindu, I don't eat beef and most burgers are made of beef. Finding burger places in DC that have a chicken, pork, turkey, lamb or fish option is harder than you think. For example, Five Guys only has cheeseburgers and hamburgers (confusing as it's beef and not ham?), Shake Shack only has beef burgers unless I want a completely vegetarian burger - the shroom burger.

Fortunately, a burger place opened up on 2121 K St. NW two months ago that serves beef, turkey and chicken burgers!! I got so excited so I headed down there this weekend. Its called Bobby's Burger Palace.

The concept of the place is cool - you 1) get in line, 2) get your order taken, 3) take a seat. Your food is then served to you, piping hot! 

The atmosphere is hip, bright and fun. The chairs are lime green, the tables and walls are neon shades of red, orange and brown and the art hanging on the walls are cartoonish paintings of fruits and vegetables. There were also these lantern lights dangling from the ceiling. The entire place was very unique, nothing I can compare it to... so you are going to have to check it out yourself!

Lantern Lights

I thought the food was good, but my expectations were higher due to the awesome decor. I ordered the Santa Fe Burger ($7.75) with a chicken patty. The burger consisted of the bun, chicken patty, queso sauce, pickled jalepenos and blue corn chips. This burger joint is cool as it gives you the option of getting your burger "crunchified!" I decided not to because my burger already had chips inside!

Santa Fe Burger

I also ordered a side of french fries ($3.00) which came with an AMAZING chipotle mayonnaise.

My friend ordered the Dallas Burger ($7.75) which consisted of the bun, a beef patty with a spice crust, coleslaw, Monterey Jack cheese, BBQ sauce and pickles

 Dallas Burger

He enjoyed it; however, he expected more from the mouth-watering description. He also ordered a side of beer battered onion rings ($3.00) which were delicious and HUGE! I have never seen onion rings served like this:

Huge Onion Ring!

We licked out plates clean...

The entire menu is extremely unique. For example, you can add goat cheese, watercress and random sauces to your burger just for kicks! If you are nervous to do that, there are plenty of different sauces conveniently placed on each table. I think I tried every single one!

Bangkok Joe's

Rumors had it that this weekend was the last time there would be beautiful warm weather in the district. Consequently, I made sure to spend a large portion of my weekend outdoors. On saturday, a few of us decided to spend our afternoon at the Washington Harbor. We strolled down the boardwalk overlooking the Potomac River and basked in the sun. 

Saturday Afternoon at the Waterfront

For lunch we decided to eat at Bangkok Joe's, a Thai fusion restaurant located at 3000 K Street NW, DC 20007.

The restaurant had indoor and outdoor seating - we started off outdoors, but ended up getting too hot so we moved inside. The decor inside was interesting! There were dark brown wooden tables, white chairs, and accents of the color red highlighted throughout the restaurant. Scattered along the sides of the booths were these twisty silver and gold metal embellishments that reminded me of Oompa-Loompas!

Interior Design of Bangkok Joe's

Oompa-Loompa!

There was a very extensive menu which caused me to take ages to pick what I was going to eat! I love having tons of options to pick from but at the same time it stresses me out because I am indecisive and each dish looks better than the one I read about previously. It took me a while to even start the decision-making process as I couldn't decide whether I was craving rice, noodles or dumplings! I ended up getting a noodle bowl - stir-fried lomein noodles in a teriyaki sauce with grilled salmon and vegetables. Ended up being extremely satisfying.  

Grilled Salmon Noodle Bowl ($13.95)

 My friends ended up eating:

Drunken Noodles with Chicken ($9.95)

Basil Chicken Rice Bowl ($9.95)

I obviously had to try everyone's dishes and they were all amazing. Each dish was extremely flavorful incorporating the five fundamental tastes of Thai food: salty, sour, spicy, sweet and bitter.

As a Thai food lover, I am always on the look-out for new good restaurants. I highly recommend Bangkok Joe's as the food is great, portions are large, value is good and location is fantastic! 

Lamblicious

New Zealand will always be one of my favorite place to travel to. My family has a small holiday home in Queenstown that is nestled away in the countryside. The five of us used to travel there either during our summer or winter holidays and would have the time of our lives. It was our home away from home with everlasting memories and moments that makes my stomach swirl whenever I reminisce about them. It is the place that bonded my family together whether we were learning how to ski, playing golf, wining and cheesing, bundling up altogether in a tiny space, jumping on a trampoline or even playing a game of tennis.
On average, New Zealand has about 40 million sheep. That means there are 13 times more sheep than people!

Consequently, I fell in love with sheep...literally SHEEPSESSED and would beg my parents to buy me sheep everything! My birthday is on December 31st so every winter break that we spent over there, my family would run around Queenstown buying me - sheepskin pillows, pajamas, posters, stuffed animals, etc.

 So obviously I never ate lamb. Refused and refused and refused... until a few years ago when I got a teeny bit curious...
Tried it, hated it. It had a bizzare stench and taste. Turned it down everytime it was offered to me again.

Then I moved to DC for college and began to eat a lot of Mediterranean food as kabobs, gyros, falafels, hummus, etc are all very popular here - except I made sure to stay away from the lamb. After my friends noticed my new-found love for kabobs, they told me about an amazing restaurant in Arlington, Virginia called Ravi Kabobs. We went and they made me order the lamb kabobs which are apparently to die for. I was nervous and pretty certain I would find them repulsive. To my surprise, they blew my mind and tasted DELICIOUS. There was neither a sewagy-moldy-rotten odor nor taste!

Ever since then I have been hooked on lamb. In the past when I imagined lamb, I'd picture cute baby sheep running around in the countryside in New Zealand.

Now I picture a skewer or chop of lamb sizzling on a plate marinated in a spicy blend of herbs!

Ever since my trip to Ravi Kabobs, I have always picked lamb over any other meat on the menu and scoffed it down like there was no tomorrow! I even started making my own lamb:

Yesterday I woke up craving the kabobs from Ravi Kabobs. So a friend and I drove down there and enjoyed our delicious meal. The lamb and chicken kabobs come with rice, a huge hot and soft pita and a side of lentils. The entire meal is unbelievably satisfying.

Lamb Kabob meal at Ravi Kabobs

Chicken Kabob meal at Ravi Kabobs (also amazing)

The restaurant is a casual, inexpensive and conservative place that has won the "Washingtonian Best Bargain Restaurant Award" since 2006.

The restaurant has been so successful so they had to open another restaurant across the street called Ravi Kabob II !

The address of Ravi Kabob I is: 305 N. Glebe Road, Arlington, VA, 22203.
The address of Ravi Kabob II is: 250 N. Glebe Road, Arlington, VA, 22203.

If you love lamb or even hate lamb, trust me and head down to Ravi Kabobs!