As you might guess from the name Bangkok Golden, this restaurant does serve standard dishes from Central Thailand. But the greater draw is the less commonly seen, sometimes fiery food of Laos, a close relative of the Isan cuisine found in Thailand's northeast. As Chowhounds have observed, these dishes can be tempered to suit your table; the servers are very accommodating of first-timers.
Shown: nam khao, a crispy, pork-riddled rice salad; sai oua, spicy and seemingly fresh-made sausage inflected with lemongrass and dill; ping kai, grilled chicken; koi pah, a tilapia ceviche (ours was the cooked version); mieng muang luang, rice paste to be wrapped in lettuce with lemongrass, ginger, tomato, chili, and peanuts; orm beef, an eggplant-laden curry; and a (Thai) taro-and-tapioca dessert bathed in coconut milk.
Padaek (previously known as Bangkok Golden)
6395 Seven Corners Center, Falls Church, Virginia
703-533-9480
www.PadaekDC.com
Closed Monday
