Saravana Palace - Indian Vegetarian food in Fairfax, VA

11725 Lee Highway #A15

Fairfax, VA 22030

Tel (703) 218-4182

For the last 9 years, Saravana Palace has been serving up Southern vegetarian food to a crowd that flocks here. They do not take reservations or serve alcohol. Their decor is shabby. So, it is abundantly clear that the main attraction here is THE FOOD.

When the seven of us arrived on a Saturday to partake in Saravana's famous lunch buffet, we were greeted by several courteous waiters, who took excellent care of us for the duration of our meal. They brought countless plates of potato-stuffed Dosas, which are fermented crepes made of rice batter. They kept our water glasses filled. They also were visibly on hand to answer any questions and clean up any spills.

Food does not disappoint, either. The three huge buffet stations offer something for everyone. Various dips for the Dosa, that can double up as soups. There are lots of bread options; a variety of fried things like fried chillies, and of course, veggies, veggies, veggies.  The spice level is medium-high overall, but it is easy to tone it down with a wide range of carbs (different rices, breads, etc) for those who are less spice-tolerant or have dietary restrictions.  The dessert station is plentiful, with delightful options for those who have a sweet tooth, and even those like me, who do not.  

This place is as authentic as it gets for Southern Indian Vegetarian Buffets, judging by the overwhelmingly Indian clientele here. A great price of only $10.95 +tax for a weekend lunch buffet is a small price to pay for such a great feast.

Located in a small shopping strip with plenty of parking

Large clean, though run down, dining room that accommodates any size-groups

Booth seating for small parties

Wide assortment of veggies with or without sauces and lots of other delicacies

Dosa dips / soups and lots of carb options

Each Dosa is stuffed with potatoes

First buffet round!

Second buffet round!

Final buffet round!

Two Awesome Lunch Buffets - Bangkok Golden (Thai / Laotian Cuisine) at Seven Corners in Falls Church and Saffron (Indian Cuisine) Falls Church City, VA

Bangkok Golden - Thai and Laotian
6395 Seven Corners Center
Falls Church, VA
(703) 533-9480

Saffron - Indian
1077 West Broad Street
Falls Church City, VA 22046
(703) 992-0077

You could easily drive or walk right past them without noticing them! And you probably have! Both hole-in-the-wall tiny places with barely a store front to notice. BUT THE TASTES - WOW!

First, Bangkok Golden, which serves both Thai and Laotian cuisine.  Situated in the Shoppers Food Warehouse plaza, this is a tiny place. As you walk in, you will barely notice a wall display of multiple well-deserved awards, such as Washingtonian's best restaurants.  We came here for the lunch buffet we heard so much about from our friends. And now we can definitely say that the lunch buffet is perfection both in the variety and the flavors.  The value is also perfection: on weekdays for a mere $10, Bangkok Golden offers a delicious selection of veggie and chicken dishes, ideal especially for those who don't eat other meats.  The papaya salad alone is worth the schlep through the Seven Corners traffic.  On weekends, Bangkok Golden adds several fish dishes that are out of this world delicious, for just a few dollars more.  Most dishes are on the spicy side, especially the Laotian ones.  If you are the type who usually puts extra spices on your food, you will definitely not need to do that here. Every buffet item is flavorful and spiced to perfection.

What makes Bangkok Golden more interesting is the Laotian side.  The chef owner Seng Luangrath is leading the much welcomed Lao Food Movement in the Washington, D.C. area.  Recently, her 21-year-old son, young chef Bobby Pradachith, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, also joined his parents at Bangkok Golden, while also working at D.C.'s well-known Minibar.  We look forward to returning here and ordering off the menu, but for now we are delighted with tasting the variety of offerings from the buffet. NOTE: Bangkok Golden is CLOSED ON TUESDAYS!!! We found out the hard way, so if you're planning to go, pick any day of the week but Tuesday.

Bangkok Golden

Second, Saffron. We wrote up Saffron in this blog several months ago, and since then have returned here at least a half a dozen times, bringing friends and relatives, who all enjoyed their meals here.  Saffron serves South Indian cuisine, which generally tends to be spicier than North Indian.  Their Goan specialties are great.  Usually, we order off the menu. Their Chicken Vindaloo is addictive, especially when prepared personally by the chef-owner with 20+ years of experience.  Their Chicken Tikka is also one of our favorites, complemented with an order of garlic naan.

Saffron's lunch buffet does not disappoint. Make sure you arrive for the buffet early, as the crowd likes to arrive at the opening of the restaurant and stay around for a while to enjoy the plentiful delicious buffet selections.  As we have described this restaurant in our blog only recently, we will not linger, other than to emphasize that the value for the lunch buffet is not only worth it, it is a steal! And definitely leave room for dessert, which is a plain and simple vermicelli-based Kheer (a white pudding), only offered at their buffet. At other times, their rice-based Kheer is offered as a menu item. Both are absolutely delicious.  Like all Indian food, it is quite complicated to make and requires ingredients most non-Indians typically don't keep around at home.  Incidentally, here is a demonstration of how to make

Seviyan Kheer - Vermicelli in Milk, Indian Dessert Recipe by Manjula.

 Saffron

Saffron

Saffron - Vermicelli-based Kheer

Meaza Ethiopian Cuisine - Falls Church, VA (Revisited)

5700 Columbia Pike
Falls Church, VA
(703) 820-2870

If there is a go-to Ethiopian restaurant for us, undoubtedly it's Meaza. We first reviewed it back in 2011, but since then we've been there so many times that we are updating our review. We said in our last blog that we had "one terrific meal" at Meaza, but in reality we've had several dozen terrific meals there.  

According to the absolutely lovely and hospitable owner for whom Meaza is named, this is the largest Ethiopian restaurant outside Ethiopia. Two large dining halls (one usually reserved for private banquets or evenings with a need for extra need for dining space) are filled with cheerful diners during typical meal times.  There are the "regulars," both Ethiopians and non-Ethiopians, as well as a rather consistent stream of "newbies" to Ethiopian cuisine.  Dress style of clinetelle ranges from the typical "ethnic dive attire" to beautiful colorful dresses.  We particularly enjoy watching the newbies' reactions when the large plate arrives to be filled by the waitress spooning out entrees of freshly made sizzling meats and delicious veggies from kettles, to be shared by everyone at the table.  The only utensils at the table are one's own clean bare fingers, using the injera bread to scoop up the delicious food.  

We go well-done on the meats, which is probably not authentic, but is more suitable to our palates than the traditional raw Kitfo (ground beef or lamb). We order our Kitfo well-done, or, on most occasions we go for one of the beef Tibs choices, usually it's the house specialty Meaza Tibs.  Because the Meaza tibs are not very spicy, we usually request that our Kitfo to be made on the spicier side, to complement one another, since one of us likes spicy food and the other one does not.  Kitfo is served with a wonderful side of white slightly salted grated cheese, which gives the meal a great flavor and a great texture.  While the meats are offered with one side order of veggies, we usually add the Vegetarian Sampler to our order to have a larger selection (and also plenty leftovers to take home!).  This gave us a wonderful array of choices like several types of lentils, cole slaw, potatoes, carrots, spinach and other small samples to make each bite different and delicious. A great choice also, if you're up for it, is the veggie sampler with the option to include a whole Fried Fish!  The fish comes out on the tray with its head intact (you may want to ask that the head be removed in the kitchen), but it's one flaky, tender and delicious option that you can choose, although it makes the meal a bit more filling. 

A perfect addition of several glasses of red wine and cold Perrier and we were good to go. Wonderful service by Genet made our meal extra special! But all the wait staff are wonderful. 

We say "amasat ganalo" (thank you very much) every time we finish our meal because it's truly a gastronomical feast.   

It's no wonder that Meaza is a winner of numerous awards, including "Best Restaurant" rated by Northern Virginia Magazine and "Best Bargain Restaurant" rated by Washingtonian Magazine.

Note to the frugal budget diners: Although Meaza is certainly a bargain restaurant, they regularly offer a Groupon for half off.  Get the Groupon and order double!

(Updated June 2015)