Reviews for Green Papaya

09/18/2009 - not normally angry vegetarian
the "vegetarian" food is NOT vegetarian...

08/06/2008 - MenuPix User
Yum, yum yum yum yum!!! That's a 5Yum rating from this DC dweller. I grimaced when my friend picked this Bethesda restaurant for lunch, since I'm not a big fan of Thai and Vietnamese food, but one meal there, and I'm reading the menu and planning my next trip. The combo appetizer is fresh and filling, with two each of shrimp toast (a tad on the heavy side - topped with cheese?), grape leaf wrapped fragrant sausage (sounds awful, but tender and zingy tasting, the best egg roll I have ever had, a highly edible (not dry/stringy) thin chicken breast with mango and peppers, and a rice paper wrapped shrimp and veggie stuffed steamed eggroll. I can never get enough flavor, so the two bowls of peanut sauce and rice wine vinegar dippings were much appreciated, but the food was so well seasoned that each bite brought such new and surprising meldings of lemongrass, ginger and other gentle spices that I wanted to eat every morsel!

Second course was a small bowl of Pho (larger portion available) - and, if you are a Pho-fan, you will never eat it anywhere but here! I do like Pho, but everywhere I've had it, I've had to throw in chile, cilantro, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce - ANYTHING to change it from a bowl of watery broth and noodles. Not this place - The broth base is clearly homemade, rich with finely chopped, cilantro and chock full of the most tender, just barely cooked thru beef...almost like eating tenderloin on noodles. My friend had the egg noodle soup gently flavored with ginger, and my spoonful had a warm yellow buttery richness (not butter, maybe the egg?) - I honestly couldn't figure out which one I wanted to dip my spoon into next - her's or mine!

The restaurant is lovely with table cloths and large plantation fans beating ever so gently above us - I felt like I was being attended to in an upscale restaurant in the orient. Service was fine, just not very communicative - english issue? Loved it!! Can you tell? 8/5/08