Tiger Fork, Washington, DC

Tiger Fork
922 Blagden Alley
Washington, DC 20001

Toward the end of my time in DC in July I spent a couple dinners at the relatively new Tiger Fork. Tiger Fork is one of two recently opened restaurants in DC that specialize in the food, especially the street food, of Hong Kong (the other being Queen’s English in the Columbia Heights/Pleasant Plains neighborhood). As a son of immigrants from Hong Kong and a person raised on the food of Hong Kong, I was intrigued that DC’s first foray into the specific food of my parents’ birthplace, especially as it wasn’t through a more proletarian Hong Kong style cafe/cha chaan teng.

Tiger Fork can be hard to find in Blagden Alley, just blocks from the Mt. Vernon Place-Convention Center Metro Station, but once you see the neon sign of the restaurant’s Chinese name and the large Chinese style wooden door, you know you have arrived. There can be a wait, given that it is a popular restaurant, but both times (on weekday nights) I have managed to get a seat within 20-30 minutes.

After sitting down I browsed the fairly pared down menu on one page the sides of a paper placemat. Through my two times there, I ordered the following:

Hong Kong Milk Tea at Tiger Fork

• Hong Kong Milk Tea – A bit pricey at $5, but it is absolutely fantastic with a perfect balance between the strong, slightly bitter tea blend and sweet creamy notes of the condensed milk. I could easily chug a couple of these in one sitting but that can add up real quick. This is probably one of only a few areas in the entire DMV region that has a proper Hong Kong milk tea.

Chili Wontons at Tiger Fork

• Chili Wontons – Despite being a Cantonese restaurant and not a Sichuanese one, these wontons were pretty good with just enough heat from the oil pairing perfectly with the chicken and shrimp wontons.
• Ong Choy – These are one of my favorite vegetables to eat. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the Tiger Fork preparation of this dish. While I love the flavor of fermented bean curd, the version I had used too much vinegar and ended up being a bit of a slightly too sour mess. (Queen’s English version is a bit closer to what I remember loving as a kid)

Garlic Scapes at Tiger Fork

• Garlic Scapes – In comparison, my friend and I loved the Garlic Scapes. The chives and scapes were stir fried perfectly with a bit of crunch and herbal nuttiness that was sublime. We consumed this dish very rapidly.
• Beef Chow Fun – This is one of the restaurant’s signature dishes, but unfortunately it missed the mark for me. First of all, I’ll say that the beef brisket they use is phenomenal. It’s well seasoned and cooked to mouth watering perfectly. Unfortunately, the noodles are a little soft and gummy. The dish should have “wok hei”, stir fried with just a touch of crispy char to give a play of textural and heat crunchiness with the tenderness of the ingredients. This dish had none of that wok hei which was disappointing.

Char Siu Plate at Tiger Fork

• Char Siu Plate – The BBQ Pork, on the other hand, was delicious with the fattiness of the pork balancing perfectly with the sugary glaze. The rice and ginger scallion sauce was great to help soak up the flavor of the pork too.

Egg Tart at Tiger Fork

• Egg Tart – At the end of one of my meals there I had an egg tart and this was the best egg tart I had since my last visit to Hong Kong earlier this year. The shortbread crust was buttery and slightly flakey with a custard filling that had that signature touch of sweetness.

All in all, Tiger Fork is an excellent example of Hong Kong food in DC. While it has a couple misses, there are many outstanding items to capably represent the food and culture of my parents’ birthplace. I am excited to try even more dishes on my next trip to DC. 

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Thamee, Washington, DC

Thamee
1320 H Street NE
Washington, DC 20002

When I was in the process of selecting a place to host my slightly belated birthday dinner this year I wanted a place that was: A. relatively new, but highly regarded; B. was something a little different than what most of my friends may have had before; and C. was relatively close to transit or fairly accessible by car for friends both in DC and the suburbs. Thamee fit the bill as a newer, well regarded place for Burmese food in a metro area that has few restaurants representing the cuisine (and most of those places have been underwhelming). So on a Sunday a month ago, five of my friends gathered with me to celebrate.

As we got seated and looked at the menu we all got some fantastic drinks, which included the non-alcoholic Butterfly Limeade which was just as delicious to drink as it was to look at. We quickly decided to do family style instead of the Thamee experience, so after restraining ourselves from ordering the whole menu, we got the following:

Lahpet Thoke at Thamee

• Lahpet Thoke – The tea leaf salad was less cohesive than others I’ve had and wish it had more of a fermented tea leaf taste but it was a refreshing start to our meal.
• White Flower Mushroom & Chicken – The white flower mushroom was more like a wood ear fungus in taste and texture. The salad had a great lightly spicy dressing though I’m not sure the chicken (which was good) and the fungus really paired well.
• Balachaung – This spicy condiment was great for those among us who ate meat to pair with the plates of pickled vegetables delivered to our table.

Mohinga and Ohno Khauk Swe at Thamee

• Mohinga – The flavors of the fish chowder were real good and not runny like some other places. I loved the toasted chickpea topping and the noodles, which I could have used more of, were cooked perfectly. This was easily the best Mohinga I’ve had outside of California (and daresay better than Burma Superstar).
• Ohno Khauk Swe – The coconut chicken curry was so delicious that I wanted seconds. The coconut broth balanced the curry really well and the lime cut the broth perfectly.

Pork and Pickled Mango and Garlic Greens at Thamee

• Pork & Pickled Mango – The pork was melt in your mouth delicious with a tomato sauce topped with sliced pickled mango. The mango was a refreshing cut to the fatty, rich pork and sauce and nicely blended with the rice.
• Prawn & Tomato – I’m normally not a fan of shrimp but the shrimp here was excellent and the tomato sauce was rich without being overpowering. I highly recommend mixing this with the rice.
• Garlic Greens – I absolutely loved these wok tossed morning glory shoots topped with fried garlic. Not only do I love morning glory in general, but to have such a flavorful, but simple preparation just showed how a little garlic, oil, and very fresh vegetables go a long way.
• Golden Rice – I loved the turmeric rice with fried garlic which had a lot of flavor on its own. I did slightly prefer the regular jasmine rice for the dishes with thicker sauces (like prawn & tomato) but the golden rice was excellent with the Garlic Greens

As much as all the dishes above were amazing, sadly the portions were on the smaller side so we had to order additional items to properly fill our stomachs. We ordered additional Prawn & Tomato and Garlic Greens in addition to these two new dishes:

Ohno Khauk Swe (Vegetarian) and egglant and Cauliflower at Thamee

• Ohno Khauk Swe (vegetarian) – Much as the same as the coconut chicken curry above, but I may have preferred this version more as I felt the mushrooms soaked up the curry a little more
• Eggplant and Cauliflower – I’m generally not an eggplant person so I avoided that part of the dish, but I did love the hint of spice with the cauliflower.

All in all I loved Thamee and I’m glad there’s a Burmese place in DC that does the cuisine such justice. Not only was it a great way to celebrate my birthday, it was great way to taste even more flavors of Burmese food I can’t find in the Bay Area.