Café Asia

Description:

• It's easy to miss Café Asia, nestled as it is between hair salons and offices on I Street right near the White House. Inside is a different story. The decor and menu both stand out in really interesting ways. The restaurant has three levels to it, set within an atrium. From street level, walk downstairs to the main dining room. The furniture here looks like it was made for child's play; it comes in circular and rectangular shapes and colors of orange, yellow, and white, and these pieces are set closer to the ground than normal. Upstairs is more of a lounge area, overlooking the lower level; one more flight up is reserved mostly for private parties.

  The menu here is Pan-Asian: Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, Thai. If your waitress steers you to something "interesting," you can take that to mean "spicy," like the Indonesian fried rice, which is "more interesting than Chinese." (Yeah -- it's got chilies in it, for one thing.) So if you like Americanized, or tamed down, Asian food, you might be happy with the teriyaki and satays. You have many more choices if you want to sample exotic food. Have a glass of water handy, but do try the nasi uduk, which is a tasty Indonesian coconut rice platter with spicy beef, crispy anchovies, pickled vegetables, emping (acorn chips), chicken satay, and spicy prawn sauce. Another winner is the ikan pepes, which is Indonesian grilled fish filet with spicy turmeric sauce, fresh basil, and lemon grass, wrapped in banana leaves. Café Asia also serves delicious sushi. Young professionals throng Café Asia's happy hour, Monday through Saturday from 4 to 7:30pm, when nigiri sushi is available for $1.25 per piece and select draft beers are sold for $2.50.

• © Frommer's 2013