Thai Boat Noodle Soup...In The DC Met (Preferably NOVA)

[marcbjohnson]

I love Pho. However, I have recently (Within the last two months) have heard about "Thai Boat Noodle" soup. Is there any restaurant in the DC Met Area, preferably Northern Virginia, which serves this stuff? Thanks!!!

[akster]

The place i always go for "floating noodle soup" is "Po Siam in Arlington. Be sure to order it "country style".... yum!

[alkapal]

where's that and what makes it "country style"?

[vafoodie86]

also, as a Thai person, I do not like Thai Square....you would think they'd be nicer to Thai people, not in this case.

[alkapal]

i see lots of thai people there. where do you prefer? (i'm a big drunken noodles fan...).

[flipeatery]

Do i know you from somewhere? vafoodie86

[vafoodie86]

i agree with the Sakulthai...the owner used to work for Thai Square i think. but the service and the Floating Market soup is so much better. Never been to Nava Thai, heard good things about it, also i think there is only on chef at Nava Thai..thats the last i heard. My mom still makes the best Floating market i think...hehe...

p.s. Marc's Thai Boat soup name is the actual translation from thai to english....but Floating Market sounds better and thats where the soup gained its popularity among tourists who visited Thailand....

[mr2157]

Marc, if you're ever in the Loudoun county area, theres a spot called Pattaya Thai in Sterling. They used to serve the floating market soup only on the weekends and it would run out fast before evening rolls around. I believe it is now a daily staple dish. Give that a try.

[sweth]

Sakulthai in Landmark also has the Floating Market Noodle Soup, and makes it with blood.

[flipeatery]

I would have to agree that Sakulthai has on eof the best one around the area.

[Ziv]

Just feasted on a bowl of Floating Market Soup at Sakulthai and it was rich, complex, delicious, and just a little understated. Should I ask for it to be Thai hot, or is that asking for the chef to make it flame thrower hot? I added a bit of the fish sauce and a half spoon of the crushed chilies and it was just about right, but as usual outside of Thailand, I wonder if I should have tried the other condiments on the chili tray.

I also had the duck rolls, and they were thoroughly meh... Looked nice, tho!

All in all, excellent soup, well worth a trip to Van Dorn! Halfway into the bowl I could just about imagine myself back at my favorite little cafe on the Chao Phraya River, digging in to great chow, watching the longtail boats tool by...

[sweth]

It's all relative, but I find Sakulthai's version of Thai phet to be just about right.

[Steve]

From what I can tell, you will have to (and should) got to Nava Thai in Wheaton for their version of Floating Market Noodle Soup, which is pretty much the same thing as what you are looking for. The key ingredient is blood, and they make that version at Nava Thai, not at Thai Square. The version at Nava Thai is absolutely worth making the trip around the beltway. See link below:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/5599...

[Mister Big]

Just wanted to add that Nava Thai is three blocks from Wheaton Metro.

[cfoodie]

Since there is such a following on Nava Thai on the board, we decided to check it out. The new place is pretty comfortable, the service is spotty and slow as the kitchen appeared overwhelmed. We had the floating market noodle soup and the duck soup (with the bone). The floating market noodle soup was very flavorful. But a little bit too much for our taste, unlike the tamer and tasty flavor of the regular soups on the roadside stalls in Thailand. We realized later that the intense flavor of both may be from MSG as we both were dizzy all evening and super thirsty from the two dishes. Growing up in Asia, this is the type of feeling I got growing up going to night markets where they put in spoonful of MSGs in your soup. I have to ask them next time about MSG.

[PollyG]

I suspect the Floating Market Soup at Thai Square in Arlington is the same item. You have a choice of two broths; a search on this board may well yield reviews of both. Thai Square is very, very good. Be sure to get at least one fried item (pork with broccoli or greens would be a good choice), as their kitchen is exceptionally good at it.

[hamster]

Nava Thai also has floating market noodle soap. That's in Wheaton. But I can't say that Nava Thai's version looks anything like that photo, so I'm not sure it's the same dish...