Chay Restaurant, 6351 Columbia Pike, Suite 201, Falls Church, Va.
Hours: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. daily
Menu: https://www.chayrestaurant.com/menu
Suitable for: Lovers of Vietnamese food — and/or noodles!
Here’s one thing I find interesting about post-pandemic life: LeeLee and I don’t visit nearly as many restaurants as we used to on a weekly basis. In fact, these days it’s nothing at all for us to maybe go out once each week individually with friends or for work, but in terms of going out together? On a date?! Well. It’s a rarity, indeed, at the moment.
Some of this has to do with new habits established during the pandemic, where we were home all the ding-dang time. Some of it, too, has to do with the higher cost of dining out right now, due to rising supply prices and overall inflation. Put it all together and we just don’t go out much at all. Which is a terrible shame, when you get right down to it.
So when my birthday rolled around earlier this month, I jumped at the excuse to go out. And even better: To go out and visit a new-to-us restaurant. And even better: It was a new-to-us, all-vegetarian restaurant! And, finally, even better: It’s a Vietnamese vegetarian restaurant! I am a sucker for a noodle, I must say, and Vietnamese is one of my very favorite cuisines. So this was a win-win-win right out of the gate.
Now, one thing you need to know about Chay is that it is a rather intimate experience. This isn’t a huge dining room; rather, it’s a small, cozy place where you might share a six-top with another party if the host staff runs out of space (which happened to us – and was perfectly fine). Also, the Washington Post food reviewer Tom Sietsema reviewed Chay for his Spring Dining Guide, so the word is out – meaning, expect a wait. We arrived pretty early, around 5:45, and still had a brief wait, and by the time we left around 7, the waiting list stretched to about 45 minutes. So plan ahead.
The dining room itself is super-cute, with art on the walls and a fresh, bright and airy vibe, but what we were there for most of all was the food – and it, too, outperformed.
First off, LeeLee ordered a Flower Tea Pot, having no idea what it would turn out to be. He thought it would be a pot for one, but instead it was a pot for both of us, and the dried fruits and edible (drinkable?) flowers that were steeping within the hot water added an immediate air of festivity to the evening. The menu calls it a “small tea pot,” but reader, it carried us throughout the meal.
Next, we ordered some wontons. I can’t remember the last time I had a wonton! It just doesn’t seem like something most restaurants have a vegetarian version of, and I’ve never understood why. Chay’s version was just perfect. Teeming with mushrooms, soy protein and veggies, each wonton was a little parcel of goodness, crispy and golden to perfection. We left not a single molecule.
Next up: Our entrees. LeeLee went with the shaky beef, which is a Vietnamese specialty we’d never had occasion to enjoy given the beef part of the equation. But at Chay, he was able to dig in and savor the flavors as nature intended. And the flavors were intense! At once hearty and dainty, the shaky beef was definitely a hit.
I went with the dry hu tieu noodles, a concert of flavors supplemented in part by the plethora of proteins that graced the bowl. From the vegetarian shrimp to the veggie ham to the soy protein, this bowl had it all, with a passel of noodles besides. I added a generous helping of the accompanying sauce, as well as ladles of the clear broth that also came with the dish, and topped it all with a bit of spicy sauce (more on that in a minute). Heaven!
We finished off the meal with an order of mango sticky rice – I’m a fool for it, and since it was my birthday celebration, I ordered without remorse. LeeLee and I mowed it down in short order and marveled at how it was at once sweet and savory, a perfect metaphor for life itself.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the service, which was top-notch. Though the restaurant was packed and busy, the staff always took the time to drop by, check on us, make sure we had everything we needed, and even give us some recommendations as events warranted. For instance: Don’t skip the homemade hot sauce that’s on each table for garnish. It’s the real deal! As I mentioned above, I topped my noodles with it, and we also slathered it on our wontons for good measure.
I cannot wait for my next trip to Chay; I have grand plans to systematically work my way down the menu visit after visit, trying every item along the way! The next time you find yourself in Northern Virginia, I encourage you to do the same.
:)