Nava Thai

11315 Fern St. Wheaton, MD 20902

I wanted to write this on Friday while it was still fresh in my mind, but I was really busy at work and then busy all weekend, so I’m just getting to it now. On Thursday, Rob and I went to Nava Thai for dinner and Valentine’s Day, kind of. Nava Thai is tucked away on Fern St. next to the Hung Phat grocery store (that got some giggles) and is a bit hard to find if you don’t know what you’re looking for. I don’t remember too many details about the dining area, other than it being small and yellow. On each table there were 4 small containers with chili sauce, a spicy powdered seasoning, sugar, and something else, but unfortunately I forget. There was also a bottle of fish sauce on each table and a container with chopsticks.

Rob decided he wanted to try the spiciest thing on the menu, and I wanted to try the Ya Ta Fo after reading someone’s review on yelp.com. I suggested that we get the noodle soups and entrees as well. He got the floating market noodle soup (which is the spiciest thing on the menu with three lightning bolts), and both that and the Ya Ta Fo were served in pretty big bowls – we really didn’t need to get entrees, but oh well. Rob enjoyed his soup, but unfortunately I thought the Ya Ta Fo was pretty gross. The fish balls were rubbery, there were a lot of unidentifiable meats, the broth was too sweet. Luckily I enjoyed my entrée – crispy pork with Chinese broccoli – much more. It was served in a black bean sauce and white rice. Rob got the crispy pork and string bean in curry sauce which he enjoyed but didn’t finish. I ate a few bites off of his plate, I thought the curry had a nice heat to it, but I think he wanted it spicier. I think of the Thai places we've tried I prefer Ruan Thai the best, but I wouldn't hesitate to return to Nava Thai.

On another note, we went back to Fajita Coast this past Friday evening and there were hardly any kids there. So maybe our visit a few weeks ago was just a fluke. Rob took some pictures while we were there, maybe he’ll post them later this week.