Passport to Deliciousness

Around the world in three courses

By Jamel Daugherty

Along with the trinkets and postcards I’ve amassed along my travels, I’ve developed a particular set of gastronomic cravings. Fortunately, my picky appetite was satiated by the variety of cuisine available in Northern Virginia.

For starters, let’s head west to Southeast Asia and its spice islands. At Satay Sarinah you’ll find Indonesian cuisine with Javanese flair, including skewered chicken smothered in the nation’s signature peanut sauce (peppery and nutty). Don’t do nuts? Try the lemper, shredded chicken (strong lemon ting) packed into a roll of sticky, slightly sweet rice and wrapped in a banana leaf.

For the main course, let’s hop over to Reunion Island. Now we have a challenge: where in Virginia to find African/Creole cuisine presented with French elegance? In particular, I was desperate for a popular dish known as rougail saucisse, spicy sausage in tomato-based chutney on a bed of white rice. Café Montmartre, a Viet-French bistro, answered with a new twist on the dish—pasta in lieu of rice.

And finally, dessert in the British Isles. My gut instinct was to narrow my options based on beer selections. But Hunter’s Head Tavern truly won my Claddagh ring when I caught wind of the banoffee pavlova, a dessert I had not dared to hope for this side of the Atlantic. Similar to banoffee pie, but with a meringue base, it combines bananas, dulce de leche and coffee-flavored whip cream into a sweet ending to our edible rambling.

Satay Sarinah: 512-A S. Van Dorn St., Alexandria
Café Montmartre: 1625 Washington Plaza N., Reston
Hunter’s Head Tavern: 9048 John Mosby Highway, Upperville

(November 2010)