Burapa, a good Thai Restaurant in Lansdowne:

Burapa is located in the newly built Lansdowne Shopping Center. Owner, Prathumwal Uthes (Prat), came to this country as a student and received her MBA. She worked for Continental Airlines for 6 years and decided to quit opening her first Thai Restaurant. “It failed miserably,” says Prat “I had a terrible location and I lost $40,000 of my own money.” Prat did not give up and since then she successfully opened 3 Thai Restaurants within 5 years.

I first started to go to CafeSano 5 years ago during lunches when I was working off Wiehle Avenue. I was so impressed with the quality and freshness of the food that I took my family for dinner and we have been going back ever since.

I recently went back to taste my favorites again. Before we get to the food, let’s talk about the ambiance. CafeSano is tucked away in an older looking strip mall. The entire strip mall looks like it needs a new façade, but don’t let that scare you away. Inside CafeSano is very modern, neat and clean.

When you enter inside, all of the food items are visible through the large glass case for your visual pleasure. Ordering brick over pizzas is also made easy for you with pre-set combinations like Pollo (chicken) or Margherita (basil and tomatoes).

When I say Indian Restaurant, what comes to your mind? Scarcely lit and plain looking place with traditional Indian artifacts adorning walls covered with beige wall paper, right? Think again with Aditi Bistro. Indian-American community is re-entering the Indian Restaurant business with an ultra modern second generation that is still in touch with its roots yet, worldly.

This transformation has already taken place in London and New York and it is finally hitting the Northern Virginia suburbs with Aditi Bistro. Located in an unassuming strip mall, Aditi Bistro is Pret-A-Manger meets Chipotle. It has the almost surgical look of Pret-A-Manger combined with traditional Indian delicacies served in wraps a la Chipotle style. Even the way you order your food reminded us of the simplicity of Metro Cafes in New York City. How you ask?

If you live in Northern Virginia, chances are you have eaten from European or even Korean bakeries, but the chances are you have never eaten at an Indian bakery. I am certain that this bakery is well known and very popular to our region’s grow ing Indian population.

Tucked away in an ordinary strip mall, Hot Breads is anything but ordinary. As you can expect from an India bakery, they offer a rich variety of Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian delicacies. I recently dropped by for a quick late afternoon snack and sampled Vegetable stuffed Croissant, Chicken Tikka Bun and Nankhatai Cookies with Almond. I washed them down with small bottle of Mango Juice.

The first time I visited Le Pain Quotidien was 4-5 years ago in New York City. I was in the city and I went to the Met with my childhood girlfriend. When we came out in the afternoon, she said “I am going to take you to this Belgian bakery where we can have cappuccinos in giant sauce cups and delicious apricot tarts.” I think it was somewhere in the Upper East Side. I have been hooked ever since.