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.

My son’s favorite Chicken Satay Restaurant: Thai Basil is located in the Boadlands Center Plaza next to Safeway. I recently reviewed 4 Thai restaurants located in Loudoun county. Once they were posted on the web site, I received numerous comments and e-mails from our readers saying that I missed the “best Thai Restaurant” in Loudoun. I was told that Thai Basil was a cut above all of them, and I am here to tell you that my son agrees that statement.

The following review was co-written by Gastronome Magnifique (Murat Aksu) and The Food Dude (Doug Roper)

GM- If you can spell Rose’s last name, you should get a free Lemongrass Ice Tea at Bangrok (Rose Phoophukdee)

FD – Guess I’m drinking water.

FD – It was truly interesting to hear how different experiences in Rose’s life inspired the menu.

I went in and tasted several Thai delicacies for you. I started with the refreshing chicken Tom Kha which is a coconut based soup with flavors of galangal, red/green onions, bell peppers and lime juice. If you never tasted this soup don’t be scared by its almost milky looking color. I like mine spicy (which turns the color a little more reddish) and with lots of lemon grass.This one lacked a little bit in the sourness scale for me, but I am sure that it would be fine for most pallets.

My Thai Palace takes you to San Fran, NY, London – anywhere but Brambleton:

Don’t misunderstand me. I know Brambleton is a fine suburb of DC, but when you enter into My Thai Palace located in a modern strip mall, you are taken into another world. Gray cement floors, very tall all white walls, NY W Hotel like wall decorations, brown leather chairs, and a beautifully lit aqua colored full bar. This is not your typical Loudoun restaurant, Thai or not Thai.