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| Red snapper curry with Chicken Mi goreng |
9530 Fairfax Blvd, Fairfax, VA 22031 ·
Rating: 2/5.
Southeast Impressions, a newly opened restaurant in Fairfax, Virginia, specializes in cuisines from Southeast Asia (mostly Chinese, Malaysian and Singaporean). Unlike Chinese or Vietnamese restaurants, Malaysian restaurants are rare in the NOVA region. Although I was delighted to discover this place and visited it twice so that I could try more dishes, it did not meet my expectations and the experience wasn't a memorable one.
The roti canai (fried bread) generally served with a chicken curry from what I have seen in other Malaysian restaurants, was served with lentils cooked with vegetables, similar to the South Indian-style sambar curry. It wasn't particularly flavorful and personally I did not feel it was even worth it's price.
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| Laksa curry |
Of the two curries we tried, the laksa curry was with noodles at the bottom was served with a decent helping of protein in the form of scallop, shrimp, egg and chicken. But the flavors were mediocre, and the seafood did not taste very fresh. The duck curry was very disappointing in terms of the portion of protein especially when I compare it to other Asian restaurants. The red snapper cooked with gravy and basil was one of the most expensive dishes on the menu. Although the portions were generous, it neither tasted fresh nor was seasoned sufficiently.
We also tried their Mie Goreng, Malaysia style fried rice with egg, veggies, chicken and shrimp. This rice dish was by far the best of the dishes we tried.
All in all, this restaurant offered a great ambience for dining and the service was decent, but I thought it fell short in terms of flavor and the quality of the food, especially for the price. With these issues, I have to give this place a score of 2 out of 5, and I do not want to visit it again.
