17 Nov Where We’ve Been Drinking: Rasika
Where We’ve Been Drinking: Rasika
When we decided to move to DC, all of our kind friends with DC connections sent us their lists of favorite restaurants. Rasika was near the top of everyone’s list. We can see why.
It’s a bustling, completely full downtown restaurant. We had a tough time getting a table in the main dining room (on a Monday no less), but the host told us that they could make us a reservation in their ‘casual dining’ section by the bar. When we got there, the ‘casual’ section looked more than good enough for us, but they ended up finding us a room in the main dining room anyway.
The names of the dishes would be familiar to anyone who eats Indian: Chicken Tikka Masala, Chicken Biryani, Tandoori, Lamb Korma, Naan. The taste, however, was a completely new experience. I don’t know what exactly they do to make their food so delicious; but the food was simultaneously comfortably familiar and out of this world. And in addition to the food, we were also impressed with their cocktails.
What we ordered and what we thought
Dhaniya Cooler: gin, white port, orgeat, lemon, cilantro
Ginger-Pom Pisco Sour: pisco, ginger liqueur, lemon, pomegranate, egg white
This was one of those good nights where both of us equally like both cocktails, and we keep trading them back and forth (When something goes a little wrong, each of us ends up with our own drink; when something goes very wrong we fight over one until it’s gone and only then drink the second). Both of the drinks were interesting, tasty, and good-looking.
What caught our eye about the Dhaniya Cooler was the white port. We’d never run across one of those before. I still don’t know what a white port tastes like on its own, but Rasika put it to good use. The drink was light and delicate, with the cilantro bringing an unexpected spiciness to the otherwise tropical notes of the drink.
The Ginger-Pom has a silly name, and is a little trendier than we usually choose. But we were in a ginger mood, and thought it would taste good with the Indian food. Plus, we’ve been trying to add more egg white to our cocktail diet. It was a good choice. The pomegranate juice actually worked very well, bringing depth to the drink, and giving it a great color. The froth from the egg white was perfect. And it did taste good with the food.
So Should You Go?
Yes. And don’t be concerned about sitting in the casual section. In fact, just a seat at the bar would be fine.
