WOMAN: And now, Signature Dish, a WETA original series.

SETH: Today on Signature Dish, we're exploring the flavors of Southeast Asia.

Wow.

JOCELYN: The idea is to have them really long because it's a sign of long life.

SETH: After a complex but comforting noodle soup.

That's excellent.

We'll dig into some impossibly crispy pork belly.

JAVIER: And you can hear it.

Like when you tap it out with a knife, it's crispy all around.

SETH: Before venturing well beyond the beltway in search of a curry with an unexpected twist.

PENNY: Let me show you.

SETH: Oh wow.

Penny, you weren't kidding.

I'm Seth Tillman, WETA producer and DC native, and I love good food.

That's why I'm traveling to restaurants across the DMV.

At each stop, looking for the one thing you just gotta try.

That "Signature Dish."

It's kind of hard to believe, but just 50 years ago, DC didn't have a single Thai restaurant.

When the Thai Room opened on Connecticut Avenue in 1972, it wowed food critics with its exotic flavors, introducing new spices and curries to unfamiliar DC diners.

An entrance sign in the rear parking lot is all that remains of this DC restaurant landmark, but of course, Thai restaurants now abound.

And the Southeast Asian presence in the region grew after the fall of Saigon in 1975 led to an influx of Vietnamese immigrants.

The Eden Center in Seven Corners became the heart of the local Vietnamese community.

But just as with Thai cuisine, you can now grab a banh mi or a bowl of pho almost anywhere around the region.

But other Southeast Asian cuisines have only recently begun to gain a wider following here.

For more than two decades, the popular Burma, on 6th Street in DC's Chinatown, stood as the lone Burmese restaurant within the city limits until it closed in 2013.

Six years later, a retired school teacher decided to fill the void it left behind.

JOCELYN: I was born in Rangoon, Burma, youngest of six.

We had a lot of people around our dinner table.

I knew exactly where my food came from.

It was always about hospitality.

In 1962, there was a military coup d'etat, and a lot of people were put in prison, and my father was one of them because he was a journalist and a publisher of the leading newspaper at the time.

And when he was released, we went to Thailand.

I finished high school there, and I came to America in 1970.

I taught for 15 years at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts.

And then when I retired, my children decided it wasn't, you know, a good time for me to stop.

SETH: In 2016, Jocelyn and her daughter, Simone, opened a shop selling falooda.

JOCELYN: And so we had a little 100 square foot space in Union Market for four years and then became a bodega, and I started bringing in some dishes from Burma, and that's how it all started.

SETH: Jocelyn, nice to meet you.

JOCELYN: Hi.

Nice to meet you.

Welcome to Thamee.

SETH: Thanks so much for having me.

So tell me about Burmese cuisine.

JOCELYN: Well, we border India and China, and we have about 130 tribes, and we're all about textures and a little salty, a little funky, a little sour, and it's always a party in your mouth.

SETH: That sounds really promising.

JOCELYN: So our signature dish is Ohno Khauk Swe.

And "ohno" means coconut, and "khauk swe" is how you make the noodles.

You bang it, "khauk," and you pull it.

It is our biggest comfort food and also made at very special occasions.

SETH: Very special occasions back in Burma, but here you can get it every day?

JOCELYN: Yes, you can get it every day.

You can eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

SETH: We'll make our own special occasion.

So yeah.

So tell me what goes into the dish.

JOCELYN: Well, as you can see, there are a lot of ingredients.

We will start by me getting just a little bit aggressive.

SETH: Okay.

JOCELYN: All right.

So I'm going to go over here.

SETH: What does aggressive mean?

JOCELYN: I'll show you.

So this is lemon grass.

SETH: The lemon grass is not going to give up its flavor easily.

JOCELYN: No, it's not.

So it's made in a knot, and now it's ready for me to put in my soup with a little bit of oil.

Okay.

And then we go into the trio, which is our ginger, garlic, and onion.

Then we go in with turmeric, paprika, and our friend, the lemon grass.

SETH: The knot of lemon grass.

JOCELYN: Okay.

So this is a layered soup.

We're going to go in with the first layer, which is going to be a lentil soup.

Now I'm going in with my mushroom onion soup.

SETH: How many different soups are going to join together?

JOCELYN: So we're going to have three.

SETH: I'm sure all these would just be delicious on their own, but together.

JOCELYN: They would, yeah.

SETH: Layers of deliciousness I might not even be prepared for.

JOCELYN: At this point, I'm going to put some of my homemade Sambal in it.

And the last level is the coconut milk.

SETH: Okay.

JOCELYN: So now at this point, all three soups are in, so we'll do a little tasting.

SETH: They're starting to mingle.

Let's see.

JOCELYN: They're mingling.

They're not married yet.

We're going to get some chicken in there.

I'm also going to put some mushroom in it.

Of course, it's Burmese food, so we're going to put fish sauce in there.

SETH: Of course.

JOCELYN: There we go.

We have it.

SETH: It's ready?

JOCELYN: Well, ready meaning it needs to cook for a little while, and then we're ready to put the noodles in.

The idea is always to have them really long because it's a sign of long life.

SETH: Long noodles equals long life.

I like that.

JOCELYN: All right.

Now we see if it's all ready.

SETH: Oh, oh wow.

JOCELYN: Now I'll do my last test, taste test.

Make sure it's all incorporated.

Always smell it before you taste it.

It's perfect.

It's just the comfort food you need.

What makes this dish specifically Ohno Khauk Swe is that you have all these crunchy little green beans, and lime, and onion, and cilantro, and you mix them all in, and there's also a boiled egg in there.

I taught art history.

I'm an artist.

So I've spent a lot of time on how my food looks and it's about, you know, all these colors popping for you.

I'm always looking for ways to not serve it the way it is in Burma, but to modernize it and to make it look appealing because you eat with your eyes.

Okay, we're ready to eat the Ohno Khauk Swe.

SETH: Well, I'm excited, and I see that there's some green beans, and some red onions, and sort of some extra little bits.

JOCELYN: Right, and on the plate you have a Chinese soup spoon which you can use for the soup part and also to scoop up some of the noodles.

So you want to go in and mix it.

SETH: Okay.

JOCELYN: Yes.

SETH: It's all about, like you said, all about marrying the flavors.

JOCELYN: And you can crunch up the crunchy, too.

You just smash it all in.

SETH: All right.

Excited to try this.

Mm.

Jocelyn.

That is excellent.

All those layers are coming through so nicely.

I think I got a little bite of green bean in there too, so it gave it that crunch, that sort of freshness.

That's excellent.

JOCELYN: I'm so glad you're enjoying.

It's a favorite of my family's.

My parents loved it.

My siblings love it.

My grandchildren love it.

They ask for it when they're not feeling well.

This is what they really want to eat.

SETH: Every culture sort of has to have its own comforting chicken soup that you eat when you're sick.

JOCELYN: Absolutely.

And you want it the way your mom makes it, or your grandmother makes it, because that's really what my granddaughters call it, "the sweet coconut soup."

I don't know where they get the idea from because there's no sugar in it, but it's sweet to them.

SETH: And on top of being delicious and having all these layers of flavor, it's also just such a beautiful dish, the way it's prepared, the way it's arrayed.

JOCELYN: Thank you.

I try to plate it the way I see it.

You are eating with your eyes first, and I'm trying to get you to be interested before you even take your first bite.

SETH: Yeah, I was interested from the moment I, we sat down.

All these extra Burmese dishes look great.

Almost makes one wonder why there's sort of so few Burmese restaurants in the area.

Do you think that might change over time?

JOCELYN: Well, the food diplomacy, for a lot of the countries like Thailand and Korea, were supported by governments.

So if we have to do this on our own, we're happy to do it, but it'll take a little bit longer.

We're going to put everything into all the hospitality, and all the good food, and get everybody to put Burma on their food map.

SETH: Well, cheers to that, Jocelyn.

JOCELYN: All right.

SETH: Thank you so much for sharing the Ohno Khauk Swe.

I really appreciate it, and it was delicious.

JOCELYN: You're welcome.

SETH: Cheers.

Unlike Burmese cuisine, the popularity of Filipino food in the DC area has exploded in the last decade.

Restaurants like Purple Patch, Bad Saint and Pogiboy have fed a craving for lumpia, adobo, sisig, and other Filipino favorites.

That's why I'm headed up Rockville Pike next.

After a quick stop to survey the ruins of White Flint Mall, where I spent many, many hours of my childhood, it's just a short walk to try one of the Philippine's regional specialties.

JAVIER: I was born in Cebu.

I lived there for about seven years.

We call Cebu "the second city."

It was originally the first capital of the Philippines.

That's my pride and joy.

I mean, I go back every year just to really refresh my palate, and what they're known for there is the lechon.

And pork belly is probably the best part of the pig.

It's fatty, it's juicy, it's got that crispy skin right on the outside of it.

Traditionally, in the Philippines, you would roast it in the spit and you kind of do it manually over charcoal.

I kind of just started playing with a convection oven, and it took me about two years to actually consistently get that mahogany, crispy skin.

The first time I did it, it just brought me back into my childhood and how it tasted in Cebu, and that's when it clicked.

SETH: Chef.

JAVIER: Welcome.

SETH: Thanks, man.

JAVIER: Great to see you.

SETH: Smells petty good in here.

Is that the lechons roasting?

JAVIER: Definitely.

We got a lechon starting roasting probably about 5:00 this morning.

So it's been going throughout the day.

SETH: So this is the belly, right?

JAVIER: Yeah, this is the star of the show.

Basically it's a belly slab.

You can actually make bacon with this, you can make pancetta.

Basically, we're just going to score it all around.

SETH: Help the flavor really seep in there.

JAVIER: Definitely.

Yep.

First things first we have our house spices here.

Next, we're going to put the minced garlic, some pineapple chunks.

I put about two to three star anise as well to give it a nice little licorice aroma and flavor.

Next, we're going to do lemon grass.

Lemon grass is one of the most important ingredients for the lechon.

Green onions, scallions.

SETH: All right, so now it's time to trap all this flavor inside?

JAVIER: Yep.

Now we're going to start rolling it up.

You want to keep this as dry as you can.

That's going to help with the crispiness of the skin.

SETH: Can't wait to see it turn into a lechon.

JAVIER: Yeah.

Obviously the final product comes out burning hot, so you gotta really be careful.

SETH: Oh my God.

JAVIER: And this is a pretty big belly.

I mean every belly's a little bit different in size and weight.

SETH: So how long has this one been in the oven now?

JAVIER: This has been in there a little bit over five and a half hours.

SETH: And what are you looking for on this skin right here?

JAVIER: Basically, you just want that mahogany color, as smooth as you can.

SETH: So how you planning on slicing this one up?

JAVIER: I usually work in halves, so we'll cut it in half right from the get go.

SETH: Oh, look at that steam escaping.

I love to see that.

Wow, you can see all the fat right there, kind of, uh... JAVIER: It renders out over a period of time when you're, the slower you cook it.

That's kind of what you want, the little separation from the skin and the meat.

SETH: And then, you know, I know we're going to taste out there, but I gotta try just a little piece of the skin right here.

JAVIER: Grab it yourself and just... SETH: Oh my God.

JAVIER: It's crunchy.

It just shatters in your mouth.

I mean, it's like candy almost.

SETH: It's kind of a delicious kind of pork potato chip or something.

JAVIER: There you go.

SETH: And I mean, it's just, it's so crispy.

How is that even possible?

JAVIER: I mean, it's the art of cooking it for a really long period of time.

Filipino households, when they see a lechon and the skin's not crispy, you will get it.

SETH: Get out of there.

JAVIER: You will get it.

So the skin's the art of it, and this is my art right here.

I actually started my career cooking in a lot of local French restaurants in the area, but it was pretty easy to transition because I knew the techniques and transitioning it to Filipino food.

And that's kind of what got me where I am today.

Chefs all across the world are, especially these young Filipino chefs who've been cooking at a lot of fine dining restaurants, are going back to their childhood and trying to promote what they've been growing up eating.

It's amazing to see all these chefs doing that.

SETH: Chef, man, this looks, this looks pretty impressive.

You can see all the different sort of flavors inside, all the lemon grass, all the garlic.

Okay.

Coming in.

JAVIER: Little bit of salad on the side would go great with that as well, which is our ginger papaya salad.

I know you tried the skin in the back in the kitchen, but now you are going to have the full experience of actually eating the whole dish at once with the sauces, with the salad, and all that stuff, so.

SETH: I'm going to take a bite first and then we'll go for the sauces.

(crunching).

JAVIER: You hear that crunch?

SETH: Oh my God.

Javier, between the meat seasoned all the way through and the skin.

I don't even know if my mic's picking up that crunch, man, but I can hear it.

I can hear it, it's loud.

JAVIER: To tell you the truth, I've been making this for over five, six years, and every time I take a bite, it just, it brings me back to Cebu.

SETH: So this is kind the Rockville lechon belly.

If I went to Cebu, is this kind of what it would taste like?

JAVIER: Yeah, and that's why I pretty much go back almost every year.

Refresh my palate.

It gives me opportunities to actually make other specials as well when I come back here to America.

SETH: I was going to say, because you got the signature dish, but man, that's a big menu up there.

JAVIER: Yeah.

SETH: There's a lot, there's a lot to try.

JAVIER: As a chef, you always want to create stuff, you always want to come up with something new.

SETH: So what sauces should I be trying?

JAVIER: Over here we have the two sauces.

We have the spicy vinegar which we make in the house, and we have the famous Mang Tomas sauce which is like a all-purpose brown gravy.

Where I'm from in Cebu, we basically just use it like some type of vinegar.

Same goes for the salad.

I mean, it's such a rich, fatty dish, that you kind of want these acidic flavors to kind of refresh your palate a little bit.

SETH: So I'm a Montgomery County kid.

You moved to Montgomery County when you came from the Philippines?

JAVIER: Yep.

I actually moved here, to DC actually, in 1991 when I was about seven years old, but pretty much grew up here in the DMV area.

I moved to Montgomery County, in Germantown, to be exact when I was about in high school, and I've been here ever since.

SETH: And did you ever imagine, when you were growing up here, that Filipino food would be having kind of the moment it's having right now?

JAVIER: I mean, growing up as a kid, I never imagined it would actually be in like Montgomery County or Maryland in general.

We actually had to drive over the bridge to go to Virginia to try some Filipino food.

Over the last couple of decades, and it's obviously the new generation of Filipino chefs are changing that, and they're opening up all over.

SETH: It's kind of cool that you guys are focusing on this one dish because I know there's a lot of great Filipino restaurants in this area, but this is unique because it sort of showcases this flavor of Cebu where maybe, you know, there's a lot of islands in the Philippines, right?

JAVIER: Over 7,000.

SETH: 7,000 islands.

And no one, no one does roasted pork better than Cebu?

JAVIER: For me.

I think Cebu makes the best lechon in the world.

SETH: I believe you.

If I'm not careful, I'm just going to keep eating this all day.

That is so, so good.

JAVIER: Pork heaven?

(laughs).

SETH: You've taken me there.

Hey, Javier.

Thanks a lot, man.

I really appreciate it.

JAVIER: No problem.

Thank you for coming by and introducing my food to the world, to the DMV.

SETH: DMV, then the world.

JAVIER: Yeah.

There you go.

SETH: For my last stop, I'm driving west on I-66 for a really, really long time.

Far enough that the Shenandoah's come into view, but I think it will be worth it.

I'm visiting Malaysia Kopitiam, one of only a handful of Malaysian restaurants in the area.

It was located in Dupont Circle for 15 years before closing in 2014.

After a few years out of the business, owners Leslie and Penny Phoon, reopened in 2018 in a strip mall on the outskirts of Centreville.

LESLIE: We have different type of customers like coming from Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, and of course Americans.

Why do they like Malaysian food?

Because it's very unique.

Because Chinese come in the 14th century, later the Indian comes.

So from there, they trade with each other, they mingle with each other, they cook with each other.

PENNY: We both from Ipoh, okay?

Ipoh is the place where all the hawkers, all the good food is, and it's very cheap.

And a lot of locals, like Kuala Lumpur people, they travel all the way to Ipoh and have good food.

When food is there, you bring people all together.

SETH: Now that I'm finally here, I'm meeting with Leslie and Penny to learn more about Nyonya cuisine, the food born from the intermarriage of early Chinese immigrants and the local Malay people.

Leslie, Penny.

LESLIE: Hi, Seth.

Welcome to Malaysia Kopitiam.

SETH: Thank you so much for having me.

I'm excited to be here, and I see these beautiful ingredients that are arrayed here.

What's this going to help prepare?

PENNY: Okay.

We're going to help to make our signature Nyonya Curry Fish Head.

So it has a very good symphony of roots, and flowers, and leaves.

SETH: Well that sounds like it's going to be delicious.

And Penny, you are the chef, correct?

PENNY: Yes, sir.

SETH: Great.

So should we get to making the Nyonya curry, and Leslie, we'll meet you back out at the table?

LESLIE: Yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

PENNY: Okay.

Good.

SETH: So how do we get started here?

PENNY: Okay.

We'll put some oil first.

Okay.

Heat up the oil, the onion and garlic, make it fragrant.

And then this is a fennel grain.

This is poppy seed.

And that's some chili.

SETH: You got a little bit of heat for the dish as well?

PENNY: Yes.

So turn it down and then we'll put some galangal flower.

This is a very typical ingredient that you'll find in Nyonya cooking.

SETH: And this is the flower of the root?

PENNY: Yes, yes.

This is the root itself, and then this comes like a flower.

It has a very unique flavor that no other flowers or plant can replace.

SETH: Yeah.

I don't think I've ever smelled anything quite like that.

And this is going to make it very aromatic dish?

PENNY: Oh yes.

In the past 20 years, we don't have all this.

I have to get my sister ship it every week, but right now we can have it here.

SETH: So you used to have to be shipped all the way from Malaysia and now you can just get it in the local grocery store?

PENNY: Yes.

Yes.

It can't replace anything else.

This is truly a flavor by itself.

That's a curry powder, and we put some coconut.

SETH: Oh yeah.

It's already getting a beautiful color.

PENNY: Oh yeah.

You need some extra liquid.

And then the final touch will be some of the leaves.

SETH: And what type of leaves are these?

PENNY: In Malaysia we call Laksa leaf.

They find it throughout all Asia.

Let me show you the fish.

SETH: Okay.

PENNY: Okay.

What we using today is a cod fish head.

SETH: Wow, yeah.

You weren't kidding.

This is a fish head dish, and these cod fish heads, are these just going to go right into the broth?

PENNY: Some other people will do it, but for the restaurant we'd rather blanch it first so it's less fishy that way.

SETH: Well, I will let you get to blanching the fish heads.

I can't wait to see what sort of flavor and texture they bring to the dish, and we'll try it back at the table.

PENNY: Very good.

SETH: Thanks, Penny.

PENNY: Okay.

LESLIE: This is the Nyonya Curry Fish Head.

SETH: Oh wow.

All those fish heads have cooked down and the bones are all in there?

PENNY: Yes.

Yes.

You've got to be careful.

SETH: I can see a lot of them kind of start to break apart.

LESLIE: Yes.

Here you are.

SETH: Perfect.

Perfect.

Oh, there we go.

Okay.

PENNY: This is a nice piece.

SETH: Oh, a full fish head in there.

Well, I can see what you mean by the challenge of eating it because of all those little bones.

LESLIE: Yes.

All the bones.

PENNY: This is good.

Try this.

SETH: The flavor, the flavor is fantastic.

PENNY: The cheek of the fish.

LESLIE: That's the best part.

SETH: It is such tender meat.

I guess that only comes from that little hard to get area right there in the head.

LESLIE: Yes.

Once you get used to it, it's a delicacy.

PENNY: That's why we make it different features like the whole fish and the filet.

SETH: Okay.

PENNY: So it's, it's more like, easier for a lot of people to eat, but the fish head is still is best for a lot of Asian people because it's the gelatinous that they like.

SETH: Yeah.

That gelatinous, that sort of fullness and richness, I got that.

But maybe the fish filet is a little bit more my speed.

PENNY: Good.

SETH: As long as you're getting the flavor of that broth.

LESLIE: Yes.

They are all the same flavor to it.

PENNY: This is very popular.

SETH: I think I'm going to try my hand at the filet over here.

Get that onto my plate so I can sop up all this deliciousness.

Okay.

Nicely crispy, no bones to contend with, and I love all the colors that are on the table here.

This is kind of representative of different parts of Malaysian cuisine?

PENNY: Yes.

Yes.

Like this is Chinese food.

This is Indian food.

And then this is Malay food.

SETH: You're getting that sort of over time when the different cultures merge, that's what's led to this?

PENNY: Yes.

LESLIE: Exactly.

PENNY: Yes.

SETH: Did you find that drawing people out here after all the time you spent in DC, were people still able to find you guys?

PENNY: I believe whenever there's food, people, if you're good, people will... LESLIE: Especially good food.

PENNY: Yeah.

People will go and look for you.

SETH: For some people, Centreville is kind of a long journey, but it's definitely worth it.

And considering where I started the day, not really knowing too much about Malaysian cuisine, I can already see how all these different flavors are coming together.

The Nyonya Curry, delicious.

Thank you so much for sharing.

PENNY: Very welcome, sir.

SETH: Thank you.

PENNY: My honor.

My pleasure.

(music plays through credits).

WOMAN: To find out more about great food in the Washington Metro area, visit weta.org/signaturedish.