Nava ThaiWheaton on Fern Street in Washington, DC

When navathaiwheaton first opened in a tiny space tucked into the back of Wheaton’s Hung Phat Asian market, it was a true hole-in-the-wall. But the restaurant quickly gained popularity — Washington Post writer Tom Sietsema ranked it as one of DC’s best Thai restaurants in a 2008 article — and Suchart and Ladavan Srigatesook were able to move into the old Sir Walter Raleigh building on Fern Street, where they’ve been for about 15 years.

Sure, the Nava location isn’t flashy — it feels more like a grocery store than a restaurant. But it’s a worthy destination for anyone who wants to try authentic food designed for the Thai palate, not the American one.

The Nava menu features www.navathaiwheaton.com classic dishes like green curry with chicken and coconut milk, but also includes grilled beef salads, kaeng dang kha-yow, and the aforementioned fried bananas. The owners are committed to only using high-quality fresh ingredients, and their cooking is so good that the restaurant has appeared on several Washingtonian lists. They also have a popular takeout and delivery business.

When Suchart and Ladavan Srigatesook first opened navathaiwheaton back in 2007 in the tiny space hidden behind Wheaton’s Hung Phat Asian market, the husband-and-wife duo’s sparse, simple setting began drawing crowds for its authentic, spicy riffs on classic Thai recipes. It didn’t take long for the word to spread, and Washington Post restaurant reviewer Tom Sietsema quickly added it to his list of favorite Thai spots in the region.

The ambiance may be lacking (no punny names, no sushi bar, and no fried bananas) but the food speaks for itself: the kind of place where people make regular trips from Virginia, Maryland, and even D.C. for their fix of Nava’s floating island soup, hot-and-sour scored squid, and grilled chicken with sticky rice. Nava is located at 11301 Fern St in Wheaton.