Going to Seattle? Don’t Miss the Vietnamese Food

Having your go-to phở restaurant is the Seattle equivalent to a New Yorker ‘s proprietorship feel toward a front-runner slice. Bánh mì are such a central partially of the Seattle sandwich picture that, like a burger in L.A., the consider is n’t whether or not to eat bánh mì, but if one wants the fast-food equivalent, the diner standard, or the fondness public house translation. Beyond the basics, Seattle ‘s vietnamese restaurants serve such a wide variety of dishes that even Vietnamese cuisine maven Andrea Nguyen ( writer of Into the vietnamese Kitchen, asian Dumplings, and The Bánh mì Handbook ) marveled to us about the handiness of “ old school dishes that are the kernel of Vietnam ” in Seattle. If you eat your way through Seattle without entering a vietnamese restaurant, you need to head back and try again .

vietnamese cuisine is so omnipresent, so varied, and sol delightful in Seattle in separate because the Vietnamese community here is so large. Seattle is one of only four major US cities ( with more than a half-million people ) where vietnamese people make up greater than two percentage of the population. And in Seattle more than anywhere else, the Vietnamese community is woven into the greater city—there are phở restaurants, for exemplar, to be found in every vicinity. Nguyen attributes this in region to Seattle ‘facing Asia ‘ and its function as a major transportation system hub and larboard. If you leave Vietnam, she points out, the next nation you ‘ll hit is the West Coast—and Seattle ‘s early Vietnamese community encouraged more and more immigrants to settle there .

vietnamese food in Seattle, as Eric Banh, chef and co-owner of Monsoon and Ba Bar, is quick to point out, it is not quite the same food you ‘ll find in Vietnam. cipher in Seattle is picking the herb for your phở hours before they make it or bringing the chicken fresh from the grow that day to make stock. That said, if you want to taste the flavors, techniques, and iconic dishes of vietnamese cuisine, Seattle has some of the best you ‘ll find without crossing the Pacific .

In Vietnam, each restaurant or street food point of view specializes in a specific cup of tea. In Seattle, that tends to be less typical, as menu grow to epic proportions. But restaurants inactive specialize, and the key to finding the best vietnamese dishes in Seattle normally depends on ordering the right thing at the right place. Consider this your guide .

epicurean Phở at Ba Bar

People tend to open phở restaurants because there are good a few fresh ingredients to maintain, and staff does n’t require a long ton of train, Banh tells us. That is not the case at Ba Bar, where phở is good one item on a menu including a wide assortment of vietnamese classics, cautiously crafted cocktails, and freshly-baked pastries. The ten-dollars-a-bowl phở hera caused desecrate when the restaurant opened, tied inspiring Banh to write a screed justifying the price ( the soup ‘s base is made with high-quality, sustainably-raised beef from Painted Hills, equitable over the Oregon bound, and that gripe does n’t come brassy. )

The validation is in the season : the absolved broth offers clean, full-bodied meaty flavors. The long boiling of the best kernel and knucklebones makes for a ample broth that will stick your lips together when you smack them after sipping. The brisket falls apart in your chopsticks. “ We would go bankrupt if we sold good the phở, ” Banh tells me of the 120 lawn bowling of phở they make a day. The entire Ba Bar experience makes it a worthwhile value—you ‘re sipping a Moscow Mule from a bull cup in a restaurant whose dark-wood tables and minimalist décor evoke a epicurean fantasy of Vietnam .

Ba Bar

550 12th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122

function 206-328-2030 Website

hole in the Wall Phở at Phở Bac

For all the praise we ‘ve now heaped on the high-quality phở at Ba Bar, there is besides a prison term and a place for the quick, easy, phở that ‘ll cure your coldness and your rainy-day doldrums. Phở Bac, as the plastic menu dining table declares, is “ the best phở in town … possibly, do n’t know, in truth, who cares, just eat it. ” The cloudless broth is spiced only gently, indeed barely the beefiness of the broth climbs the steam cloud, perfuming the air. Onions sliced paper-thin fade into the heat of the soup, giving it an allium-infused depth. The only choice the menu board offers besides size ( large or small ) is which cut of beef you want. The smart money is on the “ thai ” ( round steak ) placed into the hot soup just moments before serve, the docile cook of the meat in the broth happening before your eyes .

When Hanna Raskin, the erstwhile Seattle Weekly restaurant critic, set out to do a “ phở census, ” there were over two hundred phở restaurants on her list to try. There are many mediocre phở spots in Seattle, but there are besides a number of estimable ones. Phở Bac is one of those good ones, and while declaring a “ best ” in this case is tough to do, it ‘s difficult not to favor a restaurant shaped like a boat .

Pho Bac

1314 South Jackson Street, Seattle, WA 98144

map 206-323-4387 ‎

Bún Bò Huế at Hoang Lan

The like serve is on every postpone at Hoang Lan : insidious, docile phở ‘s bigger, more aggressive cousin, bún bò Huế. It is an angry red soup, brimming with assorted animal parts ( pork pawn, cubes of blood cake, beef tendon ), each loaning their specific texture and potent spirit to the dish. Lurking in the bottom are round rice noodles chummy than those found in phở, allowing the bold broth to cling to the noodles more well. With the mix of porky, beefy, and piquant flavors, it ‘s easy to see ( and smell ) why Eric Banh named this as his favored vietnamese dish in Seattle ( outside of his own restaurants ). Banh besides spilled the mystery of the cryptically complex broth : fresh pineapple is layered into the bottom of the broth pot. The fruit adds pleasantness, but the veridical key is that an enzyme in it helps to break down the beef shanks and overact hocks to flavor the broth. It ‘s hard to pick up the pineapple spirit in the broth itself, though, as the aromatic attack from the bowl leads with the luminosity of lemongrass and follows up with an exhilarating stab of piquant chili, the pineapple a silent partner in the relish project, doing some heavy lift behind the scenes .

Hoang Lan

7119 Martin Luther King Junior Way South, Seattle, WA 98118

function 206-722-3876 ‎

Bánh cuốn at Banh Cuon Tan Dinh Deli

Bánh cuốn are compressed, wide rice noodles, like a flimsy crepe, folded over many times to create a delicate but complex texture. The flat rolls ( the list means rolled cakes ) are thinner and more layer than the exchangeable Chinese cheong fun served at dim summarize, the crescent roll to cheong playfulness ‘s scone. rather of holding prawn or gripe within, they are sprinkled with mouth-watering wood auricle mushrooms and fry shallots and served with gratifying, awkward nước chấm dipping sauce .

The necessary leanness of the attic to make the many layers of the rice batter work as a dish requires skill and patience, making this labor-intensive dish uncommon. At Bánh Cuốn Tan Dinh, a splinter of a identify, the offerings include the usual bánh mì and vietnamese deli fare, but it ‘s the artfully-rolled, supple-skinned Bánh cuốn that make it worth a check in Little Saigon. One or two pieces make a good nosh, but to make a meal of it, get the meaty interpretation, piled with vietnamese ham on top .

Banh Cuon Tan Dinh Deli

1212 S Main Street, Ste A, Seattle, WA 98144

map 206-726-9990 ‎

Bánh Hỏi Thịt Nướng at Huong Binh

Huong Binh is army for the liberation of rwanda less of a one-dish wonder than many spots, but the bánh hỏi—tiny bundles of elaborately wound thinly rice noodles—are the star of the show. The noodles, reasonably similar to angel hair pasta, are squeezed through holes of a metallic tool onto a flatness, and then steamed until bouncy and finely easy. There are a kind of kernel and seafood options to pair with the noodles, but Huong Binh does wonders with the pork barrel skewers called “ thịt nướng, ” somehow recreating in the minor restaurant kitchen the acute caramelization normally produced on grills on the street in Vietnam. Thin slices and agile cook keeps the pork from drying out. The bánh hỏi comes with boodle for wrapping the meat, noodles, and accompanying coriander and mint up into a pile and dip in the nước chấm, the omnipresent angelic, fish-sauced based vietnamese sauce .

Huong Binh

1207 South Jackson Street, Seattle, WA 98144

map 206-720-4907 ‎

Bánh Xèo at Green Leaf

On first glance, bánh xèo looks like an omelet. It shares the half-moon condition, vibrant yellow discolor, and stuff nature of the egg smasher. But no eggs were harmed in the make of this rice flour and turmeric pancake. The chicken shade comes from turmeric, and the stuffing forgoes the herb and tall mallow of french cuisine in favor of slice pork, prawn, and heaps of bean sprouts. Perfumed with coconut milk, the version at Green Leaf is soft and flaky, making it easily to snap off a section and roll with lettuce and herb before dipping into nước chấm. Use the lettuce to wrap it close, though, as the mountain of bean sprouts dotted with piquant pork barrel slivers and chunks of shrimp are ruffianly to contain. The freshness of the sprouts and accompanying herbs are a point of pride for Green Leaf, where changeless crowd keep the food from the kitchen pristinely newly. With the opening of a second base restaurant in Belltown, the lines have lessened, but the food remains vibrantly wrinkle and green .

Green Leaf

418 8th Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98104

map 206-340-1388 Website Review

Baby Clams at Tamarind Tree

Tamarind Tree introduces a level of elegance that Green Leaf forgoes, with excellent service, a entire menu of wines, sakes, and cocktails, and a pleasant and elegant ( if reasonably curious ) décor that includes indoor fire pits and a fake waterfall on the patio. The enormous menu includes stretches from one corner of Vietnam to the early, including home-style dishes you do n’t see frequently in restaurants, their celebrated tamarind quail, and dateless combinations of bun ( rice noodle bowls ) .

A surprising front-runner is the baby clam rice cracker appetizer ( hến xúc bánh đa ). bantam baby clams, barely bigger than a nail down mind, are marinated with onions, garlic, chilies, herb, and peanuts, cursorily cooked, and served sans shell with a giant crisp rice cracker. dotted black with sesame seeds, the firecracker breaks into chip-like pieces, and on the spur of the moment the clams are like the future guacamole : the dip of champions. The lemony and slightly-fishy pineapple and anchovy sauce it comes with brings a touch of angelic to the boldface flavors of the miniature bivalves .

Tamarind Tree

1036 S Jackson Street, Seattle, WA 98104

map 206-860-1404 Website

Chicken Wings at Hue Ky Mi Gia

If you thought the best chicken wings in the city might come from a sports stripe or fast-food restaurant, you ‘d be sorely mistaken : they ‘re only available at this Chinese-Vietnamese attic shop in Little Saigon. primitively opened in Vietnam in 1959, the family-owned shop class is chiefly known for the duck attic soup that finds a dwelling on closely every table. But lurking deep in the appetizer menu is something called “ electrocute butter garlic chicken wings. ” It is one of those situations where all these words are estimable things, but it ‘s intemperate to picture the consequence. These wings have a shatteringly-crisp, golden-brown crust, sprinkled with vibrant green dots of scallions and peppers and brown bits of the garlic that joined the wings in the fryer. The kernel within, protected from the heat of the fryer by the shell of bread, stays fat and tender. The garlic and pepper flavor does n’t migrate into the protect meat, but there ‘s batch of extra fried bits floating around that can be mopped up—a good alternate to the too-sweet sauce that ‘s offered on the english .

Hue Ky Mi Gia

1207 South Jackson Street, Seattle, WA 98144

map 206-568-1268 Website

All the Animals at Rainier Restaurant

Alligator, deer, eel, rabbit, or frog ? The house specials menu at Rainier Restaurant reads a spot like the menagerie was raided on the way to the kitchen. The regular menu will get you a very full ong choy and gripe salad, one of the best bowl of bún riêu ( crab soup ) in township, and an order of salt and pepper prawns featuring the live prawn in the tank at the front of the restaurant. But make sure you ask for the divide specials menu. You ‘ll have the choice of having your cobra chopped and served with sesame rice paper or sliced and stir-fried.The food is not on the menu entirely for daze value ( though that could be how they lured Anthony Bourdain to visit ), but because it is good. Turns out that game and reptile flavors go well with the lashings of lemongrass and herbal, off notes that dominate vietnamese cuisine. The slow-cooked quail is a favorite way to ease into some of the more obscure animals, its skin burnished with the tropical sweet of the coconut in its fudge melted. The tender kernel much jumps from the bantam bones into your mouth. Luckily it comes draped over rice, saving diners a frantic search for something to mop up all the extra flinch and coconut drippings .

Rainier Restaurant
6400 Martin Luther King Junior Way South Seattle, WA 98118
map 206-760-1090 Website

Bánh Mì at Tony ‘s Bakery or Q Bakery

When it comes down to picking the best bánh mì from the hundreds around the city, the ones with the freshest bread are the ones that stand out from the pack. Both Tony ‘s and Q, which are separated entirely by the large park draw in front of the Viet Wah supermarket, bake their own boodle. At Tony ‘s, the bread is light and bizarre, shrapnel crumbs shooting off in every direction with each sting, leaving a drag that Hansel and Gretel could have followed to a much safer lunch. At Q, the bread is chewier, making it slightly more difficult to cleanly bite off a chunk of sandwich, but the jalapeños are spicier, the pickles a more arrant balance of dulcet and off, the meat a spot more flavorful. q does a bang up problem with the standard fillings ( barbecued pork barrel, Vietnamese ham ), but Tony ‘s blank fish ( basa ) bánh mì is rightfully celebrated for the light, crisp fried fish and the sting of chives garlic anoint. In the great bánh mì taste-off, it comes down to a find to choose your own decision making component : for the bread and fish lovers, it ‘s Tony ‘s, for those in search of the strongest flavors and classical kernel fillings, it ‘s Q .

Q Bakery

3818 S Graham Street, Seattle, WA 98118

map 206-725-9193 ‎Tony’s Bakery

6020 Martin Luther King Jr Way, Seattle, WA ‎98118

map 206-722-8800 ‎

Hot Pot at Ben Thanh

The aristocratic neon screams out “ Lẩu dê ” from the window of Ben Thanh. That translates to goat hot pot, and the view of such a singular and intrigue cup of tea was what beginning brought me here years ago. Since then, I ‘ve worked my room through the integral menu, sampling the Hanoi-style roast pork and incidentally ordering a $ 30 whole fried catfish that could have fed a family. The friendly military service at Ben Thanh makes ordering less familiar dishes easy, and with the hot potentiometer, they ‘re glad to handhold and make certain everyone knows what they ‘re doing .

The hot potentiometer comes on a burner, bubbling away, while any extra table space is filled up with things to dip into the soup. In the firm special, the soup is hot and sourness, the lemongrass so thick it ‘s like a field of reeds in a lake. The noodles are bún, the basic vietnamese rice vermicelli. Like a taiwanese hot potentiometer, there ‘s a kernel and fish tray ( beef, chicken, squid, fish, and clams ), and a vegetable tray with chunks of pineapple for sweetness and solid gumbo pods, which are always the surprise favored, retaining a act of brittleness as they absorb the flavors of the lemongrass-lashed soup .

Ben Thanh Restaurant

2815 S Hanford Street, Seattle, WA 98144

map 206-760-9263 ‎

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Category : VIETNAM FOOD