| Friendship Kitchen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 2021 |
| Food type |
|
| City | Portland |
| County | Multnomah |
| State | Oregon |
| Country | United States |
Friendship Kitchen is a restaurant with two locations in Portland, Oregon, United States. The original restaurant opened in 2021, serving Vietnamese cuisine. The outpost Friendship Kitchen NW: From Saigon 2 Singapore opened in 2023 and serves Singaporean cuisine in addition to Vietnamese food.
The Asian Pacific American- [1] and LGBTQ-owned [2] restaurant Friendship Kitchen operates in Portland, Oregon. The original restaurant on Glisan Street in the northeast Portland part of the Kerns neighborhood serves Vietnamese cuisine. The restaurant has a patio and the interior has neon signs and patterned lanterns. [3] The menu includes bánh mì, bún bò Huế , [4] noodle dishes, pho, [3] [5] and cocktails. [6] The curry dish cà ri is called Keep Calm and Cà Ri On. On the drink menu, the Fresh Off the Boat has ginger-infused gin and the White Men Tears has rum and coconut milk. [6] The Pho-Jito has rum, Combier, cilantro, and a syrup made with cardamom, cinnamon, and star anise. The Thai'd Up is an alcoholic and iced Thai tea. [3] Other drinks use lychee, mango, tamarind, vodka, and whiskey. [6]
Friendship Kitchen NW: From Saigon 2 Singapore operates on Thurman Street in northwest Portland's Northwest District. In addition to Vietnamese food, the outpost serves Singaporean cuisine such as bánh xèo, Hainanese chicken rice, and laksa. The outpost also serves ragout with braised chicken in tomato-red wine sauce, as well as garlic butter shrimp and steak frites, [7] soy-sugarcane drumsticks with vegan fish sauce, and garden rolls with tofu skin. [8]
In addition to pho, [3] both locations have served bánh tét around the holiday Tết. [9]
Trang Nguyen opened the original restaurant in northeast Portland in 2021, [7] later than a previously announced opening date of November 2020. [6] The outpost Friendship Kitchen NW: From Saigon 2 Singapore opened in October 2023. [7] Since Nguyen married Wei-En Tan and became known as Trang Nguyen Tan, [10] the couple have been credited for operating both establishments. [7] [2] Stem Wine Bar has been described as a "sister" business to Friendship Kitchen. [11] [12]
In 2024, Nick Woo, Krista Garcia, and Janey Wong included Friendship Kitchen in Eater Portland 's overview of Portland's best Vietnamese restaurants, [4] and Waz Wu included Friendship Kitchen NW in the website's overview of the city's "most comforting" vegan noodle soups. [8] Friendship Kitchen placed second in the Best Vietnamese Restaurant category of Willamette Week 's annual Best of Portland readers' poll in 2024. [13]
Vietnamese cuisine encompasses the foods and beverages originated from Vietnam. Meals feature a combination of five fundamental tastes : sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and spicy. The distinctive nature of each dish reflects one or more elements, which are also based around a five-pronged philosophy. Vietnamese recipes use ingredients like lemongrass, ginger, mint, Vietnamese mint, long coriander, Saigon cinnamon, bird's eye chili, lime, and Thai basil leaves. Traditional Vietnamese cooking has often been characterised as using fresh ingredients, not using much dairy or oil, having interesting textures, and making use of herbs and vegetables. The cuisine is also low in sugar and is almost always naturally gluten-free, as many of the dishes are rice-based instead of wheat-based, made with rice noodles, rice papers and rice flour.
Phở or pho is a Vietnamese soup dish consisting of broth, rice noodles, herbs, and meat – usually beef, sometimes chicken. Phở is a popular food in Vietnam where it is served in households, street-stalls, and restaurants country-wide. Residents of the city of Nam Định were the first to create Vietnamese traditional phở. It is considered Vietnam's national dish, and is said to be influenced by Chinese and French cultures.
In Vietnamese cuisine, bánh mì or banh mi is a short baguette with thin, crisp crust and a soft, airy texture. It is often split lengthwise and filled with meat and savory ingredients like a submarine sandwich and served as a meal, called bánh mì thịt. Plain bánh mì is also eaten as a staple food.
Gỏi cuốn, nem cuốn, salad roll, summer roll, fresh spring roll, or rice paper roll is a Vietnamese dish traditionally consisting of pork, prawn, vegetables, bún, and other ingredients wrapped in bánh tráng. Unlike other spring roll dishes, which are believed to originate from China, Vietnamese gỏi cuốn is a national creation using bánh tráng.
Bánh canh are a thick Vietnamese noodles that can be made from tapioca flour or a mixture of rice and tapioca flour. "Cake" refers to the thick sheet of uncooked dough from which the noodles are cut.
Mì Quảng, literally "Quảng noodles", is a Vietnamese noodle dish that originated in Quảng Nam Province in central Vietnam. It is one of the region's most popular and well-recognized food items, and is served on various occasions, such as at family parties, death anniversaries, and Tết. It is a common food item in Ðà Nẵng and the surrounding regions, where it is eaten at any time of day.
Lúc Lắc Vietnamese Kitchen, or simply Lúc Lắc, is a Vietnamese restaurant in Portland, Oregon's Leon Chung Company Building, in the United States.
Hủ tiếu or Hủ tíu is a Vietnamese dish eaten in Vietnam as breakfast. It may be served either as a soup or dry with no broth.
The Sweet Hereafter was a bar and restaurant in Portland, Oregon. It closed on February 29, 2024.
Double Dragon is a restaurant and bar in Portland, Oregon, United States. Chef and owner Rob Walls opened the bánh mì sandwich shop in 2011, which was later expanded to include more food and drink options.
Portland Cà Phê is a coffee shop with two locations in Portland, Oregon. The business specializes in Vietnamese coffee drinks, including robusta coffee and Vietnamese iced coffee, and also serves bánh mì and pastries.
Top Burmese is a small chain of restaurants serving Burmese cuisine in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area, in the United States. Owners Kalvin and Poe Myint started the business in 2019.
Mama Đút was a vegan restaurant serving Vietnamese cuisine in Portland, Oregon.
Pho Oregon, or Phở Oregon, is a Vietnamese restaurant in Portland, Oregon, specializing in pho.
Berlu is a Vietnamese restaurant and bakery in Portland, Oregon.
Hanoi Kitchen is a Vietnamese restaurant in Portland, Oregon.
Sunshine Noodles was a Cambodian American restaurant in Portland, Oregon, United States. Owner Diane Lam operated the business from 2019 to 2022, initially as a pop-up noodle bar and later as a brick-and-mortar restaurant in the Slabtown area of Northwest Portland's Northwest District. Despite garnering a positive reception, Lam closed Sunshine Noodles permanently in late 2022 and relocated to San Francisco.
Phở Kim is a Vietnamese restaurant in Portland, Oregon, United States. Established in 2013, the family-owned restaurant is located on 82nd Avenue in the southeast Portland part of the Montavilla neighborhood.
Phở Hùng is a pair of Vietnamese restaurants in Portland, Oregon, United States. The two establishments are operated by different owners but share a name, logo, and menu primarily focused on pho. Both are located in southeast Portland; the older restaurant has operated on Powell Boulevard since 1990, and the other, sometimes called Phở Hùng 82, is on 82nd Avenue. Previously, a Phở Hùng restaurant operated on Fremont Street in northeast Portland.
Mémoire Cà Phê is a Vietnamese American restaurant in Portland, Oregon, United States. Established in 2024, the business is owned by chef Richard Le of Matta, coffee roaster Kimberly Dam of Portland Cà Phê, and pastry chef Lisa Nguyen of the doughnut shop HeyDay. Mémoire Cà Phê was included in Eater's list of the nation's fourteen best new restaurants in 2024.
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