Amy Lam

Amy Lam is a writer and editor based in Portland. Read More

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Reserve a spot for Han Oak’s Gimbap Party, featuring an expansive spread of kimchi, marinated proteins and pickled veggies.

Credit: Amy Lam

Asian Cuisine Tasting Menus in Portland

Portland hosts a flourishing scene of Asian and Southeast Asian restaurants featuring exceptional tasting menus.

Updated Dec. 5, 2024 4 min read

Amy Lam

Amy Lam is a writer and editor based in Portland. Read More

Gone are the days of fine dining experiences that feel like stuffy affairs with strict dress codes and anxiety over which fork to use. Portland has become a destination for bold and vibrant culinary creativity and focus on local and seasonal ingredients from the Pacific Northwest. Alongside cuisine spanning the Americas and Europe, Portland has a flourishing scene of Asian and Southeast Asian restaurants featuring exceptional prix fixe experiences. With inspiration from Vietnam to Korea, Portland chefs bring distinct flavors from Asia and influences across Cascadia. Treat yourself and book a reservation to explore the tasting menus that celebrate the rich flavors of Asian cuisine.

Langbaan

Since 2014, restaurateur and chef Earl Ninsom has been treating diners to traditional Thai flavors imbued with thoughtful twists highlighting local ingredients at Langbaan. A James Beard Award finalist for Best New Restaurant in 2015 and winner of Outstanding Restaurant in 2024, Langbaan has lived up to the accolades and remains one of the finest restaurants in Portland. Langbaan, meaning the area at the back of the home where families cook and share meals, was once tucked behind one of Nimsom’s other Thai restaurants, Paadee — guests entered through a secret entrance door at the back of the restaurant disguised as a bookcase. Langbaan has since moved to Northwest Portland, where it takes over the dining room of Phuket Cafe (another Nimsom eatery) during service on Friday and weekend nights.

Langbaan’s seasonal menus highlight the regional cuisine across Thailand, diasporic communities (Bangkok’s Chinatown, Thai Muslims) and specific aspects of Thai food in everyday life. Entire dining experiences are devoted to the pulsing heat of Thai nightlife, hearty meals of Thailand’s working class and more. Diners can expect each course to deliver a distinct explosion of flavors, from the bright citrus in Thai street snack miang som to curries that coat your tongue with layers of tangy, salty sweetness. For those who partake, the wine pairings and cocktails won’t disappoint. Book a seat at the chef’s counter for the best view of each course as it’s being prepared over flaming grills in the open kitchen.

Han Oak

A night at Han Oak feels like sharing a cozy dinner at a friend’s place. The open dining room flows out into a courtyard strung up with lights. The interactive Korean tasting menus invite you to cook up your own hot pot with cuts of meat sourced from local farms or wrap your own hand rolls with gochujang-sesame-crusted tuna at a gimbap party. The drinks menu is stocked with Korean beers, rice wines and cocktails. The karaoke machine challenges diners to cap off their night by belting a few tunes in the company of some of the best restaurant staff in town.

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Credit: Amy Lam

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Credit: Amy Lam

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Credit: Aaron Lee

The down-home vibes were baked into Han Oak since it opened in 2016, when chef Peter Cho, with life and business partner Sun Young Park and their two small sons, lived in an apartment behind the restaurant. With dishes like mom’s kimchi — made up of fresh and sour chunks of fermented daikon and napa cabbage, just like Cho’s mother prepares it — you can’t help but feel like you’ve been personally invited to a home-cooked meal. Han Oak is a casual party where everyone gathers for Cho’s modern take on Korean cuisine, which stars local ingredients, like the silken Ota tofu banchan prepared with handmade tofu from America’s oldest tofu shop, located right here in Portland. “How we decide on what goes on the menu is based on my training in New York, which is the foundation for my cooking, and then the flavors that I grew up with and really crave for,” said Cho, who is a 2023 James Beard Award “Best Chef” nominee. “And then just being inspired by the ingredients we have access to. It all kind of comes together here in the Pacific Northwest.”

Gado Gado

An Indonesian-inspired family-style tasting menu with coconut heirloom tomato curry and Chinese sausage and shrimp siu mai? Say less.

Or rather, say “Gado Gado.”

Chef Thomas Pisha-Duffly (another 2023 James Beard nominee) draws from his Chinese-Indonesian roots to treat guests to Gado Gado’s version of a Dutch-Indonesian rijsttafel, a Dutch word that translates to “rice table,” a feast of many small dishes. At Gado Gado, the feast is a mix of culinary influences from many diasporic communities and the thousand ethnic groups that make up the island nation of Indonesia. Named after a hearty mixed salad famous across the country, Gado Gado features flavors as distinct as the veggies that make up the namesake dish. From the light, fragrant sweetness of Oma’s clove-scented rice to the rich and savory soy-braised pork babi kecap, guests can expect to regularly reach across the table to scoop heaping servings onto their plates alongside house-made sambals.

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