Friendship Kitchen is a restaurant with two locations in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, United States. The original restaurant opened in 2021, serving

Vietnamese cuisine Vietnamese cuisine encompasses the foods and beverages originated from Vietnam. Meals feature a combination of five fundamental tastes (): sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and Piquant, spicy. The distinctive nature of each dish reflects one or more ...

. The outpost Friendship Kitchen NW: From Saigon 2 Singapore opened in 2023 and serves

Singaporean cuisine Singaporean cuisine is derived from several ethnic groups in Singapore and has developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes in the cosmopolitan city-state. Influences include the cuisines of the Malays/Indonesians, C ...

in addition to Vietnamese food.

Description

The

Asian Pacific American Asian/Pacific American (APA) or Asian/Pacific Islander (API) or Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) or Asian American and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) is a term sometimes used in the United States when including both Asian ...

- and LGBTQ-owned restaurant Friendship Kitchen operates in

. The original restaurant on Glisan Street in the

northeast Portland Northeast Portland is one of the six major divisions of Portland, Oregon. Northeast Portland contains a diverse collection of neighborhoods. For example, while Irvington and the Alameda Ridge feature some of the oldest and most expensive homes i ...

part of the Kerns neighborhood serves

. The restaurant has a patio and the interior has

neon signs In the signage industry, neon signs are electric signs lighted by long luminous gas-discharge tubes that contain rarefied neon or other gases. They are the most common use for neon lighting, which was first demonstrated in a modern form in Decem ...

and patterned lanterns. The menu includes

bánh mì In Vietnamese cuisine, , bánh mỳ or banh mi (, ; , 'bread' (Hanoi: �aʲŋ̟˧˥.mi˧˩or Saigon: �an˧˥.mi˧˩), is a short baguette with thin, crisp crust and a soft, airy texture. It is often split lengthwise and filled with meat and ...

, ''

bún bò Huế ''Bún bò Huế'' (pronounced ) or ''bún bò'' () is a Vietnamese rice noodle (''bún'') dish with sliced beef (''bò''), chả lụa, and sometimes pork knuckles. The dish originates from Huế, a city in central Vietnam associated with the ...

'', noodle dishes,

pho Phở or pho (, , ; ) is a Vietnamese soup dish consisting of broth, rice noodles (), herbs, and meat – usually beef (), and sometimes chicken (). Phở is a popular food in Vietnam where it is served in households, street-stalls, and rest ...

, and cocktails. 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 Coconut milk is a plant milk extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. The opacity and rich taste of the milky-white liquid are due to its high oil content, most of which is saturated fat. Coconut milk is a traditional food ingred ...

. The Pho-Jito has rum, Combier, cilantro, and a syrup made with

cardamom Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genus (biology), genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indon ...

, cinnamon, and star anise. The Thai'd Up is an alcoholic and iced

Thai tea Thai tea (, , ) is a Thai drink made from Ceylon black tea, milk, and sugar. Thai tea as consumed in Thailand is not typically brewed with spices, though many English language recipes inspired by Thai tea include ingredients such as star anise o ...

. Other drinks use

lychee Lychee ( , ; ''Litchi chinensis''; ) is a monotypic taxon and the sole member in the genus ''Litchi'' in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae. There are three distinct subspecies of lychee. The most common is the Indochinese lychee found in So ...

, mango,

tamarind Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a Legume, leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is indigenous to tropical Africa and naturalized in Asia. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic taxon, monotypic, meaning that it contains only this spe ...

, vodka, and whiskey. Friendship Kitchen NW: From Saigon 2 Singapore operates on Thurman Street in

northwest Portland Northwest Portland is one of the sextants of Portland, Oregon, United States. Northwest Portland includes the Pearl District, most of Old Town Chinatown, the Northwest District, and various residential and industrial neighborhoods. A range of ...

's Northwest District. In addition to Vietnamese food, the outpost serves

such as

bánh xèo ''Bánh xèo'' (, ) is a crispy, stuffed rice pancake popular in Vietnam. The name refers to the sound (from ''xèo'' – 'sizzling') a thin layer of rice batter makes when it is poured into the hot skillet. It is a savoury fried pancake made of ...

Hainanese chicken rice Hainanese chicken rice is a dish of poached chicken and seasoned rice, served with chilli sauce and usually with cucumber garnishes. It was created by immigrants from Hainan in southern China and adapted from the Hainanese dishes of Wencha ...

, and

laksa Laksa ( Jawi: ; Chinese: 叻沙) is a spicy noodle dish popular in Southeast Asia. Laksa consists of various types of noodles, most commonly thick rice noodles, with toppings such as chicken, prawns or fish. Most variations of laksa are prepar ...

. The outpost also serves

ragout Ragout (, , ) is a stew served as a main dish. Etymology The term comes from the French ''ragoûter'', meaning 'to revive the taste'. Preparation The basic method of preparation involves slow cooking over a low heat. The main ingredients are ...

with

braised Braising (from the French word ''braiser'') is a combination-cooking method that uses both wet and dry heats: typically, the food is first browned at a high temperature, then simmered in a covered pot in cooking liquid (such as wine, broth, c ...

chicken in tomato-red wine sauce, as well as garlic butter shrimp and

steak frites ''Steak frites'', meaning "steak ndchipped potatoes" in French, is a dish consisting of a beef steak accompanied by fried chipped potatoes. It is commonly served in Belgian and French brasseries, and is considered by some to be the national di ...

, soy-sugarcane drumsticks with vegan fish sauce, and garden rolls with tofu skin. In addition to pho, both locations have served ''

bánh tét ''Bánh tét'' is a Vietnamese savoury but sometimes sweetened cake made primarily from glutinous rice, which is rolled in a banana leaf into a thick, log-like cylindrical shape, with a mung bean and pork filling, then boiled. After cooking, th ...

'' around the holiday

Tết Tết (, ), short for (; ), is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. Tết celebrates the arrival of spring based on the Vietnamese calendar and usually falls on January or February in the Gregorian calendar. is not to be co ...

History

Trang Nguyen opened the original restaurant in northeast Portland in 2021, later than a previously announced opening date of November 2020. The outpost Friendship Kitchen NW: From Saigon 2 Singapore opened in October 2023. Since Nguyen married Wei-En Tan and became known as Trang Nguyen Tan, the couple have been credited for operating both establishments. Stem Wine Bar has been described as a "sister" business to Friendship Kitchen.

Reception

In 2024, Nick Woo, Krista Garcia, and Janey Wong included Friendship Kitchen in ''

Eater Portland ''Eater'' is a food website by Vox Media. It was co-founded by Lockhart Steele and Ben Leventhal in 2005, and originally focused on dining and nightlife in New York City. Eater launched a national site in 2009, and covered nearly 20 cities by 2 ...

'' overview of Portland's best Vietnamese restaurants, and Waz Wu included Friendship Kitchen NW in the website's overview of the city's "most comforting" vegan noodle soups. Friendship Kitchen placed second in the Best Vietnamese Restaurant category of ''

Willamette Week ''Willamette Week'' (''WW'') is an alternative weekly newspaper and a website published in Portland, Oregon, United States, since 1974. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business, and culture. History Early history '' ...

'' annual Best of Portland readers' poll in 2024.

References

External links

* (Friendship Kitchen) * (Friendship Kitchen NW: From Saigon 2 Singapore) {{Coord missing, Oregon 2021 establishments in Oregon LGBTQ-owned businesses in Oregon Regional restaurant chains in the United States Restaurants established in 2021 Restaurants in Kerns, Portland, Oregon Restaurants in Northwest District, Portland, Oregon Singaporean cuisine Vietnamese restaurants in Portland, Oregon

Description

History

Reception

See also

References

External links