Coming from Vancouver (B.C.), I've had the pleasure of dining at Baan Lao in Richmond. Unlike most Thai restaurants, Baan Lao is upscale with white glove service. If Tourism Richmond had partnered with Michelin, Baan Lao would no doubt have at least one Michelin Star. Their cuisine and plating are top-notch and sets a different standard for Thai food in North America. Since Portland has an thriving Thai food scene, we were definitely going to hit up some Thai restaurants. The most exciting is Langbaan, which is a tasting menu only dinner spot located within Phuket Cafe. They might not be as fancy as Baan Lao, but from all online accounts, the experience is still top notch.
The tasting menu began with some small bites including the Miang Som. I've had many version of this before and for this one, it consisted of shrimp, Valencia orange, peanut and coconut on a betel leaf. Pretty saucy, but ultimately a flavor bomb, there was intense sweetness from the palm sugar and brininess from the shrimp. The umami that was present was further aided by the sweetness of the orange. Add in the crunch and nuttiness from the peanuts and the aromatics of the coconut, it was certainly an everything bite.
If we thought that the Miang Som was a great start to waken our palates, the Kanom Krok not only brought balance, it was our favorite thing of the tasting menu. It was a crispy cup with Hokkaido scallops sitting in a coconut cream. That contrast in textures of the cup and the buttery soft scallops was just right. Add in the aromatic sweetness of the coconut cream along with the Thai herbs and we had richness with brightness at the same time.
Served in sriracha casing, the Hoy Tod was a nod to the Thai omelette. We found some steamed mussels inside atop some egg with crispy sriracha seaweed. The combination yielded seafoodiness from the tender mussels while the sriracha was only there enough to provide some impact without being too spicy. It let the mussel be the star while the egg added some texture while representing the omelette.
Next, we had the Guay Tiew Rua with the broth served tableside. This was in honor of Thai boat noodles with a rich broth that exhibited the usual tang and sweetness. It was served steaming hot atop a small amount of rice noodles, beef meatball and flank steak. We found the noodles having an appealing chewiness while the meatball was bouncy and sweet. Wow, the 2 slices of rare flank steak were buttery soft and meaty tasting. Some cilantro and green onion completed the dish.
To bring things down like a palate-cleanser, we had the Phla Pla featuring bigeye tuna wrapped in seaweed. We found raspberry, pineapple, snap peas, shallots (2 ways) and Japanese pepper leaves on top. Buttery and soft, the tuna had quite a bit of umami going. Nice balance of sweetness, aromatics and crunch. The fruitiness really helped the transition to the next dish.
Now when you think of Pad Thai, you would immediately think of rice noodles coated with a sweet and tangy tamarind sauce. Well, this version featured ribbons of squid that resembled rice noodles while coated in tomato sauce. It sat atop leeks, cabbage and sea grapes. Very creative and ultimately, very tasty as well. Nice aromatics and sweetness combined with tanginess from the ingredients. It didn't really taste like a Pad Thai, but that didn't matter as it was great in its own right. I especially loved the tender chew of the squid noodles.
We moved onto the shared entree portion of the tasting menu including the Gang Taepo or poached halibut atop red curry. At first, I was a little dismayed that the halibut was just merely poached, but after I combined it with the curry, it made total sense. No need to have competing flavors nor having too much salt as the curry was full-of-depth, spice and sweetness. Beautifully prepared, the halibut was flaky and moist and accepted the curry as a textural canvas.
Also at the same time, we had the Pad Preaw or Octopus with a chutney of tomato, Chinese celery and peanuts. I found this dish competent where the octopus was cooked perfectly where it was tender with just enough chew. The chutney was flavourful with tang and sweetness, but the dish as a whole was not as impactful as the rest. However, the condiment on the side did help things plenty.
The condiment was the Nam Prik Long Rua or pork & shrimp relish with salted egg and greens. This was a lot of things including briny, meaty, salty and umami. Combined with the crunchy veggies wrapped in lettuce, this made everything much more flavorful and also a bit spicy. Texture was provided in the form of pork crackling mixed into the relish. You could put this on anything and it would taste good!
Dessert consisted of 2 items including the Mango Sticky Rice presented as a layered cake with a mango mochi cake base, mango mousse in the middle and butter lime cream on the top. This was quite pleasant and mildly sweet with the flavors of mango sticky rice. I liked how this was super light and gently brought us down from the flavor bomb of the relish from the previous course.
Our last item was the Khao Lahm which was a pandan canelé. Texturally, since it was made with rice, the interior was more custardy and wet than a regular canelé. The outside was slightly crispy but could've been more so. However, it still ate quite well and we enjoyed it. Overall, we loved our meal at Langbaan. The tasting menu progressed beautifully and we felt the flavors popped. Would absolutely do this again when we are in PDX next.
The Good:
- Impactful flavors
- Well-prepared proteins
- Excellent service
The Bad:
- Pandan canelé was a bit weird texturally
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