1036 S Jackson Street
Seattle, WA
Phone: 206-860-1404

Seattle’s International District has dozens of Vietnamese restaurants, and I’m just barely starting to make my way through them. A few weeks ago, we tried Tamarind Tree, which is tucked away in a very unassuming strip mall along Jackson. OK, that’s a nice way of saying it’s kind of dumpy from the outside. Only the sign gives away the renovated modern interior which is stylish and moody and packed with locals looking for a steamy bowl of pho or freshly wrapped salad rolls.

The menu is extensive and at least a little confusing for the non-intiated. Frankly, I’ve eaten my fair share of Vietnamese food, and I was pretty intimidated. But, we plowed right in, picking a known quantity and a few things that we had no idea on. We started with the salad rolls which were, while not particularly remarkable, quite good. The wrapping was fresh, the herbs still crisp and the sauce nice and tangy. We also ordered a barbeque pork roll, which we were afraid was basically going to be a repeat of the salad rolls, but sounded good anyway. Turns out, there wasn’t much roll to the pork roll, and it came with some amazing grilled pork, a fish sauce and some fresh veggies (cucumber, lettuce, sprouts)… basically a grilled pork bun without the bowl. This dish was amazing and I’d order it again in a heart beat (of course, that’s probably because the grilled pork bun is what I always order and love). We made our own little wrappings, until we got tired of assembling, and then just piled the goodies onto our plates. While scarfing those, our third and most unknown dish, the yellow-fish, arrived. Again, this dish required assembly, but you were given two different options: a hard rice cracker and peanuts or a lettuce and vermicelli noodle wrap. The flavors and textures of the rice cracker, nuts and fish were amazing but it was quite hard to balance it all together. The peanuts liked to roll off. The lettuce wraps were certainly easier to handle, but again, I was getting a bit tired of the handling, and just made a nice little salad of the fish, rice cracker, lettuce and peanuts (plus a bit more fish sauce that was left over from the pork). The yellow fish, while tasty, was pretty mild (almost bland) and a little dry to me. It worked in combination, but I wouldn’t order it again.

Overall, the food was very good, the atmosphere comfortable and the service quick and friendly. If a group of friends suggested Tamarind Tree for dinner, I’d have no qualms about it. However, I might guide them back around the corner to a considerably less stylish (unless you consider big murals of the Matterhorn stylish) but more authentic and cheap Thanh Vi where the food in my opinion is more than very good.

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