Langbaan
Thai restaurant · Northwest District
1818 NW 23rd Pl, Portland, OR 97210
Highlights
Inventive Thai tasting menus with Hokkaido scallops & wine pairings
Inventive Thai tasting menus with Hokkaido scallops & wine pairings
"Langbaan in Portland, Oregon is always the right call for a big night-out dinner when you want to spend a small fortune on modern Thai dishes built to impress. It's from the restaurant group that includes Eem and Yaowarat, and takes over Phuket Cafe Wednesday-Sunday (Phuket Cafe is still open then). The ever-changing $135, five-course tasting menu will start with a parade of sweet, spicy, and funky one-bite wonders, like their signature Hokkaido scallop, and then move on to plates like a knockout gaeng luang—the soupy curry with roe-topped king salmon wouldn’t be out of place at a highly prestigious restaurant in Bangkok. Even with the recently added seatings, reservations still go fast." - arden shore, team infatuation
"Portland locals have long known that Langbaan is one of the best restaurants in town, even before the James Beard Foundation awarded it the title of Outstanding Restaurant in 2024. Though it’s tempting to fill up on the savory options, make sure to leave room for the rotating desserts at the end of the meal. One of the latest confections in spring 2025 is a ban binn, a palm rice mochi, pandan, rhubarb, and lime leaf. Reservations can be made with Tock." - Rebecca Roland
"One of Portland’s hottest restaurants for a decade now, don’t expect to get a seat at Langbaan without some effort; regardless, it’s worth it. Located at a chef’s counter within owner Akkapong Earl Ninsom’s Northwest Portland Thai restaurant Phuket Cafe, dishes here are complex and nuanced, without shying away from loud and profound flavors. Past menus included pickled mussel salad with satisfyingly bright acidity, the crunch of lotus stem juxtaposed with charred fresh figs. A fermented fish curry had a lingering, delicate funk and sweetness, with a pristine piece of steamed halibut at its center. Menus shift periodically, but every meal starts with miang som, a betel-leaf-wrapped bite of plump shrimp and citrus, and kanom krok, a crispy rice cup filled with coconut-cream-coated scallops. Reservations are available on Tock. Menus start at $135." - Brooke Jackson-Glidden
"Akkapong Earl Ninsom is the restaurateur behind several stars in Portland’s culinary universe, but Langbaan — his supper club within Northwest Portland’s Phuket Cafe — is the brightest. It’s no wonder Langbaan won the James Beard award for most outstanding restaurant — in the entire country — in 2024. Constantly changing tasting menus pull inspiration from regions, time periods, and styles of dining throughout Thailand’s culinary history, from a deep dive into Bangkok’s Chinatown to a survey of Southern Thai cuisine. A few dishes are constants: Jewels of cara cara orange mingle with plump shrimp and peanuts, cradled in a betel leaf with fish sauce caramel, while a crispy rice cup supports Hokkaido scallop, coated in a sweet coconut cream. Thoughtful, creative natural wine pairings come from sommelier Dana Frank. Every meal ends with a dessert from pastry chef Maya Erickson, one of the city’s finest." - Katherine Chew Hamilton
"Within his Northwest 23rd restaurant Phuket Cafe, lauded Portland restaurateur Akkapong Earl Ninsom now houses the James Beard Award–winning 24-seat tasting menu spot Langbaan, which previously hid in a back room behind a bookcase at his other restaurant, Paadee. Menus change frequently, pulling inspiration from historic menus and regions of Thailand. That being said, a few of its greatest hits remain on the menu year-round, including the miang som, dots of cara cara jewels and shrimp sitting on a betel leaf with fish sauce caramel, or the kanom krok, Hokkaido scallop swimming in a coconut cream sauce within a crispy rice cup. The full tasting menu is $135 per person."
