Matt B.
Yelp
Absolutely top-notch vegan Thai food.
We were a bit confused upon entering the place. From the outside, the place is called Sweet Basil Thai Cuisine, so we wondered whether we were in the right place. When you look at the menu, the place seems to be an amalgamation of four places -- of which, Basil Vegan Kitchen is a part -- with a shared menu. Interesting. Most things on the menu can be made vegan, and there's a huge selection. You select your choice of protein to come with each dish (vegan options: tofu, tempeh and soycurls), and the spice level.
To start, we got the Tom Yum soup with tofu (small size; $7.50). This was as sublime as tom yum coups can be. Wonderful mixture of lime leaf, galangal, and, of course, lemongrass, with adequate sweetness to balance. You get tofu, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, and onions (white and green). Awesome. 5/5
Next, we got the House Special Peanut Curry ($16.25) with soycurls, a wonderful peanut-based red curry. It came with tons of veggies, soft and perfectly cooked soycurls, and a delectable sauce -- maybe a tad sweet, but still great. Lovely stuff. 4.5/5
The Pad See Ew ($14.75) with tofu was beautifully done, coming with with perfectly cooked flat wide rice noodles, broccoli, carrots, bean sprouts, and tofu. 5/5
I forget the name of the last dish we got, but it was a Pumpkin Basil Stirfry of some sort, which we got with tofu. This was perhaps the highlight, coming with so much delicious crispy basil. The pumpkin was thinly sliced and not very sweet (which I appreciated). This came with a ton of fresh veggies. Adored this dish. 5/5
We got 2 main dishes 4/5 on the spiciness scale, which was adequate -- I could've done with spicier.
Overall, a little pricy, but the quality is top-notch, so it's worth every penny. Great, fast service. Couldn't recommend this place more. We'll definitely be back next time we're in Portland.