Dining Category: Vietnamese
Price: $-$$
Address: 1036 Jackson Street South Suite A (International District)
Phone Number: 206-860-1404
Website: www.tamarindtreerestaurant.com
Overview:
Tucked away in the furthest corner of a small Asian plaza at the east edge of the International District, this place can be quite hard to find unless you know exactly where to go. Once you locate it, don’t be put off by the slightly seedy area where it’s situated - the inside and outside are two different worlds.
Food:
Quail grilled in tamarind
G: I have to admit I was a little nervous when Brad decided we should start with the quail as an appetizer, but I was pleasantly surprised at how tasty it was. The small game birds tend to be on the oily side, but these quails were nicely done - quite crisp on the outside and juicy, without being oily, on the inside.
B: You know, you can only get about three good bites out of these little suckers, but they had a great grilled flavor and the sauce was a perfect complement. Also, I thought it was an extremely good value for such an exotic appetizer.
Chili pepper lemongrass tofu
G: I really enjoyed the chili pepper tofu. It had a nice flavor to it, and not as spicy and one would think seeing the description. The sweeter sauce was a good accompaniment.
B: For those of you who think that tofu dishes aren’t able to satisfy like a good piece of meat, I would say this is the perfect dish to prove you wrong. This stuff will stick to your ribs.
Kohlrabi garlic prawns
G: I had never heard of kohlrabi before so I was, again, nervous about how the dish would turn out. The vegetable had a texture of undercooked potatoes and it nicely took on the flavor of the sauce it was served in. My only complaints are that there were not enough prawns in the dish and I would have picked a different herb than the dill it was served with. I think having more garlic and less dill would have served the vegetable a bit better, but it was still quite enjoyable.
B: I’m not the biggest dill fan either, but I will say that this dish was very well-prepared. This was my first time having kohlrabi also, and I appreciated the mild almost neutral taste and pleasant crunch. I thought there were plenty of prawns, though. (Gah, did we actually disagree there?!?)
Cognac red banana cake
G: I thought the dessert was delicious. The warm coconut milk/cognac that came with the dish was poured on top before eating and definitely added to the great mix of flavors.
B: Yeah, I agree... this dessert was pretty fantastic if you ask me. Reminiscent of a bread pudding, it was served quite warm and had rich flavors suffused throughout. One thing that really blew my mind was that the red banana looked exactly like shredded pork, so every time I took a bite I kept expecting one thing, but my tongue was telling me something else. I was a little doubtful that it would be as good as it was, but I would absolutely order it again.
Service:
B: Although there seemed to be several people taking plates away, it looked like there was only one person bringing food out and taking care of diners. He was obviously pretty busy and did well for the most part, but wasn’t as attentive as I would have liked and brought the bill before we had a chance to ask about dessert. There should definitely be at least one or two more servers in the main dining area to give our overworked guy a little bit of a break.
Closing Comments:
G: When all is said and done, I really enjoyed Tamarind Tree. I was nervous walking in and not sure what we were going to see, but inside decor was nice, the food was great, and I would definitely bring out of town guests there to see the exotic flavors Seattle has to offer.
B: I totally agree. Places like this are why I love Seattle so much; the menu had a shockingly broad array of standard and unusual choices, and the food was reasonably priced. The restaurant itself had great atmosphere (be sure to check out the cool sinks in the bathroom) and this is a perfect place to bring out of town guests. We will definitely be back.
Rating:
4 out of 5 - We would recommend it to a friend.
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