Cuisines of Asia

Indulge all your senses at Lan Su Chinese Garden with Cuisines of Asia, a celebration of Asia’s vast culinary experience. Feel the stones underfoot, see and smell the beauty of flowering blossoms, hear the rush of a waterfall and savor the flavors of a variety of local Asian restaurants as they provide tastes of traditional dishes.

Prepare your taste buds for a tour of Asian culinary delights with tastings all month long. Topics include the history and art of dumplings, dim sum, bao, and more. 

Taste of Asia SOLD OUT!

As part of Cuisines of Asia, enjoy an after-hours ticketed event in the garden sampling food from China, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Japan. The Wisdom Arts Academy Orchid & Bamboo Ensemble will perform traditional Chinese music and the Lee's Association Dragon & Lion Dance Team will perform a dragon performance. Learn more »

Cuisines of Asia Tastings

Every Tuesday & Thursday at 2:30 p.m. and are included free with membership or admission; no registration is required. 

Participating restaurants and food carts will offer 10% discount or $1.00 off to Lan Su members during the month of June. (Some restrictions apply; see individual locations for details.) Members must show Lan Su membership card in order to get the discount. 

Tuesday, June 5 — Dim Sum: Touch of the Heart

• HK Café (Hong Kong, China)

Thursday, June 7 — La Pi and Pork Stew with Chinese Sauerkraut 

• Chin’s Kitchen (North-Eastern China)

Tuesday, June 12 — Malaysian Beef Rendang

• Straits Kitchen (Malaysia)

Thursday, June 14

• Kopi Coffee (Indonesia)

Tuesday, June 19 — Momo

• Sherpa Nirvana (Nepal)

Thursday, June 21 — Kratong Thong, Massaman Beef Curry and Mango with Sweet Sticky Rice

• Thai Bloom (Thailand)

Tuesday, June 26 — Baozi: Chinese Steamed Buns

• Bao Bao (China)

Thursday, June 28 —  Korean Fried Chicken (Yangnyeom-Chikin) "Seasoned Chicken"

• FOMO (Korea)

About the Presenters

HK Café

June 5

Dim sum is linked with the older tradition from yum cha (tea tasting), which has its roots in travelers on the ancient Silk Road needing a place to rest. Thus teahouses were established along the roadside. Rural farmers, exhausted after working hard in the fields, would go to teahouses for a relaxing afternoon of tea. At first, it was considered inappropriate to combine tea with food, because people believed it would lead to excessive weight gain. People later discovered that tea can aid in digestion, so teahouse owners began adding various snacks. The unique culinary art of dim sum originated with the Cantonese in southern China, who over the centuries transformed yum cha from a relaxing respite to a loud and happy dining experience. Many restaurants start serving dim sum as early as five in the morning. It is a tradition for the elderly to gather to eat dim sum after morning exercises. While dim sum (literally meaning: touch the heart) was originally not a main meal, only a snack, and therefore only meant to touch the heart, it is now a staple of Cantonese dining culture.

Chin's Kitchen

June 7

Join Chin’s Kitchen for these delectable specialties from Northeastern China - La Pi is a classic Northeastern noodle salad with handmade clear wide noodles with fresh spinach, carrot, purple cabbage. Pork Stew with Chinese Sauerkraut is a festival favorite, consist of sliced pork, Chinese sauerkraut and potato noodles.

Chin’s Kitchen was first established on May 20, 1949 and has been serving the local area for 68 years. It is one of the oldest continually operating restaurants in the Hollywood District. Its hallmark neon lights still shine and are kept in working order under the careful maintenance of its owners. It continues to attract many local and out of town visitors who not only enjoy a wonderful meal, but then take pictures of this historic piece of Portland. The original owners retired in the 1980’s and has had multiple owners since, but the name of the restaurant remains unchanged to honor Chin’s Kitchen’s historic place within the Hollywood District. In April of 2017, the Li sisters became the latest owners of Chin’s Kitchen. The sisters are passionate about authentic Chinese cuisine and their goal is to bring the traditional home-style northeastern Chinese cuisine to our community. This will be the very first such restaurant in the city of Portland. They are committed to revitalizing the nearly 70-year-old Chin’s Kitchen and giving it new life. One of the owners, Wendy Li, is from Harbin, Heilongjiang, China. She is a freelance writer. She has been journalist, editor, and business woman in her early career. Wendy is fond of her hometown's cooking, and sets to carry this traditional handmade cuisine throughout her life. Although she lives in the states for many years, she remembers the childhood memory of how her mother cooks to this day. For Wendy, the authentic northeastern Chinese food carries the memories of her childhood, is a deep nostalgia and thought. Wendy hopes to bring her hometown's dishes and her mother's cooking to Portland's Chin's Kitchen.

Straits Kitchen

June 12

Rendang seems to have originated in Indonesia, but it has been a beloved Malaysian specialty for a very long time. You can find various versions throughout the country, but at its heart, Rendang is slow cooked beef or chicken, braised in a fragrant spice paste, and finished off with kerisek (toasted coconut) and kaffir lime leaf. It is often served with the unofficial Malaysian national dish, Nasi Lemak. We serve it at our cart over turmeric rice cakes - rice cooked with turmeric, ginger, pandan leaf and coconut milk. It was often reserved for special occasions, but these days it is readily available in Malaysia.

Angie Ong grew up in Malaysia, where food is amazing and everywhere. Her grandmother and mother turned every meal into something special. Her best childhood memories all revolve around food and family. In 2004, she went to culinary school to make food into a career and have worked in various restaurants and hotels since then, learning new flavors, textures and techniques along the way. The food she cooks today is very special to her as it is a combination of her family’s cultural heritage and recipes.

Sherpa Nirvana

June 29

Momo is one of the most popular food from Nepal. They are wrapped in homemade dough and spiced with Himalayan herbs and spices.

Ang grew up near by the mountains in Nepal. She learned the art of momos at the age of eight in her grandma's little Saturday Market restaurant. She grew up making various yummy traditional Nepali food and Chai. She also has an amazing ways to spice up non-traditional food and bring unique flavor. One of her great inventions is her vegan momo filled with lentil , vegetables and spiced with traditional herbs, spices. Her dreams of sharing the unique food arts of Nepal came true when she opened her little Sherpa Nirvana food cart in 2016.

Thai Bloom

June 21

The tastes of modern-day Thailand boast an ancient history. As early as the thirteenth century, the Thai people had established what might be considered the heart of Siamese cuisine as we know it today: various types of meat and seafood combined with local vegetables, herbs and spices such as garlic and pepper, and served with rice. Thai Bloom invites you to join them as they share these delicious specialties - Kratong Thong: Crispy golden pastry cups filled with minced chicken, prawns, cilantro, onion, corn, peas, carrot and curry powder. Massaman Beef Curry: slow braised beef brisket in a coconut milk based massaman curry with potatoes, carrots, onions, and peanuts; topped with crispy shallot and Mango with Sweet Sticky rice: a traditional Thai dessert of ripe mango served with our sweet Thai sticky rice; topped with coconut syrup, and crispy mung beans. Thai Bloom brings gourmet Thai dining to NW Portland and the heart of downtown Beaverton. Our chefs are authentic Thai cuisine professionals, having honed their craft through years of apprenticeship in their native country. Each delicious dish we prepare offers a unique dining experience of savory aromas, perfectly blended flavors, and appealing, fine-dining presentation. Our expert chefs are constantly creating innovative new entrees and specials. So, our menu regularly features exciting new dishes and flavors that foodies and Thai food fans alike will love. Our staff operates like one big family, and that means we serve yours with pride and a dedication to excellence in everything we do. Quality, consistency, and integrity are cornerstones of our operation, and we source the best, freshest ingredients by having forged strong relationships with the area’s top suppliers. Our company leadership is committed to strong values and ethical operations, and we treat vendors and employees fairly and respectfully.

Bao Bao

June 26

Bao or steamed buns are a food commonly found in small shops and restaurants throughout much of China and other parts Asia. Bao are prepared using a soft, bread-like dough that is wrapped around a filling, such as pork and cooked in a bamboo steamer and then served hot. They can be eaten any time of day as a snack or a meal and you can easily find bao by looking for a shop with the big bamboo steamers in front with steam coming out of them and a line of hungry people.

Bao Bao is a local, Portland food cart started in 2017 by Sabrina Zhang and Randy Richardson. It begins with a love story: Randy and Sabrina met in her hometown, Luoyang, China while Randy was teaching English. After moving back to Portland, Randy's home city, they struggled to find meaningful work. They had told Sabrina's mom about all the different food you could get at the food carts in Portland but Sabrina lamented the lack of authentic Chinese food. That's when her mom suggested that they go back to China to study bao and then open up their own shop. Long story short, they went back to Luoyang to study and after much practice and research they returned to finally open their own little bao shop on SW 10th & Alder in downtown Portland, serving authentic Chinese bao!

FOMO

June 28

In South Korea, fried chicken is consumed as a meal, an appetizer, or anju (food that is served and eaten with drinks). Korean fried chicken is double fried, which results in a crunchy, less greasy skin compared to its American counterpart. FOMO utilizes organic and locally sourced chicken. The chicken is brined in buttermilk and then dredged in potato starch and spices before being fried. After frying, the chicken is tossed and brushed with sauce to evenly coat the chicken with a thin layer. FOMO uses 2 types of sauces: a spicy gochujang (Korean fermented pepper paste) based sauce or a sweet soy garlic based sauce. The chicken is then sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds and served with pickled daikon radish.

FOMO Chicken is a fried chicken food cart devoted to Korean and American Southern flavors. It started as a pop-up in 2016, and was part of CartLab, an indoor food cart concept. FOMO opened as an official food cart in May 2017 at Pod 28 (113 SE 28th Avenue in Portland, OR). FOMO Chicken reflects the bicultural background of its owner, Sun Kim. Sun was born in South Korea, and he grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. He has lived in Portland, Oregon since 2008. His experience cooking for popular restaurants around Portland and his Korean and Southern background, influences the dishes served at FOMO. Korean fried chicken is Sun's all-time favorite childhood food. It's one of the first and last things he eats when he visits Korea. Currently, there are over 20,000 fried chicken restaurants in South Korea. It's insanely popular, and the combination of fried chicken and beer in South Korea is widely sought after. Eateries that serve both are called, chimaek ("Chi" for chicken, and "maek" for maekju, which is Korean for beer). FOMO Chicken strives to bring the chimaek experience to Portland.