Hmong food in Seattle?

[fredstorm]

I remember hearing about a Hmong place in Seattle a while back; does that still exist? If so, where?

[tsquare]

There is a Cambodian restaurant in Seattle, Phnom Penh Noodle House.
ww.phnompenhnoodles.com

Olympic Express on MLK Way S is owned by Muslim Cham from Vietnam. It's got a odd menu of many countries, but all halal.

I don't know if either place has Hmong food. One opportunity would be to participate in a potluck at one of the p-patches with a large Hmong population. I'm no longer in that sphere, so I can't say which patch that might be, but you might ask around at the organization.

There is also typically a Hmong New Year's event in town - I think late fall. Seattle Center.

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Phnom Penh Noodle House
660 S King St, Seattle, WA 98104

Olympic Express
7101 Martin Luther King Jr Way S, Seattle, WA 98118

[equinoise]

I had guessed that Olympic Express might serve Cham cuisine, but I've never been. How is the food there? The Yelp reviews are reactionary and negative on balance, but that is par for the course with that site.

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Olympic Express
7101 Martin Luther King Jr Way S, Seattle, WA 98118

[HungWeiLo]

Hmongs, like many SE Asian peoples, are into large family group gathering cookouts. Therefore, like Filipinos, there's a relatively small market for these types of foods in restaurants, as the primary consumers of these foods would rather eat it at home or at their relatives' houses.

Although I do have a Hmong friend who is gathering up a set of family recipes and getting ready to open a fusion-y restaurant. Unfortunately, he said the business plan requires essentially a low-end Hawaiian-style teriyaki type of place with some Hmong side dishes. Can't blame him to be more fiscally careful these days as lots of specialty restauranteurs are financially in the hurt right now.

[jenn]

I don't know---might work. Some will be drawn in by the teriyaki and I'll be there to try the Hmong food! Well, I will if you remember to tell us all about the restaurant when it opens1

Seriously, is food served at religous events? Way back in Lala land, there was this Thai Buddhist temple that operated a most wonderful food court on certain weekends or in connection with festivals. It was open to all. Does anyone know of anything like that for Hmong food [or anyone elses for that matter]?

[fredstorm]

Did your friend ever open this place up?

[HungWeiLo]

Unfortunately not. He's got a lot of talent and savvy around cooking large quantities of high quality food. But he's definitely an "all ideas and no execution" kind of guy.

[equinoise]

Great question, I wish I had specific knowledge of such a place.

I can say that Cham cuisine--a different ethnic group with a substantial population in vietnam--was served at Salima before it sadly closed approximately one year ago.