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| - For the last couple of years, I've had to avoid Vietnamese and Chinese restaurants, because I was diagnosed with gluten intolerance. Fun, when a lot of the vegan-friendly restaurants in town rely heavily on soy sauce and vital wheat gluten (seitan) as an ingredient.
Tamarind was originally a regular Vietnamese restaurant, and then somewhere around the same time Hearts Choices was opening; they converted their entire menu to the tree hugger side. Since they did serve meat at one time, they feel the need to apologize for this "inconvenience," when they greet you at the door. Don't worry. You'll get over this hiccup when you taste the food. The restaurant is tiny, about a block away from the old Anju and alongside the Kerby LRT station.
As someone who is used to having to tailor side dishes in order to accommodate dietary restrictions, being able to order more than one thing on the menu made me so happy that I may have had eyes bigger than my stomach. I ordered the Bi Cuon (Fresh Paradise) rolls, Cha Dum (Tofu "Mini" Pie --- don't be fooled, it's huge), and the Phô Tau Hu. They apologized for being out of Jackfruit salad, so my friend sensibly ordered one Sizzling Sticky Rice.
Some things on the menu are incorrectly labeled as GF, which I noticed immediately because a dish with mock ham claimed to be GF. This is impossible, when almost all mock meat is made with vital wheat gluten. The server himself pointed this out, with many apologies and made sure that I was well taken care of.
The Phô was very flavorful, albeit a bit on the salty side, and packed full of fresh veggies. I love being able to get Phô in Calgary without having to make it myself, or fear that I'm secretly getting a bowl full of beef broth. The saltiness was remedied with the lime wedge provided, along with the bean sprouts, basil leaves and sriracha spiral. One thing I really missed, was having peanut sauce to dunk my salad rolls in.
I can't wait to come back! If they get their menu properly sorted out, they're easily a five star place. Probably not the place you'd take a large crowd, it's pretty tiny, but definitely a great space to catch up with a friend or have a lunch date.
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