Tamarind Vietnamese Grill & Noodle House

If you’re vegan (even if you’re not vegan) and seriously want to try Vietnamese food, Tamarind Vietnamese Grill & Noodle House, an eatery tucked away in westside of Downtown Calgary, serves excellent vegan Vietnamese food.

I’ve had a love affair with Vietnamese food since my early years. My parents introduced me to pho at a young age and I just loved it! Now that I’m vegan, it’s very hard to find vegetarian Vietnamese pho. When I used to work at Husky Energy Inc. in 2015, I found out that this place recently became vegan! So whenever I didn’t bring lunch, I would just head down to Tamarind to have my lunch since it was so close to my office. Plus, it was delicious food!

The vegan owner of this place is a really nice and friendly woman. We started talking one day and she said she became vegan several years before. She also expressed her desire to fully convert the restaurant vegan. A few years later, her dream came true! Her son is now the main server for the customers, whom I became acquainted with (since I kept coming here every week last year).

Tamarind is a small restaurant tucked in the quiet westside of Downtown. Outside, it doesn’t look like a restaurant at all since it’s just one of the tenants in the building. Inside, it’s simply decorated, and even somewhat messy (especially in the back where they keep all their stock). But this does not sway me from coming back!

Tamarind's interior and simple design. — Tamarind’s interior and simple design.

The food is what keeps me coming back! Honestly, any and all things in their menu is delicious! Today I had the vegan laksa, and my cousins had the rice with mock meat and the vermicelli with vegetarian springs rolls & mock meat. And they were all so good!

In the past, I also had the banh xeo (Vietnamese crepe), spring rolls, la lot rolls, tofu pho, eggplant stir fry, sate tofu pho and the house pho. And these were also so very good!

Vegan spring rolls, mock meat and veggies on vermicelli.

If you’ve never tried Vietnamese food before, Tamarind Vietnamese Grill & Noodle House is a great stepping stone to this very tasty and diverse cuisine!

Recommended? Yes, yes, yes!

COST: Cheap. The prices at Tamarind are pretty cheap and will not break your bank (in my standards). Despite pumping out delicious (and nutritious) Vietnamese food, the restaurant maintains the normal prices for Vietnamese food. For a pho, expect to pay ~$10. For an appetizer like spring rolls, expect to pay ~$5/3 pieces.

TASTE: Excellent. Maybe it’s because it’s the only vegan Vietnamese eatery here in Calgary, but I fricking love their food here! Everything tastes excellent, even if you’re not a vegan. Because I love this place so much, I even brought my friends here for my birthday!

ACCESSIBILITY: Easy. Tamarind is only up the street from Downtown West Kerby station, so it is very accessible by transit. Parking could be scarce by the sidewalks, and you might have to pay for parking (Sundays are free).

ATMOSPHERE: Okay. This restaurant is literally a hole in the wall. The exterior and interior is pretty bland, but honestly, the food will just overlook the atmosphere. This wouldn’t be a place to have a romantic dinner (unless you’re both vegan and craving Vietnamese food), but if you want to expose your friends to Vietnamese food, this is the place.

SERVICE: 8/10. There is only usually one person (the owner’s son) serving customers, so it’s not the best service. Food comes quickly, however, so you don’t have to wait too long to get your food.