By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

Little Saigon, a section of Seattle’s International District, is the home of ChuMinh Tofu, a vegan Vietnamese restaurant we visited on a recent trip to Seattle. A highlight, if you want to try a variety of foods, is the buffet. You can either choose “all you can eat” or pay by the pound. On the day that we were there, the buffet included around 20 different dishes including vegan egg rolls, lemongrass chicken, pickled mustard greens and tofu, bitter melon soup, and barbecue pork. You could also choose from 10 different Banh Mi (a baguette filled with savory ingredients), and several salads and rolls.

One of us went for the buffet and was delighted with all of the choices. Another had the Sesame Beef Banh Mi which was a medley of flavors and textures – creamy mayonnaise, chewy beef in a sesame-flavored sauce, pickled carrots and daikon radish, and cilantro. I had a Summer Roll which was described as “salad in a roll” and was filled with such interesting ingredients – taro, Thai basil, jicama, tofu, and rice noodles.

We were also impressed with a sign and a statement on the website that every Sunday ChuMinh Tofu serves a free meal outside their restaurant to anyone who needs it.

You can find ChuMinh Tofu at 1043 S. Jackson St., Seattle, WA.

Visit their website at https://www.chuminhtofu.com/

To find a list of veggie restaurants in the USA and Canada visit: https://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php