Langbaan, one of the first restaurants to serve a Thai tasting menu in America, was named the country’s most outstanding restaurant at the James Beard Foundation Awards ceremony Monday in Chicago. According to the foundation, the Outstanding Restaurant award goes to an establishment that “demonstrates consistent excellence in food, atmosphere, hospitality and operations, while contributing positively to its broader community.” “This 24-seat restaurant, which channels sort of a Bangkok night market vibe, has been instrumental to introducing Portland to authentic addictive flavors of Thai cooking,” awards show commentators said.
“Whether it’s the bright salads, mouth-numbing larb, complex curries ...
Langbaan is the most fun you can have in Portland on a night out.” In unrehearsed remarks, Langbaan owner Akkapong Ninsom, who most people know as Earl, said he was honored just to have been nominated for a restaurant he started a decade ago in efforts to prove that “Thai food had much, much more than what Americans had seen.” The restaurant, which moved from its original Southeast Portland home to Northwest in 2021 , changes its menu every two months to focus on a different region in Thailand.
“I’m truly hoping that this award doesn’t change who we are,” Ninsom told the crowd at the Lyric Opera building in Chicago, “to not stop innovating, not settle on just being mediocre, and continue to take care of our guests, and our communities.” Ninsom, who c.
