Respond to Review of Van Hahn Vegetarian Restaurant
by GUEST

Review: My wife and I can't say enough great things about this AA++ vegan dining experience. The owner is a Buddhist sister and prepares everything from the love in her heart. For a start, everything is made from scratch. We usually don't like mock meats at other restaurants as they taste so processed and not exactly "healthy." By contrast, the mock meats at Van Hahn are, in our opinion, the best in the business. And we've eaten at vegan restaurants from coast to coast. Everything she makes is fresh and not overdone. We get tired of other Asian restaurants that over use sugar and salt (and sometimes MSG). Not at Van Hahn. Like the owner/chef herself, the food is in balanced harmony. The fact so many of her customers are Vietnamese is a testament to how great the food is. It's nice to see multi generational families and other sisters from her temple eating there. We always feel like we are transported into another dimension every time we visit. With all the vegan restaurants in Portland we also like, we go to Van Hahn mostly when visiting -- sometimes eating dinner there and going back the next day for lunch. Last but not least, this restaurant is NON PROFIT! All the money you spend here goes to the Buddhist temple. We can't recall any other non profit vegan restaurant where your money goes directly towards promoting health, compassion and non violence. If it weren't for intense allergy symptoms triggered in the Willamette Valley, my wife and I would move back to the area and donate some of our own time working at this place. We hope others will support this business. The owner only has one day off a week and works very hard. We hope others at the temple and community will try to help her out as they can. It's a lot of work making everything herself from scratch. If you are the only people there, you can count on quick service. If you see it's busy, expect to wait a little while as she only has two hands! FYI, the owner's English is somewhat limited (by her own admission) so please be keep this in mind. Please don't think she's being rude when she probably doesn't understand what you're saying. We find it helpful to point at the items we want. This is Vietnamese style food. The Kung Pao sauce is Vietnamese style -- spicy and delicious. If you don't like hot chilies, you should go with dishes that have the Saigon sauce. If you like chilies, you will not likely find the Kung Pao sauce too hot.