Vieng Lao Oriental Food Center — Local services in Portland

Two words: curry paste. Not simmer sauce, not tiny jars of overpriced grocery chain goop...real curry paste (panang, masuman, green, red, yellow, I probably spelled masuman wrong, etc). I wish they had tiny cans of coconut milk but I can understand wanting to keep inventory simple.

Of course they have other goodies that Asian food stores carry, but curry paste has to come from here. Actually, even basics like soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, etc should come from here as well. If you're still payng a premium to buy that stuff at chain grocery stores, you're throwing money away.

Oh, and if you want to charge your goodies you'll need to buy at least $5? $10? worth of stuff. Not hard to do (I wish I recalled the exact minimum. Just bring cash...

I can’t believe I haven’t left a review for this amazing grocery store. I’m Vietnamese and having Vieng Lao in NE Portland is huge. I don’t have to drive all the way out to 82nd to get my essentials. The owners are nice and always letting us know which bag of rice requires more water or less. They’re crucial to our community and will always go there to get my groceries for Thit Ko and Bun Rieu. When people were freaking out about siracha being out of stock this place had a healthy stock. You just gotta know where to look and this is definitely one of NE Portland’s...

A small store with a delicious Mexican food cart in the parking lot. Not a giant selection of things, but the basics for a lot of different asian meals, like the seasonings, sauces, special meats, fresh vegetables, snacks, desserts and limited dishware. The workers aren't outgoing, but not rude. I don't think they should lose any stars for not being extremely well stocked, I'm positive they are convenient to so many people living in a 5...