Thanh Tinh Chay Restaurant — Restaurant in San Diego

Vegan Vietnamese at its finest

Update: 2 years and they are still amazing.

takeaways: vibrant flavors. technique full of love and care. high quality ingredients. good for you and the planet. be open to look deeper than first impressions.

what we ordered (approximately, not the exact names of dishes): appetizers | rice cake combo + mushroom salad entrees | roasted "duck" soup + roasted "fish" wraps

recommendation to improve: tyranny of choice (100+ items on the menu)

details: When the only criticism is that there's too many options on the menu, you know it's good.

Helen and Tranh are cousin co-owners who opened up the shop in 2021 with the goal of creating healthy, plant-based foods that taste good so the community can feel good from food, not just enjoy the sensations in the moment. Helen (the co-owner/creator and a daytime nurse) is brilliant in that she doesn't try to just replicate traditional meat-based foods with plant based ingredients. Instead, she starts from ingredients and technique and relates them to flavors from her culture (Vietnamese) and other Asian flavors that inspire her (e.g. Korean and Chinese). Some of the results turn out very similar to traditional meat-based dishes (like the duck soup and roasted fish wraps), but they add a unique twist that doesn't make you want to compare it to the original. Everything (from the rice cakes to the "proteins) is made from by hand, from scratch. You can taste the love. They make their own proteins, NOT impossible burger type junk.

We ordered 4 dishes for 2 people (which was honestly too much food but we mowed through anyways. That's how good it was). The 4 dishes ordered from personal fave to least fave (though the difference is very small)

Rice Cake Combo = party in your mouth and fun to try all the different rice cake styles; reminds me of the kind my Korean grandma makes on special occasions like New Years (which is a wow);

Mushroom Salad = another party in your mouth. It's all shredded mushrooms, veggies, fruits, and nuts served with (homemade?) "shrimp" puff crackers as scoopers.

Duck Soup = clean and simple broth that's delicious and heart warming. roasted duck is smoky and has great texture. Lots of healthy ingredients traditionally used in East Asian medicine (jujube, dates, goji berries, etc.) that add slightly sweet flavors that make the soup more dynamic. Veggies and mushrooms are all extremely fresh and perfectly cooked so they're not mushy (harder to do than people realize).

Roasted fish wrap = excellent execution of a traditional Vietnamese dish. The roasted fish has a perfect air fried crisp with lots of crispy garlic on top. the style is like making your own spring rolls (hard rice wrapper + warm water = soft rice wrap for your own spring rolls). they are generous with veggies and herbs and bring you more if you ask.

The little things: homemade fish sauce: Served with almost every dish is a homemade fish sauce that has zero added sugar or MSG and very light on the salt. Unlike most fish sauce, you feel great after eating it vs like you need to chug 50 glasses of water.

infused water: sweet and refreshing without any extra sugar was a lovely way to cleanse the palette between dishes and after

jasmine tea: lightly steeped and nice bitter contrast to some dishes

dessert: a complimentary little choco-flavored ball with nuts (yum!). the texture is somewhere in between cookie dough and a bliss ball. the flavor is subtle so i can imagine some may not like it if they're expected super sweet dessert finishers. personally loved it and would take a box of that in my pocket.

recommendations to improve details: tyranny of choice - with 100+ items on the menu it is hard to narrow in on what makes this place unique and which dishes would be best for you. luckily the co-owner Tranh gave awesome recommendations when asked. As they grow, they will need to train everyone to be able to personalize recommendations or maybe even curate smaller menus that rotate on a weekly basis so people are excited to try...

I feel lucky to have tried many of the dishes on their very large menu considering that I don't live in San Diego. I really prioritize going there for more than one meal every time I am in San diego and try as many things as possible there since the first time I went in 2022. This is the most interesting, creative, made from scratch, authentic and delicious experience for vegetarian and vegan vietnamese food. The dishes are very complex and every single element is made from scratch in- house-- Every veg meat analog, "egg" noodles, tofu etc is made there from scratch in- house and everything is done so perfectly and deliciously. Most of the dishes are made gluten free as well. You can see some photos on the wall of how some of these are made. The prices are high for the serving sizes if compared to regular vietnamese food but the quality and the amount of work and thought put into their food explains the higher prices. In addition, they seem to always treat their customers with a dish or a dessert on the house. I like their flan and jelly cookies but otherwise prefer the dishes to the Vietnamese desserts in the cold case. I have tried so many of their perfectly executed, interesting and complex dishes and they are all wonderful. I have tried and enjoyed these dishes: -Lotus salad (Love!) -Grilled beef in lolot leaf (So good!) -Fermented tofu soup: Vermicelli, bitter melon, eggplant, tofu loaf, "fish" cake, fresh mushroom, and fresh mix cabbage -Eggless Noodle Soup with BBQ "Pork" (Mì Khô Heo Quay) Egg noodle, house sauce, tofu loaf, fish cake, tofu, cilantro, celery, and comes with veggie soup on the side. Gluten free. -Thanh Toan House Special: Steamed rice comes with lemon grass tofu, shredded "pork" skin, eggless meatloaf, BBQ "Pork", crispy "pork" slices, fresh lettuce, tomato, and cucumber -Bahn mi sandwich (They make GF bread I believe) -Rice paper mix with shrimp app -salmon/ sea bass roll -Papaya salad with beef jerky and shrimp cracker -mushroom- lotus salad -Viet omelet with shrimp app -Spicy beef noodle soup: Thicker vermicelli, beef slices, tofu, fresh mushroom, pineapple, lemongrass, beancurd, fish cake?, and mixed cabbage. Everything is done in a thoughtful way-- even the complimentary water has a delicious mix of herbs in it. Not many places where I can't wait to have so much of the complimentary water! I don't remember everything I tried and not sure I can lable my photos correctly but this place is a must visit. If you are vegetarian, vegan, and/ or gluten free I would say even more-- do not miss this experience! This place really offers a rare opportunity to try so many authentic vietnamese dishes you might not have the chance to try elsewhere. Although the atmosphere is not particularly fancy, They make it feel really special with their service and delicious food and how thoughtful everything is. A 10+ stars from me! (and I am careful even...

Was visiting San Diego and- by chance and a few Reddit threads- came across this unique gem. Possibly the most whimsical, healthy, and impossibly vegan restaurants one might have the good fortune to stumble across in the US.

Thanh Tinh Chay is the brainchild of Helen Nong- a Saigon-to-LA transplant whose primary calling in life was nursing (She owns a rehab facility in Orange County). This restaurant is her passion work, and a tribute to her mother and grandmother from whom she learned the art of vegan cooking.

Helen experiments with her flavors in a commercial test kitchen located in LA, shuttling between there and San Diego to oversee operations. In the age of outsourcing, she could probably just let the restaurant run as-is, but in Helen’s words: “I’m very picky.”

The diners reap the rewards of her “picky” nature. From the gluten-free homemade banh mi baguette, to the springy homemade chestnut flour noodles, to the most delicious tofu I’ve ever had in my life- Helen leaves no stone unturned. If it can be made from scratch- she makes it.

And that’s saying a lot when you have 245+ items on your menu. Choosing a dish is a study in itself, but no matter what dish we went with- the taste always delivered.

And that’s really just that mystery of it all- Helen’s got her tastes down. Exceptionally well, and across all the dishes that we tried- each with its own unique flavor and character. Hard to believe she uses no MSG, sugar, gluten, animal products, and also keeps it healthy.

The fact that she makes all of her different soy products from scratch (the different tofus, the chicken, the duck, the fish, the soy wrappers) is already impressive. But their individual flavors and textures really put them above anything I’ve had.

Meeting Helen and her staff was a real treat. They are a warm, tightly-knit group who seem to really care about the health and happiness of each and their customers. The unlimited refills of the delicious fruit water was a nice bonus.

What makes this place even more special is how unassuming it is. It’s a small restaurant amidst a block of markets and dusty auto repair shops. The most elevated vegan cuisine that could easily keep company with the coolest kids in Brooklyn or LA…. Happy to be itself, in its own community, serving its loyal patrons.

And therein...