Eating Out Gluten Free In Portland: Butterfly Belly Asian Cuisine

A few months may have passed since I visited Portland, Oregon and enjoyed as many gluten free restaurants as possible, but my gluten free dinner at Butterfly Belly Asian Cuisine still sticks out in my mind.

Like Petunia’s Pies and Pastries, another gluten free Portland restaurant I reviewed here, Butterfly Belly Asian Cuisine is 100% gluten free. Beyond that, though, this Asian restaurant is also free of dairy, preservatives and MSG, and they offer many soy free, and vegan options.

I actually visited Butterfly Belly Cuisine for a late dinner after an epic hike with friends. (So I apologize for the quality of some of the photos - the light was not my friend! However, I have included photos of the menu below.) I was the only gluten free one in the group, but everyone was down for Asian food and we were all pleasantly surprised by Butterfly Belly's huge menu. Options ranged from traditional classics like pad Thai to more unique dishes, like Pineapple seafood fried rice.

My friends and I had ended up walking around 20,000 steps that day so we were beyond hungry and thirsty when our Uber dropped us off at Butterfly Belly. So when we saw that they offered a pho side for only $3, we all ordered right away.

Now, I have a confession to make: I’m not a big pho fan. Before this dinner, I’d only tried pho once before and the experience was mediocre at best. Not at Butterfly Belly Asian Cuisine! I ordered the garden pho and was blown away by how flavorful the broth tasted, especially with a handful of fresh herbs on top. My friends were equally impressed by their beef pho.

Then came the main event: our entrees. I struggled to know what dish to order (especially since I’m not used to being able to pick anything off the whole menu!), but ended up going with the Vermicelli BBQ Salad Bowl with chicken based on the recommendation of the owner, who was actually our server.

When our food arrived, I think everyone laughed at how HUGE my dish was! Mine featured rice noodles with chicken, lemongrass fish sauce, vermicelli noodles and a variety of veggies topped with green onion, fried shallots and crushed peanuts. I loved the contrast of the crunchy veggies with the tender chicken and noodles, and I barely put a dent in the huge dish by the time I packed up my leftovers. The noodles were just as delicious eaten cold the next day and I was ready to lick my lunch box to get all the sauce.

My friend, Hannah, ordered the Teriyaki chicken and was kind enough to let me have a few bites, and her dish was a real winner too. The Teriyaki sauce tasted phenomenal, and I loved how fluffy the sticky rice was. Those few bites were definitely the closest I got to Asian take-out food in years, and in a perfect world, I've had ordered that dish too!

I do want to mention that the service that night at Butterfly Belly Asian Cuisine was pretty slow. The owner was in charge of serving us, and while he was extremely passionate about his restaurant, our service wasn't necessarily the most efficient. However, the food was great, the price was reasonable and I'm always extremely grateful to restaurant owners who go the extra mile to safely serve diners with celiac disease.

So if you do end up in Portland and need a tasty place to eat, I'd definitely recommend Butterfly Belly Asian Cuisine!

(Feel free to skip if desired, but here are pictures of the menu!)