Food & Drink
Read More ›
Eat the World in Seattle Southside
World Cup visitors don’t have to go far from the airport to find one of the region’s most global dining corridors.
By Sarah Stackhouse June 24, 2026
With World Cup 26 underway, Seattle is full of visitors looking for the obvious things: the stadium, a jersey or scarf, a good pint (or three), and a great place to eat. But some of the region’s most interesting food is waiting a few miles south of the downtown crowds, in Seattle Southside, near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where people from all over the world live, work, travel through, and gather. So, it makes sense there’s also good food.
The World Table District makes it easy to find, with 30 independent restaurants, cafes, bakeries, and markets in the mix. You can build the day around Peruvian chicken, Mexican pastries, Korean BBQ, Ethiopian coffee, Salvadoran pupusas, Indian-inspired pizza, Japanese teriyaki and yakisoba noodles, Thai food, or a cozy neighborhood diner regulars have been coming to for generations.
Created by Explore Seattle Southside in partnership with the City of SeaTac, the district is designed to spotlight locally owned businesses that people might otherwise miss. Colorful little passports are available at participating locations to mark off with stickers. It’s useful for out-of-towners, but really, it may be even better for locals who think they already know the area.
At Pancake Chef, a SeaTac diner established in 1959 and recently reopened under new ownership, the pull is the nostalgia of tucking into an old-school diner. Barbara Harkness has worked there since June of 1980, when she was 16 and her first job was “coffee girl.” She met her husband there. Her baby shower was there. She has watched customers grow up, have children, and come back with grandchildren.
“I just enjoy people and the customers, and becoming friends with everyone,” Harkness says.
The new owner, Sarbjit Singh, bought the restaurant after its longtime owner retired and reopened it in December. He has worked in restaurants from Boston to New York to West Seattle, and talks about diners as places that can hold a little bit of everything.
Boulevard Market and Pizza Station take that idea in another direction. The market is stocked with South Asian groceries, sweets and snacks (gulab jamun and milk cakes), pantry staples, and cold drinks. Next door, Pizza Station serves Indian-inspired pies built around spices such as turmeric, with a masala-style tomato base and toppings like paneer and tandoori chicken. There are vegetarian and meat pizzas, and the shop also offers a gluten-free crust. For a World Cup crowd, this is exactly the kind of food that makes sense because it’s fast, easy to share, and delicious.
There are plenty of full-meal stops too. San Fernando Peruvian Chicken has deeply seasoned roasted chicken (served with thick fries), ceviche, lomo saltado, and ají de gallina. Masae’s Teriyaki offers generous, no-fuss comfort food, including fried rice worth ordering even if you came in for teriyaki. Langano Coffee & Sandwich brings East African flavors and, for those who have time to linger, a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony.
Natnael “Nate” Goytome, general manager of Langano Coffee & Sandwich, describes the ceremony as more than just having a drink. It’s a way to welcome people, slow down, and spend meaningful time together.
“It’s more like relaxing,” he says.
That may be one of the coolest features of the World Table District. It sits near one of the busiest places in the region, but so many of its restaurants are built around the opposite feeling. Come in, sit down, and try something, whether it’s new to you or familiar from home.
At Las Delicias Bakery, that invitation comes through the smell of fresh Mexican sweet bread. Daniel Nieto runs the bakery with his parents, Oscar and Maria. He is a third-generation baker, and his father has been baking for decades. Nieto used to work in construction before joining the family business, and now he’s trying to keep the old recipes going while adding a few new ideas, including coffee and, eventually, fruit-based cold drinks for the warmer weather.
“My dad, he’s like, ‘No, we gotta do the old school,’” Nieto says. “So we do a little bit of both.”
The cases are filled with Mexican sweet bread, tres leches, mocha cake, flan, cookies, muffins, and butter cookies Nieto says nobody else nearby makes quite the same way. It’s definitely one of those places where you go in for one treat and leave with a box full of the prettiest pastries.
That’s the fun of eating in Seattle Southside. It’s not just one kind of food. These places have been feeding regulars, families, workers, travelers, and neighbors for years. During a very global month for the city, Seattle Southside’s food scene offers a fitting reminder that sometimes the most interesting part of a city is not where visitors expect to find it.
For the full World Table District guide, which is searchable by cuisine, keyword, and map, visit seattlesouthside.com/world-table/dining
Follow Us
Counter Culture: Three Great Burgers Hiding in Plain Sight
A Ballard sandwich shop, a private club in South Lake Union, and a Mountlake Terrace Greek restaurant serve up burgers worth seeking out.
Sometimes you want a burger. You just don’t want a burger joint. Maybe the person across the table has something else in mind, maybe you’re looking for a new neighborhood spot, or maybe you’ve learned that a burger can be particularly good when it has to earn its place on a menu devoted to other…
Restaurant Roundup: Wine O’Clock and Brief Beef
Here’s what was served up recently in the Emerald City.
With the closing of Mi La Cay Restaurant on Oct. 29, it’ll be hard to ignore the sizable hole left in Little Saigon—just look how long the lines were in its final days. For 34 years, the noodle shop was a community gathering place not only for the Vietnamese community, but for diners across Seattle….
Restaurant Roundup: Oysters Benedict and a Bar Tartare Tease
Here’s what was served up recently in the Emerald City.
Even if you’ve lived in Seattle your whole life, chances are there are still unexplored culinary secrets tucked away in the recesses of Pike Place Market. An obvious hit with tourists, walking tours—like the ones offered by Savor Food Tours for nearly 20 years—are a great way for locals to get reacquainted with their city,…
Opening Night: Wallingford’s Janta Is Exactly What a Cafe Should Be
The Indian coffee and chai shop from the Spice Waala team hits all the right notes.
Spice Waala’s owners have just opened a little cafe in Wallingford, and to understand why I’m so excited about it, you first need to know what’s so great about Spice Waala, which is that it’s one of the last restaurants in Seattle that feels like a deal. You can get a chicken or lamb roll…