2011-11-25 Cart-Hopping @ Downtown Portland

After Pine State Biscuit, we made our way downtown for some food carts.  Unfortunately, being the day after Thanksgiving, very limited carts were open in this pod, and none of the ones operating were what we were looking forward to.

The Frying Scotsman was the only cart on Buddha Girl's list while I had Eurotrash, but both were closed.  Grrr...

NONG'S KHAO MAN GAI

971-255-3480

I heard lots about Nong's Khao Man Gai but it wasn't something on my wish list.  Since they were one of the carts that opened, this was my day to try it.

I ordered the Khao Man Gai, or Chicken and Rice.  Looking into the cart, I could see them deboning the chicken.  Khao Man Gai 雞油飯 is basically the Thai-version of Hainanese Chicken 海南雞飯.  It was introduced by Chinese immigrants from Hainan.

The accompanied Chicken Broth Soup had sour cabbage 酸菜 and ginger.  Simple and good, especially on a cold day, but nothing really special about it.

I've heard and read many good things about the rice, unfortunately, I hated it.  The rice was stale, dry, and only lukewarm, I think this may have been a result of being closed the previous day, but that's really not an excuse.  The flavor in the rice was weak.  The chicken was quite moist, but without the dip, it's just plain boring.  The dip was good, but didn't have any "wow" factors.  Overall, not a return for us.

ISLAND GRILL HAWAIIAN BARBEQUE

000-000-0000

Our next stop was a Hawaiian food cart, unfortunately, there really wasn't much on the menu to try.

After waiting ten minutes, the owner return and acknowledged us about a problem with the fryer.  He asked if we're okay waiting a little longer for our katsu-don.  Well, with limited choices of carts, I guess we really didn't have a choice.  We waited for at least another twenty minutes before our order was complete.

I ordered a Spam Musubi (left) and a BBQ Chicken Musubi (right).  Both had ample meat but lacked in flavors.  I had to used the Teriyaki sauce.

I also ordered a Pork Katsu Regular Lunch Plate.  Unfortunately, while the pork was tender, it was a bit too thin, the panko texture overpowered the meat.

In the end, out of 30+ carts in this pod, approximately ten opened for business, and we only tried two carts.

We'll definitely be back to try some more food carts on a weekday...perhaps soon...very soon.