Hapa PDX @ Tidbit – Portland

October 21, 2014Leave a comment

I can officially say that our restaurant research pretty much came to a waste while in Portland, since the no reservation policy basically meant we were wasting too much time waiting. Driving to the other side of town, we were eager to try the famous Pok Pok, but of course, it was over an hour wait again. We wandered down the street and found Tidbit Food Farm and Garden, which is actually one of Portland’s newest food cart pod. It just recently opened in the summer and is located at SE 28th Place and Division St.

It’s pretty neat as over 20 food carts gather here and the best part is that there’s actual seating areas so you don’t need to stand around eating.

Super relaxing atmosphere with a fire pit and live music too! I believe this is open every day as well. Perfect when it’s sunny out!

There’s pretty much all types of cuisines here. I usually don’t like to get Asian food when I’m in America because I find that it’s probably not that great. However, I ended up going for a ramen food truck called Hapa PDX. It wasn’t even run by a Japanese, but tons of people were getting ramen here. There must be something good! Their name Hapa describes the fusion of their Japanese cooking techniques and Hawaiian recipes, so it’s pretty interesting! They have your typical miso, shoyu, tonkotsu ramens, and also a variety of rice bowls.

Iced Plantain Tea

For drinks, I got the Iced Plantain Tea, which was like a pineapple infused tea. A little fruity, but not too sweet. It was interesting and great to quench my thirst.

Shaka Bowl – Tsuke-men – pork belly broth, cold dipping noodles, egg, shitake, nori

Instead of getting the typical ramen, I chose the Shaka Bowl. They had a sign saying you could ask for a complimentary sample of the broth, so I did just that. The broth is made from pork belly, so it’s really fatty, but absolutely delicious! It had tons of pork belly slices in it too. The cool thing about this ramen is that you dip the cool ramen noodles into this boiling hot broth.

This was the bowl of cold ramen you get to dip in the broth. It came with shitake mushrooms, half a hard boiled egg, and some nori. A good amount for $8.50. I wouldn’t say it’s the best ramen I’ve had, but the broth was really unique and delicious! Not a bad choice at Tidbit!

Blue Star Donuts – Portland

October 19, 2014Leave a comment

Voodoo Doughnuts is always raved about when speaking of Portland, but K mentioned that Blue Star Donuts is the best new donut shop in town. Plus, walking by Voodoo and seeing that massive line up made me not want to give it a try. So instead, we walked by Blue Star, which had no line up but a steady customer base. We arrived quite late as well, so probably why there was no line up. They close when their donuts run out, so we were lucky to still get some!

I love how the store uses natural sunlight through the glass windows. It feels clean and modern inside. There’s also complimentary water here.

They don’t have as many varieties as Voodoo, but I find that shops with a limited menu usually have better quality food. They have a display case with their donuts and the flavours change daily. The dough is made from scratch every day and their ingredients are all sustainable or organic. The donuts are also cooked with rice oil and are glazed to order.

Real Maple & Bacon

Their donuts follow a Brioche recipe, so I found that the dough was very light and not dense like cheaper donuts. J went for the Real Maple & Bacon, which is a quite common flavour for donuts these days. The sweet and salty seem to always work and who can say no to desserts with bacon on it?

Passion Fruit Cocoa Nib

K and I shared the Passion Fruit Cocoa Nib, which was super unique! The passion fruit brought the sourness, but it was well balanced with the cocoa nibs which were sweet. Who knew that the two would work so well on a donut.

Overall, from the donuts we tried, we were all very satisfied. They definitely have interesting donut flavours and reminds me of Cartems Donuterie in Vancouver. The donuts run at around $2.75, but are well worth it. If you’re looking for unique flavours and quality, then Blue Star Donuts does just that. It seems that Voodoo would be more for unique visual presentation.

Korean Twist – Portland

October 17, 2014October 14, 2014Leave a comment

Near S.W. 10th Ave. & Alder St., you’ll find Portland’s largest hub of food carts. However, when we arrived it was noon and there weren’t large line ups like the ones we have in Vancouver. Taking a stroll along the food carts, nothing really struck me either. I’m sure the food is good, but there weren’t really unique menu items that made me desperately want to try.

Anyways, I ended up going for Korean Twist, which seemed slightly more interesting. It’s run by two young men and there was a steady customer base. They essentially sell tacos, burritos and rice bowls with a Korean twist to it.

Chicken Burrito

J and K shared the Chicken Burrito, which was huge! They said it was flavourful and very filling.

Spicy Pork, Bulgogi Beef, Tofu Taco

For myself, I shared the taco set with K. The taco set comes with 3 tacos, but we added an additional taco at regular price. She got two of the Tofu Tacos, while I got the Spicy Pork and Bulgogi Beef Taco. Both of the meats were super flavourful! It’s the sauce that really does it for me. A mix of coleslaw and cilantro, but they fill the tacos with a lot of meat. You definitely get your money’s worth as these tacos aren’t small!

Overall, I think Korean Twist is a great place to try if you want to get value out of your money. You’ll be full and the flavours are great if you want some Asian flare.

Heart Coffee Roasters – Portland

October 16, 2014October 14, 2014Leave a comment

The next morning, we wanted to go grab breakfast at Screen Door, since we heard it’s really popular. And of course, there was a huge wait again. We waited a while, but we realized it would be another 2 hour wait. Annoyed by all this waiting time we’ve been having in Portland, we decided to skip it. We were pretty fed up especially since we drove all the way to the East side. Nearby, Heart Coffee Roaster looked hip and cool, so we decided to grab a quick snack before we headed off to look for more food.

Coffee and Cheese Croissant

J got a Coffee with a Cheese Croissant. The Cheese Croissant was pretty good since it was flaky. J said the coffee was pretty good too. Their coffees are mainly from Central America, South America, and Africa.

Chocolate Cookie

For myself, I went for the Chocolate, which was a huge disappointment. It was chewy, but hard at the same time. Way too chewy perhaps. It also had an odd flavour to it and didn’t taste like regular chocolate cookies.

Overall, Hearts seems to be a great place for coffee, but their other items might be a miss. They also don’t offer wi-fi on the weekends which is odd. The place is great to study and hang out though.

Salt & Straw – Portland

October 14, 2014October 13, 2014Leave a comment

After 5 hours of driving, we finally arrived in Portland and settled into our hotel at Park Lane Suites. It’s a pretty nice hotel for the price and was located quite near downtown city centre. After dropping our stuff off, we decided to take a walk in the neighborhood and try Salt & Straw, which is a famous ice cream shop.

The inside is hip with cool music blasting and friendly servers. It reminds me of Earnest Ice Cream, with unique flavours. The inside smells like freshly made waffle cones too!

There’s a line up, but it’s really not that bad. The servers will come up to you and ask if you would like to sample some flavour. They then bring you spoons with the samples to try before you even get to the ordering area. That way, it speeds things up.

They have their classic menu, but also a seasonal menu. They were featuring a summer harvest series, which included sweet corn, apricots, peaches, and plums. A favourite classic that many talk about is the Pear and Blue Cheese, which I actually sampled and surprisingly thought was really good! A odd combo and for someone whose not a blue cheese fan, I actually still liked it! They also have sundaes, ice cream floats, milkshakes, and draft beverages.

Honey Lavender

For myself, I ended up with the Honey Lavender. I’m a sucker for floral flavored food, or food items that use flower petals.

The Honey Lavender uses Oregon-grown lavender petals which are steeped in honey to extract the floral flavor. The honey used is from Bee Local which is harvested from urban hives all around Portland. I loved the hint of floral but sweetness from the honey. It was smooth and creamy! A huge scoop in a huge waffle cone as well. I believe it only came to $5.

Oregon Peaches with Toasted Walnuts

K went for the seasonal flavour of Oregon Peaches with Toasted Walnuts. It’s made with freshly pureed peaches and mixed with toasted walnuts. Super refreshing.

Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons

J got the Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons. It uses Fleur de Sel and is topped off by ribboning in hand-burned caramel that is made in house. I loved the salty and sweet flavour!

Overall, Salt & Straw did not disappoint! If you’re an ice cream lover, you won’t be disappointed with all the unique flavours! I’d definitely revisit this ice cream shop again!

Forty Ninth Parallel Café & Lucky’s Doughnuts (Main St.)

September 28, 2014September 28, 2014Leave a comment

Since Shishinori closed pretty early, and we wanted to get some sort of desserts so we could continue our conversations, we ended up driving a few blocks down to 49th Parallel Cafe & Lucky’s Doughnuts on Main St. I believe they have a second location, but this one opens later. Free parking down in the residential areas so that’s always a plus!

The cafe is actually quite big, and there are tons of people studying or on their laptops here. There is also a patio outside, which is great for the summer. Good choice of seating as well, from communal tables to two seaters.

The cafe is famous for their coffee, but they also launched Lucky’s Doughnuts, because I mean, coffee and doughnuts do sound like a good pairing right? Since we came pretty late, we were disappointed to see that most of the unique doughnuts were all sold out. The lady said they wouldn’t be baking any new ones soon, so we had to just settle with what there was. The doughnuts are supposed to be made fresh everyday throughout the day. S said that if you come here in the morning, you can get the freshest and best choice of doughnuts!

Coconut Bismark

The only more unique doughnut left was the Coconut Bismark, which had a coconut cream filled inside and vanilla glaze on top. It was then topped off with a Swiss meringue and some toasted coconut flakes. It was very creamy and sweet. Very strong in coconut flavour for sure.

Sugar and Spice

Sugar and Spice was more like a cake-based doughnut. It was dusted with sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom, so it tasted quite like your typical mini doughnuts at the fair but not as soft.

Since I’m not a coffee drinker, I went for the teas instead. I chose the Organic Fujian Bohea Black Tea, which had a fruity and honey aroma. I love how you get your own teacup and their signature mug.

Overall, Forty Ninth Parallel Café & Lucky’s Doughnuts is a great place to have late night conversations, or to even study. I wish there was a closer one to Richmond, so we have more choices other than the typical chain stores.

Icy Bar 利源冰店

September 24, 20142 Comments

K had been to Icy Bar before and said its a great deal for large portions of shaved ice. We decided to go since we had just finished doing some shopping at Metrotown. They have several locations, including the night market, but their stores are usually at food courts. This is their first sit in restaurant located on Kingsway.

We arrived at an odd time in the middle of the day, so there weren’t too many customers. However, shortly after, there were around 3 more tables.

Mango Ice Cream Icy

We shared the Mango Ice Cream Icy, which is huge! It’s a huge pile of ice, but they don’t cheap out on the mangoes either. There was probably a two mangoes used here. On top, there is a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream, topped with mango syrup. It’s seriously perfect for anyone who loves mangoes. Plus, the whole dish after tax and tips was under $6! Such a great deal! The mangoes were fresh and sweet, and by the end of this, we were having a bit of a brainfreeze.

They also provide you with a whole bottle of condensed milk, so you can go crazy with this sweetener. Usually, other restaurants only give you a small cup. The great thing about Icy Bar is that there isn’t a minimum order per person. That way, you can share these dishes with many people. They also have a bunch of other shaved ice, including ones where you can choose 8 ingredients. We also saw they had mango and durian pancakes. A chill place to hang out. Service wasn’t bad either.

Sushi Nanaimo

September 20, 2014Leave a comment

After hiking, we went to go look for some cheap sushi. We decided to go try Sushi Nanaimo, which is in the East Village. Sushi Nanaimo is very similar to Sushi Garden and is also run by Koreans. So, if you’re looking for authentic Japanese food – this is not the place for you. However, if you want cheap and large quantities, then this is a great option! There’s always a wait here, and we waited roughly 30 minutes to get a seat. We noticed that many people get take out here.

Spicy Salmon Sashimi (1/2 Order)

I knew the menu would be similar to Sushi Garden, so I went for my favourite Spicy Salmon Sashimi. Cubes of salmon with a spicy sweet sauce and topped with sesame seeds and green onions. It also comes with cucumber cubes. It’s not the most amazing salmon, but it does the deal for the price it costs. This was only half an order and was only around $6.

Agedashi Tofu

J ordered the Agedashi Tofu. Nothing too special. Typical fried tofu. The batter was light, but I felt the sauce to lack any oomph to it. Didn’t really do much.

Tray C – California Roll, Red Roll, Mangodise Roll, Chopped Scallop Roll, Dynamite Roll

Since we were quite indecisive in what to order, we decided to go for Tray C, which is supposed to fill 3 people. However, it’s more than enough for 3 people. It could probably fill up 4. It came with 5 different rolls, which were all fairly good. My favourite was the Red Tuna, which featured chopped scallop inside and topped with spicy tuna on top. The Mangodise Roll was also pretty good, which imitation crab filled inside, and ebi and mango on the top. The rolls aren’t spectacular, with them looking quite clumsily made. But what can you expect for the price you pay? Tray C also included the nigiris shown below and it came to a total of $36 for the two plates!

Tray C – Chopped Scallop, Ebi, Tuna, Salmon, Hokkigai (3 pc each)

As mentioned, Tray C also comes with 5 types of nigiris (3 of each type). The tuna and salmon is not as fresh, but they are large pieces. It’s similar to eating at an all you can eat restaurant, but slightly better. The Chopped Scallop was quite a disappointment. It didn’t taste fresh, but rather a little fishy. They seemed to add a lot of mayo to cover up the fishy taste. It was also very mushy.

Overall, I wouldn’t go for the nigiris at Sushi Nanaimo. However, their rolls are not bad for the low price. I also recommend getting their spicy sashimi. Don’t come into Sushi Nanaimo expecting authentic sushi. Just come in with a hungry stomach and you’ll be happy that you leave with your wallet still full.