Portland food carts

Portland is a city full of food carts. We were hungry and decided to try as many as we can. At Mississippi marketplace (4233 N Mississippi Avenue ) where a group of food carts make up an outdoor food court, it seems many locals come to enjoy the outdoors and the good food that is offered.


Garden State: Offering burgers and other fried foods we tried the fried baby squid and fish balls. The fish balls seems burnt, but the squid was just tender, although on the oily side.




Native Bowl : This is a vegan cart


Alberta Bowl : Grilled tofu, house-made fire breathing dragon sauce (with sesame and sriracha!),
jasmine rice, shredded cabbage, carrots and scallions.

I found the vegan food cart to be the best in the batch. Having a new twist on healthy food, it was both flavorful and refreshing.




Big top waffles offers breakfast choices.




The amazing fun guy waffle. The waffle was made from a cornmeal mixture. The heaping serving of mushrooms eggs and sausage was just what we needed to complete our meal.

I love the idea of an area for food carts to gather, although given the wet weather here in Vancouver, it would be hard to find a permanent place for these venders to setup through the winter.

Hana by hana sushi

2236 NE Alberta st, Portland, OR 97211. We came here today thanks to a good group coupon deal. We arrive here on a Friday night at 9:30 and the restaurant was about 1/4 full. The restaurant closes at 10.

We selected a seafood ramen, sashimi A combo and J special 1 and 2.

This is a Japanese restaurant opened by Koreans. Located on a street with an assortment of different restaurants, it seemwas not noticeable from the street.

Selection was clean, a large rolls selection and a short selection of sushi, sashimi and other small plates.

The ramen was a failure as it looked, and tasted like instant noodle. The small scallops and the 1 shrimp and mussel makes this an expensive an unappealing dish.

The sashimi set had a good presentation, but we realized the sushi rice was a little undercook and the sashimi was fresh, but lacking in flavor. It seemed the fish flavor was masked by a lemon scent.

The last item we ordered was the J special 1 and 2, which is grilled cod, and salmon with some spicy sauce and topped with a spicy fish paste. This was the most original of all the dishes and the combination of spicy and savory was balanced.

What I liked:

• Large restaurant, short menu.
• Beautiful presentation for the sashimi
• Nice decor, with a bar area and flat screen TV.
  

What I did not like:

• Instant noodle served as ramen.
• Sushi rice undercooked
• Sashimi was treated so there was no freshness to the fish.

As I am used to the high quality sushi of Vancouver, IMO I find that this restaurant, although may be well positioned to cater to a more westernized palette, is not up to our standards when comparing freshness and price, I would not want to come back to this restaurant given the many choices along the same street.

Trader Joe's Cresents

I've never tried crescents from a can before. Bought this on a whim the last time I was at Trader Joes.

Instructions were simple


One can of pastry makes 8 rolls. Instructions say to roll each triangle pastry sheet into a crescent shape.


Bake at 350 C until golden brown and voila.


What I liked:

• easy and fool proof
• has strong buttery flavor
  

What I didn't like:

• crescents did not rise as much as I expected
• bit too salty for my tastes

I would love to try some other brands in order to compare this product with the ones from other brands

Trader Joes margharita pizza

At under $4. This fresh made pizza from trader joes offer more value than most frozen off the shelf choices.

Heat at 475F for 8 minutes, this thin crust uses fresh mozzerella, cherry tomatoes and basil. I love the fresh ingredients.

The thin crust was slightly crispy and holds up well against the flavor of the pizza. The tomato paste adds depth and the slight tartness from the fresh tomatoes complements the fresh cheese.

This is another winner from Trader Joes

Cattle Cafe 牛仔餐廳

Cattle cafe located at 4885 Kingsway in Burnaby.

This restaurant was formerly a death by chocolate. First impression is that it is very small. I came here early for lunch on a Sunday morning.

The menu is that of a Hong Kong style cafe and gives the atmosphere of a bubble tea place.

Apart from the make your own noodle combo, all the other menu items are very standard for a Hong Kong style cafe

My noodle and hot drink combo was 7.50. I like the large portions. The noodle was cooked just right, slightly chewy, a sign that this was not sitting in a pot somewhere for a long time. The fish stock soup base was light but had good flavor and most importantly no MSG. I like that they have the non MSG option, although there were only 3 choices, compared to the other 8.

What I liked:

• Small and cozy location
  
• Clean and welcoming design
• Fast service

What I did not like:

• Parking area is small and the entrance is difficult to find
• Tight sitting not suited for large parties or small children
• Menu is plain

This place warrants another visit to try its other menu items.

An Nam Vietnamese restaurant.

Although we had planned to go to pho lan, we ended up here as pho as pho lan was closed. The restaurant was clean and spacious

We ordered the special mixed beef noodle and the spice beef and pork with thick vermicelli. We also added a skewer of the shrimp paste on bamboo. For dessert it was the three color ice.

We ordered the large for the beef noodle. For starters, the large was smaller than the one at pho lan. The soup was also very heavy on msg. Imo the soup is the highlight of the noodle, so use of MSG only means they are skimping on the soup stock.

The spicy beef with thick vermicelli was a better experience. Firstly, You can taste less msg in the soup. The piece of pork knuckle in the soup is also perfectly tender. I like that they give you a lot of the ham and thick slices of brisket. The thick vermicelli also holds up well in the soup. The only thing is that despite its name, it is not spicy at all.

The shrimp paste on sugar cane was fairly disappointing. It was drenched in oil, meaning it had been reheated in oil that was not boiling. All I could taste was the oil. The 3 color ice is a better experience.

What I liked:

• clean and open restaurant
• reasonable prices and lots of parking spots
  

What I did not like:

• The food was no comparable to Pho Lan across the street
• Portions smaller than Pho Lan
  
• Too much MSG in the soup base for the pho
  

Gyoza King - Part 2

As I mentioned in my previous post, I love going to gyoza king, which is why there is a part 2. A little later in the night I went back to gyoza king for round 2. Although I went mostly for the drinks, I did still taste all the food ordered.


Shoyu ramen : At 7.50 this is a mid price ramen, with lots of sprouts and a nice and chewy noodle. Good flavor for a mid price ramen, and not overly salty.


Pork and shrimp chive gyoza. Need I say more? They are famous for their gyoza and this is by far my favorite. The addition of the shrimp makes this a lighter gyoza. Perfect to gobble down along with the g-beer sold here.


Small Oden. In the oden, the daikon (radish) is the centerpiece. When made well it soaks up all the flavors in the soup. The mustard is mixed into the soup to enhance the flavor. The assortment of fishcakes and tofu cakes gives this dish a variety of textures that is always delightful to eat.


Ebi Mayo. Fried shrimp drenched in their Japanese mayo. A combination that can never be wrong. The shrimp is crispy, and absorbs all the mayo... Yum.

I love Gyoya King, and always like to come back for a late night fix. With all the new additions to the menu, it will take me a while to go through all the dishes.