Pre-Thanksgiving

It's not even Thanksgiving yet, but my tummy is already in holiday mode. My cousin came for a visit to Portland, Oregon and so I took him to a few popular restaurants here. I yelped, googled, and researched on some popular places for breakfast and dessert. When I typed in 'Breakfast' on Yelp, I was attracted to Tasty n Sons, which was on the top results of my search. I ate here before, I believe it was last year and this time, somehow the food tastes better. It's either I was starving or it was really good.

Tasty n Sons located in North Portland, around 10 minutes from Downtown Portland by car.

We waited for around 15-20 minutes, googled their dishes and finally got our seats. After we ate at Tasty n Sons, we went to a dessert place called Papa Haydn in uptown Portland. In total, we had 6 meals before sundown today, definitely one of the best food culinary experience in Portland!

Tasty n Sons food menu!

Tasty n Sons drinks menu!

 Here's a clear look of the menu from their website.

After several minutes researching on what we think is good on this place, we decided to try 4 different dishes, for two.

We tried the Griddled bacon wrapped date with maple syrup & almond, it was $2 each and one was not enough for me. Yum! I actually thought it would tastes weird, but it surprisingly was delicious. Usually dates have seeds inside the fruit, but here they replaced it with almond. I almost threw them away, then the waitress told me that they're almonds. (9/10)

This is Burmese red pork stew with short grain rice & eggs two ways, it was really good. It was recommended by the waitress. We googled it to see how it looks, then it was so mouthwatering that we decided to order that right away. (9/10)

To me, the over and easy egg was the thing that makes this dish even better. The barbecue sauce was just enough to add flavor to the rice. It was pork, over and easy egg, and rice. I usually don't like pork, but this is one of those 'yummy pork' exceptions. (9/10)

This is how the place looks like. Kitchen near our tables, it was interesting to see them cook. It made me hungry, especially when I saw them preparing the food while I wait for my seat.

Another look of the place. There are shops out from the glass door and a butcher shop called Chop that I found quite interesting. You should check them out while you wait.

This is, Polenta & Sausage Ragu with mozarella & over easy egg. I was quite disappointed of this dish because it looks good when I googled it, but it didn't tastes as good as it looks :( The egg and sausage ragu was alright, but the polenta was a little too much. According to Wikipedia, Polenta is coarsely or finely ground yellow or white maize (cornmeal). (6/10)

When we waited for our meal, the table next to us ordered this and it looks so good! This is Potatoes Bravas with over easy eggs and aioli. It was hard for me to judge this meal. It wasn't that good, but it wasn't bad either. The sauce was something new to me, something like tomato based sauce, but also a little sweet and a teeny bit spicy. I wouldn't count this as my favorite though. (6/10)

We finally finished our meals at Tasty n Sons. I've never been so full for quite some time, but there's always place for desserts, right?

Next stop, Papa Haydn! Located in Uptown Portland, but they also have another branch on Southeast Portland. I personally liked the one in Uptown Portland better because of the location and the atmosphere of the place is very... I want to say 'fine'.

The first sweet treat that we tried was Six Layer Glace. This is an ice cream cake with layers of vanilla, chocolate, banana, and gianduja ice creams with fudge and hazelnut croquant with an addition of a few blueberries. It was not bad because I actually needed something cold, but not just plain ice cream. (8/10)

This is a Chocolate Cube, I personally thought that the display was too pretty that I didn't want to start digging into it. A bittersweet single origin Cordillera Cocuy chocolate shell filled with dark chocolate mousse. Served with vanilla ice cream. I actually liked this better probably because of the dark chocolate mousse that they served inside the cube. It literally was bittersweet. The outer part of the cube was really thick and hard, try knocking on it. (9/10)

DIG IN! :')

The price per person at Tasty n Sons is around $10 to $15. On Willamette Week, they were awarded for "Restaurant of the Year 2010"

The price per person at Papa Haydn is around $8 to $12.

Tasty n Sons
Hub Building
3808 N Williams Ave, Ste C
Portland, OR 97212
(503) 621-1400
YELP

Papa Haydn
701 NW 23rd Ave
Portland, OR 97210
(503) 228-7317
YELP

Another Branch:
5829 SE Milwaukie Ave
Portland, OR 97202
(503) 232-9440
YELP

Du Kuh Bee: Eat-out at Late Night

I haven't had the chance to eat proper restaurant's meals lately. Portland, Oregon is famous for their culinary (foodcarts) but, there aren't a lot of places or dine-in restaurants that opens late at night. Du Kuh Bee is one of my favorite places to eat when most restaurants are already closed. This place is in Beaverton, Oregon which is on Southwest Portland.

They open until 12am on Monday to Thursday and closes at 1am on Friday and Saturday. Their special dish is 'Pork Noodle' the noodle is freshly handmade. You can choose the level of spiciness, usually I go with the medium spicy, trust me it's not even that hot.

Du Kuh Bee is rather small, sometimes you have to wait for a while because it can get quite packed at times. The restaurant itself can hold around 30-40 people.

Appetizers from the kitchen!

Chinese Herbal Pork Hock, this was probably the most disgusting edible dish I've ever eaten. I'm not a pork fan and so this was not my favorite. It was chewy, quite similar to jellyfish and very oily. At first I thought it was pig's ears, but it doesn't look like it, turns out it's their feet. (3/10)

Close up pic of the Pork Hock

Shrimp Fried Rice, THIS WAS MINE! :') I'm not sure why, but to me this tastes perfect. Though it looks simple and plain, but it somehow tastes really good. It contains prawn, green peas, scrambled egg, and thin cuts of leeks. The prawn tasted fresh and the whole meal was evenly seasoned. Yum! If you don't eat seafood, they also offer 'Kimchee Fried Rice', 'Egg Fried Rice', or 'Chicken Fried Rice' (8/10)

Close up pic of the Shrimp Fried Rice

Du Kuh Bee's Special Pork Noodle (Medium Spicy) People usually come here to eat this. I remember ordering this dish with zero spicy and it tasted bland. The spicy seasoning is what makes this dish tastes really good. It contains cabbage, FRESH HANDMADE noodles, blocks of pork meat, and thin cuts of leeks. If you don't like pork, they also have 'Vegetarian Noodle', 'Chicken Noodle', 'Shrimp Noodle', or 'Squid Noodle'. (8/10)

The price person is around $15-$20/person for all these dishes. Here's a review from Oregonlive that I found online.

Du Kuh Bee
12590 SW 1st St
Beaverton, OR 97005
(503) 643-5388

Hours:
Monday to Thursday
16:00 - 00:00

Friday and Saturday
16:00 - 1:00

Leftovers!

I missed on posting a few restaurants that I went to during the summer and decided to combine them in a single post. I might have said this a few times already that I went to Seattle, Washington during the holiday and am going to add on that. Can't believe I forgot to write about my favorite place ever, it is a Russian bakery opened since 1992 also known as Piroshky. Every time I come for a visit to Seattle, I try to come here and buy their Smoked Salmon Pate, no matter how long the queue is. The second place that I forgot to mention is Podnah's Pit located in Northeast Portland and probably the best barbecue in town.

Piroshky, Piroshky, Piroshky :')

Piroshky's Publications. Popular and still the best since 1992. On May 2006, one of the best American chef, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservation came for a visit. Piroshky has been reviewed and published in newspapers: Seattle Post and New York Times, and has got hundreds of good reviews from food critics.

This is the menu, I'm not quite sure why they covered their prices, but it ranges around $4-$5 each buns.

The buns are all fresh from the oven. They rarely run out of the buns because they keep baking it, sometimes if let's say they run out of your favorite buns, the longest time you'll wait is probably around 15-20 minutes.

Buns buns, breads breads, appetizers :)

Most Piroshkies are $4.90 each.

Smoked Salmon Pate, crispy on the outer part of the bun. Hot smoked salmon fillings, they never serve cold buns. Best of the best!

The next place is Podnah's in Portland, Oregon:

It was crowded when we came, so we ended up waiting for around 20-25 minutes.

It was on NE 17th Ave and NE Killingsworth, FYI :)

Pit's Boss with Mac & Cheese and Baked Beans, I really liked the baked beans, mac & cheese, and sausage. I didn't like the beef brisket, I just don't like pork :) My dad and brothers really liked it though.

We ordered the same thing, just with different sides. This is collard greens. We decided to try it because someone said that it was good, it turned out not so bad after all.

Piroshky is quite popular because it is located on the same street as the Pike Place Market or Fish Market. It's always crowded around that area.

That time when I visit Podnah's Pit was my very first time to eat there. My dad saw it on TV and I'm guessing it was on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drives-Ins, & Dives (Video)

For Piroshky, Piroshky the price per person is around $10/person and for Podnah's Pit, it is around  $15/person.

Piroshky, Piroshky
1908 Pike Pl(between Stewart St & Western Ave)
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 441-6068
YELP

Podnah's Pit
1625 NE Killingsworth
Portland, OR 97211
(503) 281-3700
YELP

From Portland to Seattle, Japanese to Chinese

I finally have time to write a blog. It's been, let's see... a few weeks since the last time I wrote something on this site. I guess I was too busy having fun with my family. Sometime last month, we went to Seattle for holiday. Here are some of the food we ate and Hakatamon is my brother's favorite. 

Chicken Curry Rice, Yin and Yang of rice and curry. I always come for this. 9/10

Wakame Soba. Seaweed, noodle, and some broth. Healthy and yummy! 7/10

Dragon Roll, Unagi and avocado and sesame seeds on top. It was crispy and a bit sweet from the avocado. Shareable and I shall give this a 8/10

Every time you order a set meal, you will always get a miso soup. By set meal, I meant curry rice, noodle, and all the single meals. 

This place is rather small so sometimes it can be quite packed. That small door leads to an asian market, Uwajimaya.

Next, I'm gonna move on to what I ate in Seattle, Washington. My family would go head over heels for pork. This is our first time to visit this place and it was worth it. It was recommended by my brother's friend and now I'm recommending this to you all. Hue Ky Mi Gia is a chinese noodle house and their specialty is pork noodle. The business started in Saigon, Vietnam in a food cart, they got more popular and now opened a restaurant with 2 branches.

So this is the barbecue pork noodle I was telling you. Those brown stuff are crispy and that's pork. 9/10

This is fried chicken wings. Crispy on every sides, you won't miss it. Yum! 8/10

Warm and soothing wonton soup. This is perfect for dinner! The wonton was FULL of pork. 8/10

Last but not least, roast duck! It tasted like chicken, but better. 7/10

Hakatamon
10500 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy
Beaverton, OR 97005
(503) 641-4613


Hue Ky Mi Gia
1207 S Jackson St
Ste 101 (between S 12th Ave & S 14th Ave)
Seattle, WA 98144(206) 568-1268

The other location:
18230 E Valley Hwy
Ste 152 (at 184th St) 
Kent, WA 
98032(425) 282-1268
WEB