Food, food, food. That’s all that seemed to be on my mind during my trip to Portland and Seattle. When we were eating at one place, I was already thinking where we could eat next. There were so many things that I wanted to try! Before going on the trip, I remembered wanting to eat different food that we couldn’t get here on Oahu. There’s a lot of different cuisines available here, but there’s also some things that I know could be better elsewhere. If I want to grow my taste palette, I have to get out there and explore, right? Thankfully, we were able to come across different food spots in the Portland area that were delicious AND at a reasonable price point. Let’s get to it!
Voodoo Doughnuts in Downtown Portland
A lot of the food places that we tried were around our hotel, Hotel Lucia. Because it was in Downtown Portland, we were within walking distance from many restaurants and eateries. Near our hotel is the city’s Chinatown, which holds the well known donut shop called Voodoo Doughnut. I know the donut scene in Portland is growing and there are many delicious shops with tasty donuts available, but I wanted to go to the original Voodoo location. I grew up on Food Network and they would always feature Voodoo Doughnut and their various donut flavors. Be warned, this area is a little dingy and we had to cross the street several times to distance ourselves from yelling people, probably on something.
The worker who helped us was very kind and offered to fill our box (of 2 donuts) with donuts that weren’t sold yesterday. Of course we said ‘sure’!! He really filled our pink box to the top with maple bars, chocolate donuts, and more. Their donuts are nice and fluffy, and I thought it had a good foundation of a yeast donut. They have seasonal flavors, and some of their staple donuts are jelly filled, cake donuts, and a huge variety of other yeast donuts loaded with toppings like oreos, bubble gum glaze, maple, bacon, cereals, and more. However, the donuts I took bites out of were pretty sweet in my opinion. Nonetheless, I was very happy to have gone to the location I watched being featured on TV for so many years.
Din Tai Fung in Washington Square Mall
The next place I have to recommend is Din Tai Fung . The closest one to us was in the Washington Square Mall, and we just so happened to be in the shopping mood that day. We first tried Din Tai Fung in Las Vegas at their Aria Hotel location and fell in love instantly. We are totally addicted to their Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings) and pork dumplings in house spicy sauce. Of course, those are some staples that we ordered again, and we tried their noodles with diced beef (not in soup). The noodles had the right amount of QQ (food term for bounciness/chewiness), and flavor. The best part about their dumplings is that they wrap everything at the restaurant! They have glass walls by the kitchen, where guests can see the workers wrapping the dumplings. Everything tastes so fresh, and not like it’s been steaming in the baskets for hours. If there’s a Din Tai Fung near you, I highly recommend you give it a try.
Cuon Vietnamese Street Foods
It was a brisk morning on our second full day, and we were craving something warm. Thankfully there was a Vietnamese eatery not too far from Hotel Lucia called Cuon Vietnamese Street Foods that served pho. We didn’t have very high expectations because we get pretty good Vietnamese food at home, but man were we wrong. My boyfriend ordered their beef pho, and I ordered a vermicelli bowl with crispy pork belly and lemongrass chicken. IT WAS SO GOOD! His pho was so flavorful despite how translucent the broth was, and the quality of beef they used was amazing. The kind that just melts in your mouth. He usually is the type to add hoisin sauce and sriracha all over his pho, but this one didn’t need any of that.
My vermicelli bowl was delicious, and I’m still thinking about it weeks later. The pork belly was perfectly crisp and had a good fat to meat ratio, and the lemongrass chicken was equally as flavorful. I usually don’t like lemongrass chicken, but I’m very glad I gave this a try. The chicken had a bit of char on it like they grilled it before putting it on the plate, which gave it a nice crunch and balance of flavor. Both proteins paired very nicely with the cold noodles and tangy sauce. The fresh pickled vegetables added a nice amount of vinegar to brighten the heaviness of the pork belly. Great… now I’m craving this so badly! Check out their specialities here!
Kenny and Zuke’s Delicatessen
On our last morning in Portland, we were looking for a hearty breakfast to last us the drive from Portland to Seattle. We didn’t want to stop along the way, and the breakfast we ate at Kenny and Zuke’s Delicatessen did just that. I ordered a Lox Bagel, and my boyfriend ordered a pastrami plate with fried eggs and potatoes. Being that this was a deli that smoked all their meats and fish in-house, we had to give it a try. The lox I had tasted so fresh and was not slimy at all. I’ve had some smoked salmon that was a bit slimy due to the packaging in a bag. This smoked salmon had none of that! It had a nice amount of smokiness, saltiness, and wasn’t too fishy. It paired nicely with a generous shmear of cream cheese on their freshly baked Everything bagel. The bagel was nice and soft with the right amount of chew without me having to tear at the bagel.
My boyfriend’s breakfast was just as delicious and hearty. The pastrami slices were fried to a crisp on a flat top grill, and it came out very good. Our favorite part of breakfast meats like corned beef is the crunchy edges, and these slices was entirely that! The saltiness of the pastrami went well with the rich runny yolk of the egg, and balanced with the fried potatoes. A very hearty breakfast to last us almost until dinner. It’s also great that this is right next door to a Stumptown Coffee Roaster! So when you get your delicious coffee, stop by next door for a delicious breakfast to go along with it.
Just reminiscing about all this delicious food is making me so hungry. We were shocked at how reasonably priced the food was for the quality that we received. Because we live on islands in the middle of the ocean, the cost to bring anything to the islands is very high, which is why food can be expensive here. All of the workers we encountered were all so friendly and accommodating to our questions. In my next trip to Portland, I definitely want to try more food carts and small hole in the wall eateries. Where should we eat next?
Until next time…
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