The sight right outside our house! It was a beautiful sunny day, extremely humid type heat though- Our host informed us that this is “winter” for them and this weather is “fresh”. Haha - example of such is that she is wearing jeans, and he is wearing a T-shirt! I am over here glistening head to toe. After resting up a bit from our 8 hour bus ride (from Mexico through Belize) we finally headed out around 8 pm to get something to eat. There are a lot of good reviews for the restaurants around here, and some are just around the corner from us!
After reading about places and a positive recommendation from our host we decide to try La Villa del Chef — The food that I saw on tables walking in was enough to confirm I needed to eat here. There were also two fluffy cats lounging about which was a little distraction in the heat.
The menu wasn’t large, but it offered a few salads, pastas, burgers, and a special white fish only available on this island. We went with the Pasta Altiplano and Chef’s Chicken Burrito! My pasta had a smoked tomato sauce, which was really lovely. Nothing like a typical marinara or anything from a bottle. I could clearly taste fresh tomato, but it was seasoned lightly which went really well with the more savory and salty chicken. The burrito was also tasty, the highlight being fresh ingredients and it’s large portion size. I would definitely go back, there were some monster salads I might be brave enough to try…
After our check was brought out, the waiter pointed to these little gals saying they were for us. From my seat I thought they were fancy toothpicks but they are called Muñecas quitapenas aka worry dolls that are used to remove worries. According to their stories, the doll is supposed to worry in your place, and thus if you lose your doll it has run away with your woes.
Of course, it’s seeming like our mission- Try ice cream in every country and multiple times to be sure… This is Sarita which is basically the Baskin Robbins of Guatemala! We kept it simple and got a Piña Colada ice cream cone. 1. The flavor was balanced. Not super sweet or extremely pineapple-y. 2. She used some method that got ice cream all the way down into the cone. I did not get any empty cone at the bottom! So good.
I was a silly silly girl, saw my friends post on Tuesday about this (forgetting she was a day ahead as she is actually living in Japan) and announced Pocky day yesterday. Whoops, it’s happening right now!
We decided to make ramen for lunch so we stopped at a few small Asian markets to pick up some ingredients.
Bf(f) got a Melon Ramune *yum*, I couldn’t help but pick up some pocky as well- matcha green tea flavor.
1. I don’t like tea
2. I forgot that I’ve already tried this one
3. It tastes pretty gross
Overall probably my least favorite Pocky but I gained another box cover for the collection… At least the ramen turned out beautifully Recently I’ve been researching Japan, watching tons of YouTube videos of vloggers living there, trying crazy snacks and showing their day to day lives over there. I’ve noticed so many radical flavors for everything from peach potato chips to Hawaiian and Pokemon Ramune! No different for pocky, there are some things I am just going to have to be in Japan for. I hear there’s even a Pocky vending machine!! <3_<3
Apparently Pocky was first sold in 1966! And what a great day indeed.
While I don’t eat these on a regular basis it does hold a lot of nostalgia for me,
growing up my grandparents gave me Japanese snacks all the time (Yan Yan, manju, mochi, Koalas, Sanrio gum). That and I noticed some new flavors while I was in Hawaii that still haven’t made it here in Oregon—
Demitase, adzuki bean… Mmmmmmmm!
Some other flavors I’ve heard of from Japan:
Hokkaido Melon
Cornflakes and Almond
Pineapple
Honey
Coconut Milk
Creme Brulee
Brazilian Pudding
Purple Sweet Potato *Murasaki Imo
Kiwifruit
Mango
Blueberry
Black Sesame
Kinako <------------- need to try!
Pumpkin
Lychee
There’s also a Pocky decorating kit which obviously appeals to the artist kid in me.
Can’t wait to try more once I get abroad
Lovely day to have a day off-
80 degrees out but the air feeling so much more fall than ever.
We drove to SE Division to meetup with Dan and Rene, excited to hear stories from Rene about her recent trip to France, Germany, and Iceland!
We stopped at Bollywood Theater, nice timing as there was NO LINE. Crazy. It was just as well because it took us some time figuring out what to order. This was my third time and I knew you couldn’t go wrong no matter what you get.
A few plates were brought out, smelling of spices and looking heavenly. The Khati Roll with beef, Kati Roll with paneer cheese, and “Indian” nachos (don’t remember the real name).
We got to talking. There was mention of some accidental consumption of fermented shark, and video too! Sitting here in Bollywood it was easy to say that I would try it, but being there and smelling those ammonia smells, it’s hard to say if I really would. And with those heebie jeebies more plates were brought out… just when I thought I might be getting “full” MORE PLATES were served up.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh a bevy of different things to try, plate surf what-have-you. My favorite dish was basically everything. The last and largest plate of chicken and rice had an amazing curry sauce that I couldn’t stop eating. The lamb samosas were a favorite of mine from the second time I went to Bollywood! It was a first having the fried okra and it did not disappoint. There were even some Indian sauces/salsas that enhanced the flavors even more and had a little bit of a heat to it. The chilis on the side were tasty as well (but not hot).
Our last stop was the Flying Cat Cafe across the street to get some caffeine and bask in the glorious sun. I don’t usually indulge but they had a homemade pumpkin spice latte that we got (iced), very delicious which prompted me to buy another iced latte- I need to try chai everywhere I go and this was super creamy and not overly spiced like some boxed chais tend to be.
Chill day with some of my favorite people.
Can’t wait to do it again!
Bollywood Theater
3010 SE Division Street
Portland OR 97202
Fun weekend, so much going on in Portland. Feast, Rose City Comic Con, a circus…?, Patti Labelle concert- and more things I’m sure!
I had thought about getting tickets for Feast but a lot of the restaurants I enjoyed were recreating pretty similar dishes to the ones I’ve already tried. Nor did I want top pay $100 to learn how to pour coffee. Maybe next time!
The next part was that my friends were in town for the weekend and it was the first time Portland trip for Sami! A slew of things came to mind as far as what we should do but the first stop (first for me, they had already eaten at Waffle Window the night before and lunched at Mama Mia Trattoria an hour prior, haha) was Blue Star Donuts! There was a little bit of a line, I’m not really sure why. It’s not that hard to grab donuts and put them in boxes, but hey- this is Portland. Any service beats VooDoo but I digress. We each got a donut to share: Chocolate Ganash, Dulce de Leche, and Lemon Poppy Old Fashioned Buttermilk which was a new one for me. All were good, my favorite by far was the Chocolate, I’d had it before but it tasted even better this time! We ate our donuts next door at Lardo where we waited for our Dirty Fries. I always need a salty to balance the sweet! I had to head back to work but we planned to meet for dinner after I was done!
My bf came to town to meet me so we could head to Khao San. My friends mentioned wanting to try some more Thai (a few bad pad thai experiences in the past), so we figured this place was close enough and has had great food (and drinks) everytime. We asked to be seated in the tuk tuk, …little hut like motorized car indiginous to Thailand. Of course I liked it, (silver metal table reflecting the Christmas string lights on the roof). VERY FESTIVE. Decided to order the Red Light District which I had tried my first time there, some Chicken Curry Puffs appetizer and some Chicken Pings to start! It was only when our drinks arrived that we realized our friends were on the other side of Portland and it would probably be an hour and half before they were even at the restaurant. What to do? Eat and drink everything quickly, we were going to hang out in SE tonight!
Ended up at Lucky Strike, also been there once (anyone remember when I tried their Chicken Pepper Bath rated 5 bombs on the spice level?!). All we really wanted was potstickers and fried rice, which we got both and a sweet and sour rice noodle dish that was good too. I wasn’t starving but I somehow forgot to take pictures of this.
[Insert epic fried rice pic here]
After that we were feeling pretty good but needed to walk off some of the meal as we still had places to go! Headed to the nearby Portland Cider Company where we got to try a selection of fruity ciders (the only kind I like, I’ll admit). One was labeled Maui (infused with pineapple and coconut) but it wasn’t that noticeable of a flavor. We opted to get a flight of 5 smaller glasses so we could enjoy more different things.
Time for our second/third/fourth wind! Drove to Hawethorn and 12th to the corner foodcarts to get some crepes! Perfect timing: little movie night happening and they just started playing Predator. Haha. Such a nice night to be outside. However, I was craving something sweet, preferably a crepe with nutella and bananas in it but ended up with that nights special: a savory crepe with soppresata, mozerella, basil and bell peppers.
It was
THE
BEST
CREPE
I’ve ever had.
And as I kept repeating to anyone that would listen I hope they put that on their menu. It needs to happen. We watched the best bits of Predator leaving my friends to enjoy the rest and decided to head home as we both had an early morning the next day.
Oh it’s not over yet.
[ NEXT DAY ]
Lunch break! We met downtown again so we could head back to Grassa, the day prior there was a long line and we got distracted by a platter of fries in Lardo. We each got a dish, Squid Ink with albacore, there special of the week: ramen, and my biased favorite, Rigatoni (this one with pork belly).
For the sweet portion of our dessert we went across the street to Ruby Jewel- where I was not planning on partaking due to a dairy allergy that had resurfaced. Nonetheless I have no willpower, or had none when I saw that there was a seasonal flavor- Coconut Creme Pie filled with candied coconut, vanilla wafer, and marshmallow fluff! It was divine and I’m sure any coconut lover would agree. There were also ice cream cookie sandwiches and peanut butter jelly waffle cones ordered- delicious. I might actually be leaning more towards this place than Salt & Straw. *blasphemy* I know. These flavors are legit!
We parted ways, promises of a flight of 17 waffles were to be had that night along with more crepes. I wished them luck on that journey- now it’s back to getting ready for Hawaii aka not eating 5 meals a day!
The food was epically good… as is {exponentially} inversely proportional to how my photos turned out.
I figured that I would start by showing some professional photos of the food to give the right impression.
But first… It is important to know how we arrived here.
That afternoon I was lunching with a friend… we had each ordered a pizza and were eating our slices out of the box.
I was hungry enough and figured I had nothing to lose so I’d polish of the entire thing. As I’m licking my fingers clean I notice my cell phone has been lighting up with more and more messages.
“This might be an emergency,” I thought.
[Haha] Quickly scanning the texts I realized that we had gotten some last minute reservations for a pretty desired place: LangBaan, we already had some for a few months later, but this was TONIGHT, and the menu changes every month, so why not?
Oh yes, remember THAT ENTIRE PIZZA I ATE and LangBaan is known for their 12 COURSE MEALS!
Just lovely timing, good thing I am always down to eat and the meal wasn’t to start until 8:30 that night.
The place we arrived at was not labeled LangBaan, but Paddee. We got there a bit early to sample some libations
at the bar while we waited to be shown the secret spot.
Our favorite drink was called the Waterfall—
it reminded me of a sweeter, alcoholic version of the juice from a cucumber kim chee dish my mom makes.
Not too sweet which is just how I like it, a bit of citrus, some tang from the drinking vinegars. Easy to have a few!
8:30 rolled around and a small group of us (a limit of 20 seats) were taken through a hidden grey bookshelf door. A cozy seating area was set up with its own little kitchen where the chef was in plain view.
These pictures obviously do no justice to the artistry of the meal. As a whole I could not imagine a more cohesive twelve courses. Two and a half hours later we were almost finished. The last bit we ended with was two “desserts”. I’m using quotations because one was a dessert soup (a sweet gingery broth with a little mochi ball in it… a sweet ozoni?) Yes, this is exotic Thai food, not Japanese but I am making connections here. The last plate was some kind of tapioca shooter. Considering this is the portion size for two grown adults I got angry. They were so good, but much like a fading memory- one great bite, hard to savor… what exactly did I eat? I need MORE MORE, as in a whole bowl [of the tapioca stuff]. Time. To take my time and figure out all the layers. It was almost anxiety. I’ve joked before about storming kitchens to get exactly what I’m looking for, but in this case I could see straight into where these miniatures had been made and they were already cleaning up. After this month the dish would cease to exist anywhere. Beautiful concept. Expensive to devour. A romantic and exciting place for two with adventurous palates. Left wanting more. Left wondering about next month!
Biwa- a japanese lute, apparently the instrument of choice for the goddess of music.
One of the most memorable places I have eaten *twice now* —
The food experience: unlikely menu items, unusual pairings, stunning presentations…
Just a surprise and delight for all the senses each time I go.
Also a surprise for the nearby diner whom I knocked water all over.
That is besides the point.
If daring, and craving adventure try ordering the chef’s special— three different offerings on a plate.
Examples of our otsumami include: Eggplant and pulled pork. Jello jelly fish. Candied salmon. Collard greens and pork. These change monthly I believe so there is always something new to expect.
Have also tried Biwa’s tuna musubis. Korroke. Karaage. All delicious.
Although I’ve never really had enough room for dessert, I do know they serve a Chocolate Pudding!
While getting to know my bf he asked what I thought about Anthony Bourdain. I don’t think he was prepared for my rant…
AHHHHHHHHRGH that guy! What don’t I like about him. I want to travel with him. I wish I could go everywhere he goes (minus Ethiopia) and eat what he eats (minus Ethiopia). I like him so much I wanted to see him on his tour a few years ago and throw my homemade spam musubi on stage because I know he loves the fatty meat goods. Alas, it was in the month of July (notoriously hard to get time off at work), back then I lived an hour away from the city and already knew it was going to be too complicated to go.
My bf replied that he too enjoyed watching the vice laden chef and read that he was coming back to Portland in 5 months! He bought a couple tickets the next day, (although completely unbeknownst to me I assumed he had only bought one ticket for himself… Haha.)
[ . . . ]
Fast forward: Well dreams really do come true. The entire room welcomed the celebrity chef with a standing ovation. No, I did not throw anything on stage— maybe next time. It was fun to listen to Tony go off about the industry and hurl his rehearsed insults at a bunch of the food network stars. The most interesting part was the last bit of Q&A where you felt a more genuine sense of the man behind Parts Unknown / No Reservations.
Someone asked where he had eaten in Portland so far and it was as I figured. Probably pretty common with his busy tour schedule, he admitted that he hadn’t even eaten anything that day due to his late flight in and early jiu jitsu work out. Kind of sad except Bourdain had no problem bragging that he has the best job in the world and it happens to be very lucrative. Still you can’t hate the guy for being honest, I look forward to his new season where he visits Cuba again (10 years later) and wonder if he will ever make it to the middle eastern counties few people ever get to see.
Below are some pictures from Grassa, where we ate some fresh pasta right before going to the show.
What a morning! There was a 5 am wake up, all to get to a meeting at 6:45…
Typically can’t fall asleep early even if I attempt it and ended up getting only four hours of shut eye!
No big deal- By the time I arrived in Portland the temp was already 70 degrees! The warmer weather made it bearable to be out and about so early! Hooray for summmmmmmmmmmmmer!!
After the meeting I was feeling particularly adventurous and slightly hungry (haha… right) and decided to wander around to “Mother’s” with Alex since it was not even 10 o’clock yet- and we had a few hours to kill! Perfect time to try the breakfast menu I kept hearing about but never seemed to be awake for! We had both been past Mother’s but couldn’t seem to find the corner it was on. Turns out it wasn’t actually a brick building like we “remembered”… OR on a corner. No matter, we made it just in time, although the whole place was jam packed- people lined up, eating inside and out! They mentioned it would be a 10 minute wait, which was just fine! I got to study the lights above me-
When we were finally seated we had both worked up quite an appetite! One sweet dish and one savory to split; it seemed this would satisfy our cravings- The morning “Mini Bubbles” drinks menu looked pretty spectacular as well: moscato and pomegranate juice, mimosas with strawberries- ahhhhhh. Lovely interior as well! Gold (my fave) frames wall to wall, mirrors reflecting lots of light, and crystal chandeliers were draped in every room! This mom’s bistro is fancy! Not what I expected, better!
Top picture: The Crunchy French Toast. I have always enjoyed french toast, probably since the amazing mornings my mom would make this for breakfast. One quick look at the menu and my eyes zerooed in on this version, “thick slices of challah (egg) bread dipped in cornflakes and grilled golden brown” To be fair, it wasn’t super crispy or anything, but it was soooooooooooooooooo good.
Bottom picture: Breakfast Nachos. How could one not indulge with a name like that!? Roasted red potatoes sauteed with bacon, caramelized onions & a touch of cream, topped with
melted cheddar, sour cream, and green onions. On top of that we added two over easy eggs. I will say it added tremendously to the nachos, no yolk has ever tasted more buttery and smooth. Both of these plates were From the Griddle section on the menu! Go figure.
The delicious aftermath:
Mother’s Bistro and Bar
212 SW Stark St
Portland, OR 97204
