Inchin’s Bamboo Garden

How does Oriental Biriyani sound to you? Quite funky, right? Inchin’s Bamboo Garden is a nation-wide Halal/Kosher Asian franchise, inspired by both Chinese and Indian flavors. Our Hillsboro location in Oregon is a brand new branch which replaced the previous “New Taste of India”. This new fusion place is much fresher and trendier looking with better customer service and bigger menu items. Although they have branches in other states, their menu varies from state to state, depending on the local produces and tastes.

Inside Inchina's Bamboo Garden in Hillsboro
Inside Inchina’s Bamboo Garden in Hillsboro

With a good variety of vegan and gluten-free options, Inchin’s Bamboo Garden also serves halal/kosher dishes. This is a place where Oriental cuisine meets Indian spices; meaning dishes are kind of like the Indian version of Oriental/Asian food. Last night was my 2nd time in this restaurant and I had my sister, my girls, a close friend, and her parents. I have to say food here is consistently good.

Hakka noodles with chicken (left) and lamb cumin (right) in Inchina's Bamboo Garden - Hillsboro
Hakka noodles with chicken (left) and lamb cumin (right) in Inchina’s Bamboo Garden – Hillsboro

 

Speaking of their menu, we ordered tom yum soup (which has the options of veg. and non-veg) and spring rolls as starters. Check out their plenty of non-meat options in the menu if you are a vegan or vegetarian. For main course, we had spicy Thai basil fried rice, hakka noodles, chicken-65 fried rice, lamb cumin, sliced fish in manchurian sauce, and eggplant in chili bean sauce. Spices in each dish can be adjusted to your taste. Vegetable spring rolls were perfectly crunchy and tasty. Tom yum soup smelled fresh with lots of cilantro and heat from red chilies. Both of the fried rice dishes were delish with perfect amount of spice and flavors, though the noodles turned out to be very dull looking without much flavors in it. Eggplant was probably one of the best, cooked with Chinese long eggplants in thin slices with big chunks of red onions. And for the lamb dish, my 8-year old girl loved it and my friend who doesn’t eat lamb or goat meat had it twice…now, that should tell you something. And the manchurian fish with onions was a little above average with little bit of gravy and lots of red pepper flakes. The Dishes are perfect for 2/3 or even 4 people, depending on how many other dishes you are ordering.

Fish in manchurian sauce (top) and eggplant in bean sauce (bottom) in Inchin's Bamboo Garden - Hillsboro
Fish in manchurian sauce (top) and eggplant in bean sauce (bottom) in Inchin’s Bamboo Garden – Hillsboro

 

But the menu has so many other options like paneer dishes, dumplings, salads, tacos, Chinese bhel-puri, and of course, other Mongolian, szechwan, kung-pao, and curry style plates. But be careful, if you are not into spicy food, tell them to tone it down. They also sell sauces that they serve in the restaurant for $3 each bottle.

Customer service here is great I’ve to say. They did forget to give us the only one Diet Coke that we ordered. But the waiter gave it to us at the end and didn’t charge for it, which was at least sincere. They do take reservations, if you want to call in ahead of time. Being conveniently located near Intel RA campus with plenty of parking spaces, it does get busy during lunch time and therefore, services can be slow (or so I heard).

Inchin’s Bamboo Garden has some unique qualities which not many restaurants nearby may have all in one place, like their fusion Indian/Oriental dishes, halal/kosher preparation of meat, variety of vegan/vegetarian options, and finally an elegant looking place where you can bring your guests for a decent treat. Would highly recommend it to my peeps.

 

Dutch Bros. Coffee

My 12-years old baby girl has been obsessed with Dutch Bros. for quite a while now. That means she won’t fail to request to go to Dutch Bros. for her favorite drink every time we are out. And now she got me hooked to this on-the-go coffee franchise.

Dutch Bros. Coffee near PDX Airport

Dutch Bros. is our Oregon’s very own trendy drive through coffee shop chain which is spreading out to Washington and other states too. But wait, other than coffee, they also have smoothies, Dutch sodas, frosts, infused teas, cold brews, and etc. Sometimes the drive-ins of Dutch Bros. in some locations are so freakishly jammed that it’s better to hop out of the car and order from their little windows. Oh, and did I mention most of the Dutch Bros. locations are open 24 hours?

Inside Dutch Bros. near PDX Airport
Inside Dutch Bros. near PDX Airport

Last weekend, we finally discovered a Dutch Bros. location that was not only a drive through. We could go inside and could sit down. This particular one was near the PDX International Airport. But later we found out that there are more than one spot for these sit down Dutch Bros.

My daughter, the one who is a big fan of this place, decided to get her favorite drink “Dinosaur Egg”. It has the flavor of blue raspberry and  strawberry with chocolate and almond drizzle. Her friend and I got “Shark Attack Rebel”…with blue raspberry, lime, coconut and pomegranate. And finally my little one got “Palm Beach Lemonade” which is a pomegranate and peach drink. Yes, none of us actually ordered any coffee or latte or mocha. But you have to understand, it was close to 95 degrees outside and we needed something fruity, refreshing, and sweet.

Our drinks at Dutch Bros.
Our drinks at Dutch Bros.

But I’m not worried, because I know I’ll be taking my kids and myself to Dutch Bros a million more times and next time I will remember to try their hot beverages.

Bawarchi Biryanis – PDX

Since I’m originally from Bangladesh, a small country right beside India, I usually don’t go to Indian restaurants knowing I’ll be spending money on something that I can probably cook at home. But then again Indian cuisine varies from South India to North India and then to vegan, vegetarian, and meat lovers. Every once in a while, I do crave for certain tastes from that country and that’s when I hit my favorite Indian spots in town.

Inside Bawarchi Biryanis - PDX
Inside Bawarchi Biryanis

Today, I was hungry like an elephant when I went out for my lunch break and I could only think about one thing…rice. Not just any Asian style rice, but Indian style basmati rice and daal (lentil) and curry. Buffet…yes, I needed a place where I could just try different things without ordering ten dishes and stay within the budget at the same time.

I was in Beaverton/Hillsboro area, near 185th, and I remembered there was once an Indian restaurant here called “Lentil Garden” here, which I never tried before. But upon arriving, it looked like Bawarchi Biryanis took over Lentil Garden. But oh well, I needed some rice and daal, so the name didn’t matter, but I was praying and hoping that they would have buffet. And they DID.

Bawarchi Biryanis is all over the USA and their Portland location is on 185th. The restaurant itself is nothing fancy nor the interior is anything extraordinary. But it is  homey. While customer service is just average, the place is clean and has good food.

A portion of the lunch buffet in Bawarchi Biryanis

The buffet is only available for lunch until 2:30pm, which costs about $10. If you are lucky, you can get a la carte dishes for lunch too, but not always. They are closed in between lunch and dinner. Make sure to check their hours before going for dinner. I arrived there for a late lunch around 2pm and it was pretty empty. But the buffet items looked fresh, nicely filled up, and didn’t look like they were sitting out for too long. It was my kind of buffet honestly…spicier than average Indian places with couple uncommon items that you usually don’t see in other Indian buffets, like bitter melon bhaji or papaya bhaji. It had at least three different kinds of chicken dishes, freshly made daal, 3 or 4 different kinds of vegetables and of course rice and bread. But only pakoras for appetizer and rice pudding for dessert.

My buffet plate # 1 in Bawarchi Biryanis

I won’t probably come to Bawarchi Biryanis to celebrate an occasion or bring friends to hang out after work. But I will come here whenever I’m up for some Indian comfort food without spending a lot of bucks. And yes, I still need to try their dinner menu.

Nikki Sushi & Steak

It was one of those nights when I wanted to treat myself to a nice place. I was in Tigard area and Progress Ridge Townsquare is one of my favorite hang out places here. I came to the Ava Roasteria and Al’s Bowling across the street many times but never had a chance to try any other restaurants in this relatively newly developed shopping plaza. Progress Ridge Townsquare is lined with variety of eateries, coffee shop, grocery, and other stores. After driving around the parking lot for couple minutes, I finally picked this Japanese place, called Nikki Sushi & Steak.

Inside Nikki Sushi & Steak in Tigard, OR
Inside Nikki Sushi & Steak in Tigard, OR

The restaurant is a nice medium size place with a warm and welcoming atmosphere. This is a place where I’d bring my close people for different occasions who are looking for a fancy but not too formal place. I felt it’s a relaxing yet a trendy place to dine in. I was there on a Monday night. The crowd was light and the service was fast.

Nikki Sushi & Steak has a wide variety of Japanese dishes, ranging from hibachi, to sushi/nigiri plates, to teriyaki and bento-box. Price is a bit on the high range, in fact slightly higher than regular hibachi where they cook in front of you, but here they don’t cook in front of you. I ordered shrimp hibachi which was about $20 for a nice regular portion. You can get either miso soup or house salad with most of the entrees here. I went with the house salad which they forgot to give me at first and packed it later to take out. I indulged into the perfectly cooked big shrimps and the fried rice, though wasn’t enjoying the sauteed vegetables as much…they were crunchy and perfectly spiced but those zucchini pieces tasted bitter. But overall I’d give this dish and the restaurant a thumbs up.

Shrimp Hibachi in Nikki Sushi & Steak in Tigard, OR
Shrimp Hibachi in Nikki Sushi & Steak in Tigard, OR

I would recommend Nikki Sushi & Steak to anyone living in or visiting Portland, doesn’t matter if they like Japanese food or not, but then again who doesn’t like sushi boats or Japanese steak?