I’ve been to Dang Nine few times now, mostly for birthdays or to hang out with kids or other families. This is one of the best Thai places in Hillsboro or even in Portland. This place has never disappointed me and believe me I’ve tried many of their dishes from soups, to noodles, fried rices, seafood, meat dishes, and desserts.
Inside Dang Nine in Hillsboro, OR
On different occasions, I’ve had their egg rolls, golden calamari, coconut milk soup, spicy and sour soup, Pa-Naeng Curry, Volcano Beef, seafood delight or medley. Each of their dish is better than the other one and can be adjusted to your spice level. I am very fond of all of their cuisines, maybe except for their lamb dish…not a fan of oriental style lamb recipes. One of their best dishes that my kids love is the pad thai with chicken. Dang Nine’s drunken noodles is something you can’t complain about. But one thing I always order here with all my orders is their Spicy Basil Fried Rice. For desserts, Fried Ice Cream and anything to do with mango are perfect after all those spicy food. And finally, Thai Iced Tea is what I usually get and it’s very refreshing.
Few dishes in Dang Nine in Hillsboro, OR
Dang Nine is fabulously located in the prime location of Orenco Station in Hillsboro with few other restaurants and boutique shops. Parking is a bit tricky but nothing like downtown. This can be a pretty good place to celebrate some special events or come for a company lunch. This is where I would take my loved ones if they are in the mood for good Thai food…because I know for sure, Dang Nine’s cuisine is consistently very good and I know, it won’t let me down in front of my guests.
I’ve been waiting for a good Pakistani-style kabab and biriyani place in Portland for a while now. And after one of my friends mentioned about Zaiqa, I was more than desperate to try this new place. By the way readers, if you know of any other Pakistani kabab places in the Portland area, please let me know.
Inside Zaiqa in Hillsboro
Zaiqa is a brand new Pakistani/Indian, also Mediterranean restaurant very close to the Hillsboro airport, where Urban Masala used to be once. My friend and I were there last evening, on a weeknight, around 8pm. It was empty for a while, until couple other people showed up. While the owner and the waiter are still learning their ways in the new business and how to please the customers, their friendliness was 5-stars. Yes, we had to shout “excuse me” few times to get us a table and we were not given the shiniest and cleanest plates nor served with water when our glasses were totally empty or the fact that the guy took away my left over beef kabab without asking me and gave me a take away box only for my chicken kababs. But the owner came and talked to us for a while and mentioned he was a pilot and his chef has a master degree in mathematics. They are just doing this for fun, to earn money, and kind of as a project to explore business ideas.
Chana Tarkkah daal and Garlic naan in Zaiqa
Zaiqa is a halal/kosher place where variety of meats used here are slaughtered in proper Muslim/Jewish way. This is not only a Southeast Asian place, the menu also covers little bit of Mediterranean tastes too. We ordered beef kabab, chicken kabab, garlic naan, and chana daal tarkkah. It took little bit longer than usual, given that we were the only customers at that time. But the owner came and assured us that the chef cooks everything from scratch and with fresh ingredients…that’s why the long wait. And of course, once our food arrived, we could taste that in our dishes. The kababs were fantastic. Again, the I loved the kababs, especially the beef skewers. They were moist, soft, perfectly seasoned, and will hit your spot right away. We requested to make them extra hot. But spice level wasn’t up to our standard and we were expecting a little bit more kick. The daal was very flavorful and the garlic naans were fresh out of the oven with beautiful aroma.
Beef kababs in Zaiqa, Hillsboro, OR
Despite some of the obvious flaws of this restaurant, the owner was very honest about how he wants to improve his business. He told us specifically to go to Google, Facebook page, and Yelp to review their restaurants, so that they can learn and improve. I can care less for those small things if the food satisfies my soul. And it did. The friend who recommended me this place, said to go try their brunch items…I just couldn’t wait until Saturday or Sunday to do that. But I’ll come back again during their brunch time someday (where they have halwa, puri and nehari). Another thing I have to try here is their biriyani (I love Pakistani-style biriyani). I think I have found my perfect desi kababs here and I am even thinking of catering their kababs for large gatherings and events.
Zaiqa’s buffet is only during lunch time if anyone is interested in that. Please go check it out, I can guarantee you that you will love the place and if you try their brunch, biriyanis, or other dishes, do let me know how they were.
I’ve been hearing about this Mr. Bento Burger for a while from my manager. I didn’t exactly know what it was…is it Asian or is it a burger shack or both? I had to know what’s going on there.
So, Mr. Bento Burger was my last night’s dinner spot. It’s conveniently located very close to Intel’s RA location on Cornell Rd. This is a Japanese inspired gourmet burger place that offers all sorts of burgers including the regular ones and something called “Rice Burgers” (?)…that’s something I got to try next time.
It’s a small and modish place with indoor and outdoor sitting arrangements. I loved the Asian style interior design with regular tables and bar-like high chairs. Service here is A+ too; I saw the cashier (they don’t have servers or waiters ) coming to every table and asking if everything is OK.
This can be a bit expensive for burgers, at least more than what I was expecting. I paid little more than $20 with the tips for my salmon steak burger and a drink. Yes, it came with a side of Asian salad and 4 pieces of pot-stickers. Regular or sweet potato fries are separate if you want them with your burger (and they can replace your pot-stickers with fries). But that dressing on the Asian salad…OMG, it was unexpectedly delicious. My burger came with a big chunk of perfectly cooked salmon steak, slices of jalapenos (which I ordered extra) and other stuff. And man, it was hot but good.
Some of the other burgers that caught my eyes were kimchi burger and Hawaiian burger…maybe next time. But you can spicy up yours with extra ingredients like jalapenos, kimchi sauce, grilled mushrooms, and etc.
This would be a perfect place to come for a quick yet gourmet bite. I have to bring my burger-lover daughter here to try some of their other items in the menu, especially, their Thai iced-tea for sure. Fusion eatery at its best.
This is kind of a very special restaurant for me where I’ve some sweet memories with couple special people in my life. Last year I visited this place for the first time with two of my friends, second time was with another friend. And then since then I really wanted to bring my two daughter to try the food here. So, finally last week…on a Thursday night, I brought them to Gangnam Korean BBQ and their expression was “it was a REALLY good dinner”. Happy kids mean happy mom.
Anyways, last week was the first time I was there during dinner and we were actually lucky to get an empty table…all the tables with built-in grills were taken, so we ended up getting a regular one. If weeknights get that busy, imagine the crowd on Fridays or Saturdays. This is what happens when a place serves good food. But my experience here during lunch is better, only because it’s much quieter. But despite of all the business, our server was the friendliest and fastest.
Noodles soup, sul-lung tang, in Gangnam Korean BBQ in Hillsboro, OR
Gangnam BBQ menu has overwhelmingly variety of Asian food. I am more into spicy food and this place really satisfies my taste buds with most of their items. Of course they have non-spicy soup or appetizers or main dishes too. I forgot the name of the dishes that we ordered last two times but we definitely had thinly sliced cow’s tongue once that we grilled on the table top. This time we ordered a soup called, sul-lung tang, which was a very simple noodles soup with green onion and sliced beef (although there were barely a few small slices) for my little one. Another one we got was the, bulgogi…thinly sliced beef, marinated in sauce…supposedly this is a must-try item here. If we had the BBQ grill table, we would have grilled the beef slices ourselves, but this time, they grilled the beef for us and brought it to table. I have to say the portion of each dish is big in Gangnam BBQ. All three of us could lavishly share the beef, side rice, and the soup. By the way, bulgogi came with 6 or 7 different condiments like kimchis, pickled and fresh salads and etc. Make sure to add either little bit of all of those or at least some to add to your dish to get the whole picture. And FYI, if your server gives you their HOT sauce, use ONLY one drop of it (as our waiter suggested)…it’s REALLY HOT. If you need more, you can always add more later.
Gangnam Style Korean BBQ is a fantastic place to choose for any occasions with friends or families of any age. My kids loved its vibe and atmosphere and…of course the food. I keep coming back to this place every once in a while and I’ll definitely be back again to try some of their other weird and interesting plates, like cold soup, bibimbop, seafood BBQ, grilled mackerel, and mango mochi ice-cream. I was never a big Korean food fan, but this place really changed my opinion with its presentation, flavorful items and ingredients, and the trendy energy.
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
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
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
Portland Culinary 