Nong’s Khao Man Gai (Portland Road Trip 2016) – Chicken Rice

I’ve noticed that Thai food seems to be fairly prominent in Portland’s restaurant scene (Pok Pok anyone?). While you can’t think of Portland without thinking about food trucks, we actually didn’t stop by any food trucks on this particular road trip. We did, however, stop by Nong’s Kaho Man Gai on SE Ankeny Street. Nong’s has a couple of food cart locations but this particular location is a full sit-down restaurant. It’s similar to a cafeteria where you order at the counter and then find a seat where they’ll bring your food out to you.

This restaurant is actually located near the border between NE and SE Portland and is fairly close to Le Bistro Montage to the south and Voodoo Doughnuts Too to the northeast.

Just like their food cart locations, they have a fairly limited menu offering.

Khao Man Gai ($8.75) is the Thai version of Hainanese Chicken or oiled rice with chicken. We also ordered their classic Pork with Rice ($9.00)

They braise the pork in Coca-Cola and cocoa powder, Thai and Chinese herbs and spices and serve it over jasmine rice along with pickled mustard greens and a boiled egg with pickled Thai chili sauce. The pork was quite tender and I was pleasantly surprised at the inclusion of the mustard greens (an integral part of one of my fav dishes – mui choy kau yuk or braised fatty pork slices with mustard greens).

Their signature Khao Man Gai has poached organic chicken with rice simmered in chicken stock and Thai herbs… that’s what gives the rice that “dirty/oily” flavour that goes so well with the tender chicken. To spice it up a bit, they include a slightly spicy fermented soybean sauce that’s made with ginger, garlic, thai chilies, vinegar, soy sauce, and house-made syrup. Even the light soup made with organic chicken broth was prepared quite well.

If I knew their chicken rice was this good, I’d have picked up their larger serving.

609 SE Ankeny Street
Portland, OR

Advertisement