PDX, Stumptown, City of Roses! When I first decided on Portland as my next travel destination, I really didn't know much about the city. To be honest, all I really wanted to do was to mark off Oregon on my travel scratch map. But as I did my research (blogs, Instagram, Yelp and the like), I began to fall in love with the city.
Food is probably the only reason I travel and Portland's food scene is ah-may-zing! Tons of independent eateries, food carts, breweries, and coffee shops. We barely scratched the surface during our long weekend trip in August, but it just gives us an excuse to return!
Day 1, let's get started!
SC flew in from Calgary before we reunited in Edmonton. We had a short layover in Vancouver before we would make it to Portland.
Can anyone tell me why SC went on a whole extra plane ride and her tickets ended up being cheaper than mine by $10.00? (lol)
The food options in the YVR US terminal are pretty much nonexistent. That means Burger King chicken nuggets to the rescue!
We had a couple flight delays but we finally landed in Portland around 7 in the evening. Hotels in Portland were surprisingly expensive, but we managed to book a great budget apartment downtown.
For all the urban planning nerds, downtown Portland is made up of short city blocks, which makes everything much more walkable. Because we were in a prime central location, we definitely saved a lot of money by walking to most places.
After dropping off our luggages and settling into our apartment, we headed out for dinner. I knew our first stop in the city had to be AFURI Ramen + Dumpling.
My first experience with AFURI was back in 2017. It was only our third day in Tokyo but it was already our second time having ramen for breakfast! AFURI was easily my favourite thing I ate in Japan and I was excited to be reunited with my beloved tsukemen.
Although there's a location opening soon in Richmond, BC, Portland was the first city outside of Japan to open an AFURI branch. The city was actually hand-selected for one important reason -- its water. With its close proximity to Mount Hood, Portland's ecosystem creates ideal spring water which is nearly identical to that found in their Japan locations.
Although ramen is definitely the focus at AFURI, I noticed more additions to Portland's menu in the form of baos, gyoza, and rice bowls. Their second izakaya location also offers robata and sushi. They did keep some semblance to vending machine ordering by installing touch-screen kiosks for ordering and payment.
I ordered the yuzu tsukemen ($14.00) for memories sake. Cold noodles with chashu pork, a soft-boiled egg, bamboo shoots, endive, green onion, nori and yuzu soy tsuyu for dipping.
So the million dollar question is, how does it compare to the bowl I had in Japan? Well... I was a bit disappointed. It definitely wasn't as good as I remembered. It could very well be that different environment mentality -- but I just thought the dipping sauce was way too salty. There wasn't that sweet, tangy balance that I very much enjoyed two years ago.
SC ordered the yuzu ratan ($14.00), which is the spicy version of their classic yuzu ramen. The broth was deep red in colour but the yuzu definitely made the spice tolerable. Again, the broth suffered the same problem as mine as far as sodium levels goes. Perhaps AFURI adapted their recipes to fit the American palate?
So after a disappointing start to the trip, we rectified things in the best way we know how -- ice cream! Just behind AFURI, we walked to Pine Street Market, Portland's first food hall. The market space features nine gourmet vendors with a mix of counter and communal seating.
Burgers, pizza, tacos, Korean BBQ, ramen, Spanish tapas, and more -- all under one roof.
They had five flavours on hand and you were allowed to choose two flavours even if they weren't swirled together. We both decided to get a cup ($3.95) even though one portion was probably plenty for the both of us. I ended up with the vanilla custard and the vegan strawberry coconut. SC paired the same vanilla custard with buttermilk old-fashioned donuts.
The vanilla custard was smooth and velvety with real flecks of vanilla bean. The donut flavour was true to its name; it was almost scary how accurate the flavour was. However, the real star was the strawberry coconut. Just packed full of refreshing strawberry goodness. Who knew vegan would taste the best?
And for our final stop of the night -- Voodoo Doughnuts! As we were sitting at the window in AFURI earlier, we saw so many people walk past with pink doughnut boxes in hand.
Portland is surprisingly a doughnut city -- there are so many different iterations and shops around the city. Voodoo Doughnuts is probably the most "touristy" one -- it's kitschy, it's retro, and just plain fun.
Their flagship location is open 24/7, closed only on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and their annual company party. It was Saturday night and there was a line out the door. Thankfully it moves fast.
Voodoo is known for their unique names and eclectic doughnut flavours. They have more than 50 to choose from, both raised yeast and cake doughnut varieties. I went for their namesake -- the voodoo doll ($3.50) while SC chose the maple bacon bar ($3.75).
The voodoo doll is filled with raspberry jelly and topped with a chocolate frosting and pretzel stake. The maple bacon bar is topped with maple frosting and an entire strip of bacon.
Since we were already full from ramen and soft serve, we actually kept the doughnuts in the fridge and didn't get to them until the next day. One bite and we were already sugar-loaded. They were sickly sweet.
I regret not having time to try other doughnut shops in the city, namely Blue Star or Pip's, but Voodoo? By all means, get it for the gram, but I wouldn't risk the diabetes.
- CT
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